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

Cool, so now when those things start popping up elsewhere and murdering billions we know who to blame.

Neither of these things are true.

 

If they needed plants, wouldn’t they be incapable of colonising planets without plants? That seems like a pretty big weakness. I never knew about that.

 

No, looks like I was mistaken, though they're still going to need somewhere the fungus can grow.

 

The idea of snotlings and gretchins growing from nutrient-poor sites while proper orks grow once spores get access to nutrients makes sense to me. It is a good headcanon. The orks parasitizing plants (particularly if it is just one of their sources of energy and matter) makes as much sense as anything, fungi parasitize in real life.

 

This is your reminder that certain types of Fungus can grow in vacuum.

 

Watch your fingers Paul. Them greenskins have sharp teeth.

 

Tau geneticists and Paul making Gremlin is very cool. Hopefully it doesn't back fire.

And it's cool to see the nicassar be mentioned, an entire race of psykers powerful enough to propel ships and are described as "flat polar bears" sounds fascinating.

Hopefully Paul can help them come up with better policies for human psykers yeesh, and speaking of better. I wonder if he's helped in the FTL. He's already the most valued human in the Empire appearently.

 

If greenskin spores are like real life fungal spores, out of thousands of them only a handful would be able to make a viable offspring and enough time in bad conditions would kill them.

But they were made by the old ones, so they are likely more robust than that. That is if the spores aren’t doing the ‘proppa Ork thing and krumpin each other at the microscopic level.

 

I'm surprised but intrigued that we'll be seeing the POV of the OLC's latest recruit.

That should say species's.

I like that this shows how much Zartok has both grown so much yet changed so little. And that he can laugh at his own folly.

Unsurprising, but hopefully he'll either die before he can become a problem or he'll change his mind down the road.

Also, the threadmark says "Cuonterpunched" instead of Counterpunched.

 

Huh. Maybe the Greens would be a better match for him? On the other hand, Paul's Corps could use someone so dedicated to law and order, given they are naturally more inclined towards chaos than order, due to their many conflicting desires.

 

I love this chapter so much I have trouble putting it into words. This chapter really sums up one of the main ideas of the story, with one of OL's students passing on what they learned: the best way to change the way someone acts isn't to force them to act differently, but to find a way to have them themselves *want* to act differently.

 

Hey, if he does become a problem, Paul can always use him as a practice dummy for recruits that need to learn how the assimilation feature works.. is that something regular taught to members? The only member I can recall is that one who assimilated the Spider Guilder Yellow Lantern. Also Komand'r had that one Citadelian (Gard or something). I know Koriand'r is against it...

Hey Zoat, what are the other Orange Lanterns general thoughts on the assimilation feature?

 

‘I do to’ -> ‘I do too’

 

"built"

Maybe he's trying for a power move to show he's better than you by ignoring you.

Or his species, or just himself, like to focus on food.

Either that something like that is allowed to exist, or that they consider it evil, since I'm not so sure he would consider it such.

And the Green Lanterns have a guy that eats dead members.

 

You counterpunched then so hard they couldn't spell anymore.

 

Shouldn't it say 2013 instead of 2012?

 

Ah, focusing on Allyn as he settles in to his new role as an Orange Lantern. It'll be interesting to see what a newcomer makes of the Orange Lanterns he meets, and how they interact with their power and each other...

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Whereas most of a Maltusian's power is tied to their immortal flesh. Though they'd likely be offended if you called them gods.

Last seen here, discussing his goals with OL after being shown up in the training ring. I hope he's reconsidered those goals since.

Not surprising. He has a definite view of how things should be, and isn't happy that they aren't.

Good, keep an open mind about things. To set rigid boundaries on yourself is to fail to comprehend the very power you command.

He's used to being in charge, as a former general. Thus, everyone must wait for him to act first.

And that action explains so much about things. A teacher learns more about themself by teaching than any amount of meditation and study.

No doubt Zartok already has that information pulled up from the Ring's database, but hearing it in the Ascendant's own words can put a new perspective on those facts.

Allyn learning to use the Ring to aid him in unfamiliar social situations, I see. I bet that sort of thing has smoothed over many a potential cultural conflict amongst the Corps.

Sadly, it generally turns out that people are much the same everywhere, no matter how many other ways they differ. Some will always want more than they have and be willing to take it from those who have it.

To be fair, it's only after they've passed away, and she doesn't participate in the dying anymore..

Everybody needs to eat something. The only difference is that her 'food' used to be sophont beings.

Well, they're probably used to thinking of it as a powerful weapon, as some of the Green Lantern Corps like to boast about it being.

