Take him into confidence. Maybe not the best choice. It is good to talk about it for Ethan. He’s got a psychological roller coaster on a mind that isn’t the most stable at the best of times. However, you tell it to a kid. A kid that understands secrecy of identity, but a kid nonetheless. Maybe he tweets about it and the struggles in an absent state of mind. Maybe he’ll tell his mother. There are a thousand things that can go wrong. Only one way for it to go right. Stay with your closest friends who already know your… Read more »
What secret? That he may not have powers? The Troll wasn’t being sly that this was what he was trying to do. It’s not like Analog is fixing to tell Gameboy how to find him at his day job. The Troll did what he did rather publicly. Called out Analog with the threat to “hostages”, had the whole encounter on a visible roof. I don’t know if anyone had a parabolic mic setup to listen in on the conversation, but in a city where the goings ons of Supers is a part of the Page 6 life there is little… Read more »
It is true that the Troll and his troll army ‘knows’. They’ll probably share their trolling amongst each other, maybe trying to spread it beyond their own circles. It is only a narrow band of that secret though. Talking with Gameboy can reveal so much more dangerous stuff. His psychology and current view on the matter can provide pressure points to try to break him as much as possible. It can also start it’s rounds on new circles, giving extra credence to what anonymous trolls were claiming. It can narrow down where Analog lives for more targeted attacks, or finding… Read more »
Kasaix
2 days ago
Hmm. I wonder if GameBoy’s pause power could help determine if Ethan still has his respawn power.
time-freeze Ethan, it will not cause permanent damage but it might or might not trigger a respawn outside the area of effect (because it’s similar enough)
It didn’t last time (see Turf), that we know of anyway.
Kevin Greenbaum
2 days ago
Might be good to share some information, Gameboy could help him to a minor extent. Issue would be unlike when they fought the guy in the big mech suit Ethan doesn’t know he’ll survive pushing Gameboy out of danger.
Nik
2 days ago
Sometimes you just need a shoulder, any shoulder, to vent to.
Hawk
2 days ago
I think it’s sweet Ethan can find an occasional confidant in Sam / Gameboy. For one, it’s always worth a laugh to see Gameboy’s honesty and sunny attitude contrast Ethan’s (usually) performative seriousness, which is heightened by Ethan’s initial reaction to Gameboy’s theming “delegitimizing” Ethan’s own heroic identity. It’s funny that Ethan of all people has shared more time and conversation with Gameboy than any other character we’ve seen, but treats him as if he’s annoying or too childish (Kettle, meet Pot), despite the surprising wisdom in some of his words (see the “Bite” issue). But more than that, I… Read more »
Last edited 2 days ago by Hawk
kaladorn
2 days ago
Interesting notion:
Ethan is out on his own. He takes the kid with him. They find a real fight. Ethan saves him at the cost of taking the bullet. And because it was a ‘I’ll take the hit for the right reason even if I won’t come back’, then his power comes back.
It is much the same narrative that was used by people when Ethan and Scott confronted Zeke. Because Ethan has resurrection powers, he must die. If he didn’t have resurrection powers there would be another reason to test their powers. It is a ‘because A, we need B’ narrative and is very narrow. So far it hasn’t been, so why expect it now? I would sooner expect a story arc where he gets injured and lives with that than actual dying from Tim. He’s consistently been avoiding the easiest tropes for the bigger events, so why start now?
True, although some of us, while we do enjoy A+D, would enjoy seeing them get back to actual hero-ing. Not knocking the author but even little vignettes like the bit with Elijah, or Demolition, or the Troll confrontations are enjoyable action, even if they’re not a full ‘book’ (it doesn’t seem like A+D actually have numbered issues anymore, anyway…)
I wouldn’t count that as interesting, that seems to fall more under predictable cliche for me. Especially if it really is a magical cure for ‘doing the right thing’ rather than simply the Troll’s thing being fake.
Kaitensatsuma
1 day ago
Game Boy probably has the right idea anyways – community policing and all.
