The Official Green Lantern Thread

[BlackLantern]

^^^based on what?? he should be powerful, but hardly worldbreaking

 

[WompuM]

Based on the fact that he wields the most powerful weapon in the universe. He is one of the most experience people at doing so, and rather than being based off science, it is based off magic, one of Superman's weaknesses.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Yeah, Alan Scott is actually considered now the Superman of the Golden Age (by those who reside in the DCU) or at least a few people have told him so. And not to mention his ring is literally more powerful than any other GL ring.

 

[BlackLantern]

its because of the pimp cape....

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, Alan Scott is actually considered now the Superman of the Golden Age (by those who reside in the DCU) or at least a few people have told him so. And not to mention his ring is literally more powerful than any other GL ring.

Not really anymore. Especially since his is still totally ineffective against wood whereas the Corps rings are only ineffective against yellow if you, y'know, suck. In which case, a ring ain't gonna help you anyway.

It's really sad to see Alan's decline of late after the good 5 years or so we had with him earlier. But it happens. Hopefully someone'll build him back up later on.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Not much wood in space. =/

He's just in a place where he's not all that super useful, but if he became Sentinel again.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'd really just like to see him use his power to its full extent again. Forget all this nonsense about losing his humanity, ditch the wood weakness and drop a couple decades off his age through sheer willpower, and get him back in the game instead of sitting on the sidelines "teaching the younger generation" or whatever.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

That was sweet when they took a blood sample, flew it half way across the world, and found out it was only a blood sample made of his magic, because his willpower was strong enough to make it remain without him thinking about it.

And I don't mind him doing the teacher thing, I'd just like the JSA to do a little more, like back when they were chasing around Black Adam and junk, only with more Alan Scott action.

And I don't mind the age, I just mind it when everybody else is his age, and is apparently twenty times better off than he is.

 

[SouLeSS]

^^^based on what?? he should be powerful, but hardly worldbreaking

Saw that a while ago and saved it just because I thought it was awesome. Don't know if it's true, but if it is, it should give you a newfound respect for the man.

 

[BlackLantern]

I know the Starheart is magic and how it was part of the original plan for the Guardians....but isn't all that a retcon as well??

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

I dunno about all the other stuff, but the part about the Oans gathering up all the magical items of the universe to keep the dangers of magic in check was true. And the part about it having it's own sentience is true, hence explaining how will power controls his ring.

However, his ring is but a fragment of the full Starheart. Though, they never mention just what happened to the rest of it, or at least I don't remember.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I don't know about all the details, but that is the general gist of the Starheart's origin, and Alan Scott did totally tame it and make it his b****.

Until he got scared of being powerful for no apparent reason.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

He was scared he was losing his grip on humanity or something, which wasn't the case.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I know, I was being facetious.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

You sir, shut up.

(I had nothing else. )

 

[BrianWilly]

I don't mind Alan having limits. Yeah, they're self-imposed limits, but it's magic; powers based on a person's self- or world-conception is entirely consistent with portrayals of magic, and sort of the whole point.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I never said it was inconsistent, I said it was stupid. He's afraid of losing his humanity? Superman's got more power than God half the time, yet he's still very human. It's a lame reason for ditching his higher-level powers that could very well be used to help lots more people by kicking exponentially more ass.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Yeah, I dunno why it still doesn't work on wood, as that's not an actual weakness of it anymore. Though it might be the whole "humanity" kick.

It's not like many people he fights other than Briar who use wood anymore. But still, it's lame.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Heaven forbid the Sportsmaster bring a wood bat to one of his robberies.

I wouldn't even hate the weakness so much if it weren't so mind-numbingly stupid. Fire? Sure. Kryptonite? Why not? Lead? Eh... not great, but I can deal with it. Wood? :facepalm

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

I mean, it made sense originally for the former owner to have a wood based weakness.

But be honest, if the Sportsmaster is the freaking pinnacle of problems due to a wood bat, Alan's a little useless.

 

[BrianWilly]

Alan's not Superman. Superman wants to be human, Alan is human. His not-entirely-omnipotent powers are the reasons he's lasted all throughout his very long life, he's not going to want to be something else. Compartmentalizing his powers as something he recognizes. And, again, it's magic. Magic without a price just makes things look lazy.

Half the problem is bad writing, not bad powers. Was the whole not-entirely-omnipotent thing ever an issue in those issues of Checkmate? If a writer wants wood to bring Alan down, it's going to happen. If a writer wants Alan to effortlessly get around his wood weakness through clever application of powers as should be more than second nature to him at this point, that's going to happen too.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Well, that's all fine and good there, but we're more complaining about the weakness, not his dealing with the weakness.

 

[BrianWilly]

Well that depends entirely on your perspective as well, since elemental weaknesses are nothing new, either. Aquaman requires water at regular intervals, Martian Manhunter can't deal with fire in any way. Wonder Woman, despite common misconceptions of her having no weak points whatsoever, has been taken out by toxins more times than anything else. I don't think being susceptible to the power of plant life is particularly silly or even unheard of, but that's just me. It's all about the "dealing with the weakness."

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm complaining about the symbolic fall of the man, personally. "Magic must have a price" doesn't really mean much when you consider that he was operating for years with the full power of the Starheart, no wood weakness, and a 30-year-old's body. Even losing all that stuff didn't slow him down until interest in him just completely died out all at once and he became content with being the stodgy old uncle stereotype in the JSA to complement Jay's wise old uncle and Ted's scary-but-cool old uncle simply because no one seems to want to use him for anything worthwhile.

And Aquaman's connection to the Secret Sea kept him hydrated regardless of where he was before he went all Squiddly Adams.

 

[LouFerignoDemon]

Well that depends entirely on your perspective as well, since elemental weaknesses are nothing new, either. Aquaman requires water at regular intervals, Martian Manhunter can't deal with fire in any way. Wonder Woman, despite common misconceptions of her having no weak points whatsoever, has been taken out by toxins more times than anything else. I don't think being susceptible to the power of plant life is particularly silly or even unheard of, but that's just me. It's all about the "dealing with the weakness."

Yeah, but again, that's not what we're complaining about. lol

And even then, using the writers as an excuse is a weak one.

That's like calling the New Avengers an okay comic, because it's just whatever the writer wants to do.