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

Well, there is an internal/external damage divide.

Bare knuckled punches are far more likely to split skin, both due to the "sharp" edges of knuckles, and the more compact affected area. (Though the elbow is the ultimate eyebrow splitter)

Now, barring a clash of heads, a split eyebrow/cheekbone from a gloved covered hand tends to have said cut happen from the inside. Hence why they can be so nasty. You're being hit so hard that your bone is cutting through your compacted face.

Now, pain vs damage.

As you say, a bare knuckled punch tends to "Hurt" more. There are multiple factors on this, and forgive me if I can't explain it perfectly. Basically you have a much smaller area taking a much "smaller" blow. Say, middle knuckle the the cheekbone.

Nerves light up, that pinpoint part gets smashed, and you're body goes "Something bad just happened!"

Also, depending on how he landed it, the person who hit you likely just hurt his hand. Might have even broken it.

Now, put on the glove.

First thing you get is the force of the blow spread across a much larger area, and because the puncher's hand was protected, he didn't hurt himself. Thus, because he's not subconsciously or consciously holding back (as he is relying upon the glove to protect him) he's starting to punch a LOT harder, really getting his hips into it.

Now, the first punch didn't "Hurt" quite like a bare knuckled punch so you shook it off. No single, pinpoint set of nerves in your face took that sharp impact. You basically took a really solid pillow shot to the skull.

Problem? Your brain is floating around in there, and when your head whipped back, your brain crashed into the inside of your own skull, and even when your head stopped moving...it didn't.

It didn't hurt the same way. But the damage tends to be greater.

And here is wear it gets dangerous (listen to older boxers talk). The punch didn't hurt as the bare knuckled shot did, so you're still going. But you're taking more punches, more powerful shots that are sending your brain bouncing around the skull.

I've often described it as a hard shot vs a solid shot.

A solid shot will just drop you on your ass, if not knock you out. See various Head kicks in MMA. Just bang...lights out.

But you only took the one.

A hard shot is bouncing your head around, but its not quite in that certain way that just turns the lights out.

I'm not entirely sure why, but then again, I"m not a brain doctor.

Here is the thing though....more people have died in the gloved era, then the bare knuckled era (At least, according to all known data of the bare knuckled era).

This is not only due to the force of the blows being much greater, but also the sheer number of them.

With no gloves fighters tend to throw a lot less headshots. The skull is just too fucking hard, and its so easy to break your hand. So you are throwing less headshots, but the ones you do throw, you are not throwing quite as hard. Due to that fear of a broken hand.

So a lot more body shots were being thrown.

In the gloved era guys are just getting their bell rung again and again and AGAIN.

The damage just piles up. Damage vs pain as I said.

That, and boxers have no way to protect themselves like an MMA fighter does. In MMA, a fighter can just tap out. But in boxing, short of quitting on your stool...you're expected to just take it. The "Bravery" thing. If a fighter looks at the ref and says "I'm done. I give up." He's derided as a coward (usually by people who've never fucking fought) and his career is almost certainly impacted negatively.

Roberto Duran is legit one of the greatest boxers who've ever lived...and he STILL hasn't lived down the "No Mas" fight.

It will be interesting to see how MMA fighters age. But I have noticed a pretty staunch lack of slurring and mental fuzziness from the first/second generation of big time MMA fighters. They are just taking way less shots to the head, and have other options throughout the fight.


So a glove might represent safety to Hal's hand....it's not safe to the guy it's hitting. Not trying to argue with you....this is just kinda my area, and I like people to be informed. Its fun, when I get told that I let someone in on something they didn't know.

Through, to be frank, I imagine Hal uses boxing gloves because, when he first did, it was an easy to draw fist, that every reader would understand it's impact. Again, due to boxing's popularity around that time.

 

Oh i fully agree in a fight. I'm only referring to one punch. In superheroics, a knock out ends the fight and civillians can die. And having his ring being based on willpower and the explanation of them being a safety feature would affect how he forms the glove. I imagine he's making the glove 'wrong'.

Good distinction on head vs body shots. gloves on the body will have a way different affect then a gloved head shot. Most of these analytics took a while to form so hal is told this is for safety and its how he see's it. he very likely isn't up to date on current knowledge which is why i feel he's making the glove how it was supposed to work instead of how it really does.

Heck i figure he's unknowingly adding a sedative to glove.

 

For some reason, that doesn't fill me with confidence. What are the odds the next scene will either begin or end with them in deadly combat against Malvolio?

 

' is '

missed ending quotation mark after ' help '

' weaken '

 

weakened -> weaken

 

Ah, Hal's love of flying being demonstrated in full swing, eh? And he's smart enough not to need to see where he's making constructs? Improvement!