24
Take him into confidence. Maybe not the best choice. It is good to talk about it for Ethan. He’s got a psychological roller coaster on a mind that isn’t the most stable at the best of times. However, you tell it to a kid. A kid that understands secrecy of identity, but a kid nonetheless. Maybe he tweets about it and the struggles in an absent state of mind. Maybe he’ll tell his mother. There are a thousand things that can go wrong. Only one way for it to go right. Stay with your closest friends who already know your… Read more »
A lot of adults are just big kids.
All the more reason not to tell anyone, except the people you are already in cahoots with!
With more people in the know, the more chance the secret gets out.
What secret? That he may not have powers? The Troll wasn’t being sly that this was what he was trying to do. It’s not like Analog is fixing to tell Gameboy how to find him at his day job. The Troll did what he did rather publicly. Called out Analog with the threat to “hostages”, had the whole encounter on a visible roof. I don’t know if anyone had a parabolic mic setup to listen in on the conversation, but in a city where the goings ons of Supers is a part of the Page 6 life there is little… Read more »
It is true that the Troll and his troll army ‘knows’. They’ll probably share their trolling amongst each other, maybe trying to spread it beyond their own circles. It is only a narrow band of that secret though. Talking with Gameboy can reveal so much more dangerous stuff. His psychology and current view on the matter can provide pressure points to try to break him as much as possible. It can also start it’s rounds on new circles, giving extra credence to what anonymous trolls were claiming. It can narrow down where Analog lives for more targeted attacks, or finding… Read more »
Hmm. I wonder if GameBoy’s pause power could help determine if Ethan still has his respawn power.
Unlikely because the pause power only freezes things in place, the only way to test Ethan’s power is to kill him and see if he comes back.
time-freeze Ethan, it will not cause permanent damage but it might or might not trigger a respawn outside the area of effect (because it’s similar enough)
It didn’t last time (see Turf), that we know of anyway.
Might be good to share some information, Gameboy could help him to a minor extent. Issue would be unlike when they fought the guy in the big mech suit Ethan doesn’t know he’ll survive pushing Gameboy out of danger.
Sometimes you just need a shoulder, any shoulder, to vent to.
I think it’s sweet Ethan can find an occasional confidant in Sam / Gameboy. For one, it’s always worth a laugh to see Gameboy’s honesty and sunny attitude contrast Ethan’s (usually) performative seriousness, which is heightened by Ethan’s initial reaction to Gameboy’s theming “delegitimizing” Ethan’s own heroic identity. It’s funny that Ethan of all people has shared more time and conversation with Gameboy than any other character we’ve seen, but treats him as if he’s annoying or too childish (Kettle, meet Pot), despite the surprising wisdom in some of his words (see the “Bite” issue). But more than that, I… Read more »
Interesting notion:
Ethan is out on his own. He takes the kid with him. They find a real fight. Ethan saves him at the cost of taking the bullet. And because it was a ‘I’ll take the hit for the right reason even if I won’t come back’, then his power comes back.
It is much the same narrative that was used by people when Ethan and Scott confronted Zeke. Because Ethan has resurrection powers, he must die. If he didn’t have resurrection powers there would be another reason to test their powers. It is a ‘because A, we need B’ narrative and is very narrow. So far it hasn’t been, so why expect it now? I would sooner expect a story arc where he gets injured and lives with that than actual dying from Tim. He’s consistently been avoiding the easiest tropes for the bigger events, so why start now?
True, although some of us, while we do enjoy A+D, would enjoy seeing them get back to actual hero-ing. Not knocking the author but even little vignettes like the bit with Elijah, or Demolition, or the Troll confrontations are enjoyable action, even if they’re not a full ‘book’ (it doesn’t seem like A+D actually have numbered issues anymore, anyway…)
I wouldn’t count that as interesting, that seems to fall more under predictable cliche for me. Especially if it really is a magical cure for ‘doing the right thing’ rather than simply the Troll’s thing being fake.
Game Boy probably has the right idea anyways – community policing and all.