And those peoples find themselves castigated by less callous races. Though the Citizenry can learn to change their ways, and the Guilders can be forced to...

No, Allyn. He's being far more literal about that 'My way.'

If nothing else, it would keep people on their toes. Though I doubt he's so unpredictable that he'd reward something one day, and punish it the next.

Being a God is more than simply being the biggest, baddest mammajamma in the house, you know. A good God has duties and responsibilities that they take very seriously. Compare Zeus to Hades, for example.

And here we see Zartok being his usual Lawful Evil teammate self.

Though 'Tyrant' is a loaded term, in this case he definitely fills the worst aspects of it.

Yes, not being top dog burns, doesn't it?

Well, he's learnt from that mistake, I suppose.

To some degree, he's the sort of villain that some virtuous Orange Lanterns would happily smite without guilt.

Heh. The joy of having a veteran buddy to give you build advice when starting a fresh character.

Honestly, he's not that much more exalted than you are. He's got maybe a year's experience on you, barely two. OL could steamroll both of you without even tapping his more esoteric powers.

Yes... And when he thinks he can accomplish it, he'll challenge OL again, and eventually the Controllers. Whether he'll actually have progressed that far remains to be seen.

Ah, the diplomatic way. Not always successful, but certainly requires less battle.

Finished your dinner, then? Or was that just a flex of your 'superiority'?

I have the feeling Zartok may be surprised by what Allyn can do. Since not all people think the same way, Lanterns will not fight the same way. And Allyn has a few exotic abilities that can give him a distinct advantage.

Off to an interesting start with the episode's main timeline, I see. Wonder if this will be a one-off scene, or if the whole episode will be comprised of these 'below-decks' scenes amongst the Orange Lantern Corp, LEGION and the NEMO fleets. Either way, this should see some lively action as they push back against the Reach...

 

I know Paul is badass, but is he that powerful? He keeps encountering stronger foes that it's hard to judge.

 

Thank you, corrected.

He only ate one. It's not like it was a habit.

 

interest -> interests ?
'Interests' is more commone but it works either way.

 

Thank you, corrected.

 

How do you measure strength? I reckon he could be a mid-to-high tier superhero even without his rings at this point.

I think it's more he's encountering people who he doesn't have direct contact who engage in forms of combat he doesn't prefer while constrained by the political situation.

Also he's a strong individual who has started to engage warships.

 

I'm not sure that was a flex. I think Zartok, in his own way, was taking the teaching seriously - and sounding out his student. He does want to be superior, yes - but (as we saw in his prior conversation with OL) he knows that a functionary reflects their ruler - and a student reflects their teacher.

And so he poised a question to Allyn: 'I'm what most people think of as a bad guy. How would you deal with me?' - and he probably expected, to some degree, an answer involving smiting. Heck, he's probably seen that desire in other recruits. But Allyn gave the right answer - an answer that is not the expected Green, but instead is very Orange. And thus, he feels like Allyn is worth his time.

 

A good guess! Wrong, but a very good gues nonetheless!

As evidenced by his other droogs, Zartok doesn't much care what their motive is. He just wanted to get some idea of what sort of person he's dealing with. However, he's also trying to improve himself, and knows that anyone who can use the orange light has something to teach him.

 

Like that Twilight Zone episode said, people are alike everywhere.

That's not always a good thing.

And he's probably not the only one that has such an attitude.

Sadly, the OLC can't be picky for recruits.

 

I don’t know exactly how he compares to other Lanterns, but in general it’s important to remember that he might not be using full strength. I’m pretty sure that he could have beaten those Citizens much more handily if he was completely unconcerned about collateral damage and used stuff like a singularity projector or other WMDs.

 

I'm fairly certain the Illustres is one of the most powerful individuals in the galaxy, at this point. The problem, if it is one, is that he's accostumed to fighting in a "clever" way or with tactics instead of with power. For example, he's always using a railgun construct to fire smart or specialized ammo, whereas you can easily count the few occasions where he implements the Destruction Pulse; and this might be because he doesn't like to unmake things but I would think his Enlightment would help to discern when it's appropriate.

The other part of it is that Mr Zoat may be trying to present challenges to the Illustres, not necessarily more powerful than him but esoteric in nature or in circumstances where he can't just easily swat aside the opposition. Or he can also forget the abilities of the protagonist, cause I haven't seen the thought acceleration technique in a while, for example, and with that he should be able to overwhelm most enemies that aren't a speedster.

 

He used acceleration as recently as his fight with Aramis.

 

So did OL raid a mushroom farm or did they grow their own?