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Cleanup on aisle five... Er, hangar five. Glorious mess. Super-acid versus magical base in a salty explosion.

Ah, professional Lanterns at work. Now, if only Hal would use more sensible armour and constructs... Then again, Will. It's quite a bit more style-friendly.

The really weird stuff is probably off on Harvester Dreadnoughts. They won't have much of the oddball stuff aboard the Castle Revolving, but what they will have are more elite officers, because Queen's flagship and all that.

Only by a massive show of force. Sheeda are funny that way.

No doubts about the likelihood of execution, then? I doubt OL does completely remember stuff like 'The Queen is nigh-unkillably immortal...' from Seven Soldiers.

Send them home? On the same ship they use to travel downtime? Yes, that'll work well. Soon as you get to their era, the Vampire Sun goes to work, you lose what advantage you had over them and bam, fighting!

Psychometric scrying? Though I doubt most of Humanity will be in too forgiving a mood. Some countries might well demand a blanket death sentence...

Well, whatever lets Hal get the best effect. But seriously... A giant Mongoose?And the Columbians might have the best luck with the aura-reading. They at least share the same base kernel code, so to speak.

Good catch. That sort of shit is so annoying in games... And who knows what the Atlanteans and Columbians can pull off in conjunction.

Heh, Sheeda paperwork. Or would that be chitinwork? Parchment-work? How does a bureaucracy work without some easy way to casually record things? I mean, we saw they have computer tech of a sort, but how user-friendly is it really? Can you imagine banks of cubicles with Sheeda workers tapping away on their chitinous keyboards?

Like I said, Humanity will not be forgiving. The Sheeda might be better off fighting to the death, because it'll be kinder than what Earth might decide to do to them.

Still that instinctive phone-gesture. Good way to visually signal to other people that you're receiving a call, at least...

Well, then. One secondary objective successful. Wonder what shape they're in. I hope they checked them for infiltrators.

...Oh, boy. I hope they consider what Malvolio will have to say on that matter...

Seriously. You know how little of Earth's surface people actually use? The locals don't seem much more advanced than we are...

Ah, busywork. At least there's no need to escort them to a safe extraction point. Wonder Woman and Flash have that covered.

A Civilisation player you aren't Hal. Don't assume apparently empty spaces aren't in use by someone.

Heh, OL with his Strategy game skills to the rescue.

They might be violently xenophobic. Especially since they seem to be the only sapients other than Malvolio in this 'pocket universe' thing.

Hmm... I wonder if there's any habitation out of the satellite's sight lines? Do the locals live across the entire planet, or just in sight of their 'god'?

Given the example OL sets, I should hope so.

Hmm... Locally, or planetwide? The previous chapter noted them as 'industrial-era' but that's a wide spread of available technology. Anywhere from early industrialisation to late information age, after all.

I suspect getting whammied again out here might be a little more impressive. Think 'falling like a rock' for a few moments impressive.

Oh, boy. This is going to be funny.

Well, things are progressing nicely. Let's hope Malvolio's in a good mood to receive visitors. Because Hal Jordan performing diplomacy? I suspect this will be interesting in every humorous sense of the word.

 

How the heck do Jordan's constructs work? Don't they just apply brute physical force or is there something exotic going on in the forms he gives them?

 

This is were Paul's changes in others can show. old Hal would have a fight, New Hal will suprise us. Even if Paul is kind of plateaued, everyone he has impacted is still getting better and more creative.

 

Should that second sentence have been a question?

 

Noice!

...

You know what. At least it's obviously effective. Points for creativity if nothing else.
It's just... why mongoose? Why not wolverine?

!!! What happened to not poking a sleeping dragon?

That's... under any other circumstances that's a good idea. Take hostages away from the line of fire, then blast away. With metaknowledge however... Why is Paul voting for this idea again?

Oh well... I guess they are doing the Malvolio plotline sooner rather than later :/

You're capable of taking a hint? Wow.

Why not add "What could possibly go wrong?" while you're at it?

Ignoring all of the flags of Malvolio plotline on OL's part aside this is a good chapter. I actually like the casual dialogue he and Hal had while mowing down the Sheeda mobs.

I find it really annoying for some reason. Same with the greed-portation gesture. It's probably my general annoyance at pointless somatic spell components.

 

A mongoose construct...really, Jordan..

 

Hold up. Flash doesn't have a subspace pocket and isn't the healing ray kinda large? Plus, how are they powered? Admittedly this is DC, so the answer could be "microscopic nuclear reactors"....

Edit: apparently not, and there's a precedent too.

 

I just noticed. After the word 'job', is that supposed to be an ellipsis or a period?

 

Famous Last Words.

 

Yes

I mean, Malvolio didn't hit on him, Paul only has trouble taking those hints.

 

As I said above, traditionally constructs behave as a user thinks/imagines they should. Which could in fact add an exotic effect to the construct.

Or Hal just whips up a badass mongoose.

Dude...Rikki-Tikki-Tavi?

He was faced with snake monsters, and generated a snake killer in response.

 

Constructs scale in effectivness with the emotion behind them- Green lanterns mostly use basic constructs instead of manifesting high tech weapons and such, because imagining what they want and mustering the will power in a combat situation is mentally trying and time sensitive- Paul can cheat by comparison by just wanting it enough.

At the core though enough of the right emotion can drastically boost the effectiveness- if a yellow construct scares you enough it can tear through things that would otherwise stop it, if enough hope is behind a blue construct then it can work miracles. Thus the shape not only has to be one you can clearly picture, or want or hope for enough with some colors, but if it is something you can imagine working, especially in the context of the color, then it will be more potent- Thus Hal using fighter jets because he knows them and it is easy to put his believe and will behind it- and Mongoose's are famous for being enemies of snakes...

Now that I think about it with things like this and the whole boxing glove thing, Hal kind of fights like a looney toon, but scaling to his will power instead of how funny it is, but it being funny might make it easier for him to picture and or will to happen- after all isn't it easy to will for the bad guy to get his comupence in those cartoons?

 

Corrected.

 

Right. Because wanting a complex tool/weapon into existence is completely different from willing a complex tool/weapon into existence.

Green clearly requires the would be conjurer to be the most willful hypercongnitive in the Sector.

Oranges have it easy and just want something until it pops into existence - their understanding of what they conjure (or lack thereof) isn't a factor.

 

It's important to note that, canonically, Larfleeze was/is considered to be an entire corps all by himself.

Meaning that once his greed kicks in, he's as much of a threat as the entire GLC...and that's not even bringing in his assimilation.

It's telling that even the Guardians chose to give him a wide berth. To say nothing of what happened to the Controllers who poked him.

 

I was deeply sarcastic Maxx. Larfleeze was as dangerous as he was because the Plot required him to be so. I seriously doubt that any part of the Spectrum is inherently more powerful than any other.

 

Actually, supposedly they are.

Fear and Will are in the middle.

Love and Rage are on the extreme ends. Boasting incredible raw power compared to the middle, but also being horribly altering on the mind AND susceptible to decay. I.E ones love and Rage can fade.

Hope is powerful enough to fend off the yellow, orange, and red light. But is useless without will. (Yeah I don't get it either.)

Avarice can nom up will like nothing and ramp up into a nigh unstoppable juggernaut. But also drives the user utterly mad and due to its very nature cannot be shared (until it can I suppose)

White is supposed to be the most powerful of all and Black is just death so there is that.

Supposedly the green light of will was chosen simply because it is the balanced middle ground.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

Okay this got a good laugh out of me I mean, but I mean, if it works.

 

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. A mongoose with will and ontological inertia.

 

You are right about Paul cheating, but wrong about how Paul cheats.

Paul cheats by not having to do any of the heavy lifting that power rings are supposed to require from their users.

A relevant quote from the anime series in concerns to this.

There's not supposed to be any "hey AI do a thing" in concerns to Power Rings, hence why all the really powerful lanterns tend to be various levels of insane or super intelligent.

That's because, outside of White and Black, they aren't.

For all it's strengths, the Orange light is supposed to have a crap load of weaknesses to along side them. But while the strengths seem to have made their way into this story, all of the weaknesses were left by the roadside.

Which, when combined with all the new author created powers Zoat has given the Orange Light, has resulted in the current lack of narrative tension in concerns to any sort of fights in both Paragon and Renegade story lines.

 

I go to this page....and it's blank, not a single post. Thus, I am confused. This vacuum must not exist! I must post!

So...something related to the story....think man, think!

Um....

Lord Malvolio of the Green Flame, a half-human Green Lantern, dressed like Alan Scott, who was hundreds of years old and who manipulated Hal into taking his ring. Malvolio planned to use Hal in his war against the Old Timer. But...you know, that got forgotten.

When I was a kid, that was always something that struck a cord with me, even though I don't know why. The whole passing on the ring, and how, sometimes, it seemed REALLY important on a personal level.

Sometimes I wonder if Malvolio was supposed to BE Alan at some point.

 

Seems like greens have it harder learning, Oranges have it harder mastering. Its easier to compare your stubborness against someone but much harder to compare greed/desire.GL vs OL rank and file goes to OL's, Honorguard fights the edge goes to GL's in my head.

And I agree heartily with Maxx Crowley, How a Lantern thinks their constructs will work is how they will even over science that would say otherwise.