Young Justice

[Batman]

So, Wally is back in uniform at least for this episode, they're sticking with Wally being significantly slower than Barry or Bart, Jay is introduced to the YJ universe, and they're apparently settling the team with Bart if not for keeps, then at the least the time being. He's also not from the 30th century but a relatively close future (40 years from now) that apparently didn't turn out so well.
B-Plot, Cheshire and Clone Roy manage to find the real Roy (with Cheshire bringing Lian along for no comprehensible reason-no Robin comments, please, at least I wait until they're teenagers and can actually do something before putting them in harm's way).
The Kroloteans apparently came to Earth to study the effect of the gene that turn humans into metahumans (somebody over at DC read way to much X-Men.)
And to quote Wally from 'JLA-World without Adults'-'Oh no. Nononononononono.' 'Wally? What is it?' 'Bart! They've got Bart!'

[frigidmagi]

The Meta Gene is an actually thing in the DC comic universe. I vaguely remember first reading about it in the 90s. Since this is the DC universe however, there are no screaming purges or attempts to be bigoted towards people who can bench press an armored division. On the flip side, you rarely if ever see the intense changes in body make up or phenotype that you see in Marvel Mutants. The Meta gene doesn't seem to drastically change human appearances like the X gene does. In short if you get a meta gene instead of a X gene you're more likely to end up with something useful and be pretty. Most mutants actually have some pretty useless powers in all honesty. I haven't heard of any useless Metahumans.

I think Chesire bought Lian along for several reasons, first being arrogance. She's not going to admit that Artemis is a safer choice then herself even if that means bringing an infant to a combat zone. The second being to keep Roy focused and at the top of his game. You want to see a Dad get violent and bring his hurting people A Game? Put his kid into the mix. That's gotten people killed fairly regularly in the past. Third... This is Chesire, knowing her, she simply wanted to be sure that her baby girl got used to violence and blood as early as humanly possible. She's not as insane or bloodthristy as alot of the villains but she can be damn ruthless.

I wonder why in this universe Wally is slower then Barry or Bart?

[Dark Silver]

To be fair, until Barry's death, when Wally was Kid Flash, he was slower than the others as well.

Apparently it's a mental block he put in so he didn't upstage Barry at all - when Barry died and Wally took the Mantle of The Flash completely, he eventually broke through the block and become actually faster than Barry or Jay.

[Batman]

Actually, while he was Kid Flash he was just as fast as the rest of them. The pychic block/limited to Mach 1/eats like a hog thing wasn't introduced until he became Flash.

[Dark Silver]

OK.....You win Detective.


I don't think the "Invasion" Aliens are the Reach. The Reach never cared about the Metagene in other media they've appeared in (they don't give two shits considering the Tech they have on hand).


It was a pretty good episode, even with the showing of the Full Flash Family. Not sure I like Impulse being around, but eh...shit happens. Good seeing Wally suited up again.

Can't wait to see next week.

[Batman]

Impulse could be anything from dreadful to hilarious, depending on how they handle it. As long as he starts talking like a normal person. Crash-mode-yeah, right, what? Dick's word-splitting hijinx in season one at least mad sense.
Could be they're going with the comics and will have Wally replace Barry as the Flash for whatever reason (he's 21 now, about the age comics Wally was when he took on the mantle) with Bart taking over as the team speedster (and Valen help the team if they do).

[frigidmagi]

...Wow. That was... So Miss Martian tried to brainwash Connor and that's why he left? If he's kept it under his hat then frankly Meg owes him one. I doubt the League would take that lightly. They're trying to keep the heavy hitters absence a secret which tactically speaking is a good idea. As for the Bill O Reilly guy? Look asshat, Superman has saved the world more then you've shits. I'm going to trust him over a posturing loud mouth any day of the week. Seriously who would listen to this guy? I would screaming in protest over every word that came out of his mouth.

[Batman]

Look at the real world and rethink 'who would listen to this guy'.

[frigidmagi]

The President hasn't single handily saved the world so often that no one is surprised anymore. Nope. Not rethinking this at all. You can get away with this shit against politicians but against SUPERMAN?!?

Nope. Bullshit.

Not buying it.

[JimmyTheCannon]

The asshat is a servant of Darkseid. Wouldn't be surprised if he's got some sort of influence via that.

And yeah, totally not surprised by Connor's revelation about Megan using her powers. Except the thing about using them on him, that kinda threw me.

What I'm curious about is how they've managed to keep her from finding out about Secret Agent Aqualad. And along those lines, Black Manta will apparently be okay with his son showing up with some random chick he's never met on the way to the secret lair? Supervillain Parenting: You're doing it wrong.

[Dark Silver]

This was a damn good episode. Lots of questions answer, even more brought up.

1) Dick, you're doing CPR wrong. And how the hell do you get away with doing CPR on someone who got stabbed in the heart? Of course she won't be revived by it. But for now...YOU KILLED ARTEMIS YOU BASTARDS! BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD!!

2) Oh hey, it's Wally. Yes, be outraged my young Speedster. Give in to the hate.....oh hey there's sexy Artemis. Damn she grew up nicely.

3) La'gann. I want to murder you. Everytime you're on screen - much less open your mouth - I wish Superboy would crush you beneath his heel like the annoyance you are. FUCK YOU AND YOU'RE CRAB CAKES! And did you just snidly insult Superboy by calling him "chum"? I'm sure by now EVERYONE knows you're being a smug cockass when you say that to them. Take your ego problem and get the fuck out.

4) Dick being awesome, as per usual. "I'm feeling peckish for some field work". Yep, this is going to be good.

5) G. Gordon Godfrey is being his annoying self - no matter what. He's like O'Rielly x10. Too bad he won't get offed anytime soon....nice of M'gann and Conner to do the stand in for Martian Manhunter and Superman.

6) OH GODS I WANT TO MURDER LA'GAHN SO BADLY. Seriously, his entire EXCHANGE during the second and third acts of this episode were painful to hear, and did zilch to endear him to the audience. Whine because the team leader told you to play to your fucking strength - Of course you're type-cast as the Water Guy, BECAUSE YOU'RE THE FUCKING WATER GUY. You hail from Atlantas! You operate in the water better than any of the others because you were fucking born and raised in it you ignorant condescending piece of squid feces! I FUCKING HATE YOU! (I'm so telling Black Manta not to hand him over to the Partners, and just fucking off his ass during this hiatus). I'm glad his ass got captured. Fuck him.

7) M'gann tried to mindrape Conner. She should have fucking known better. Bad Guys are one thing...but you tried to mind rape the boy you said you loved and who knew your mental touch better than anyone. OF COURSE he would have figured it out. Conner's entire bit in the second act regarding M'gann damn near had me at onions. That was a low blow - and it looks like Conner and M'gann still very much have feelings for each other.

8) Kaldur'ahm/Manta does his thing, and shows why he's still a badass. When he showed up, I was hoping that meant he killed Lagoon Boy...but no...he just knocked him out. Pity. You could have done you're former team a service there Kaldur.....

9) Yep, Kaldur and the Manta Soldiers look pretty badass coming out of the water. Get to see some Nightwing and Artemis ass kicking action. Artemis still has the moves.

10) Black Manta, you're a suave mother fucker. I was never a big fan of Black Manta as a villain before (even during JL/JLU's run) but this version of him is actually pretty badass. It's just so hard NOT to like him.

11) I think Dick not only would have made Batman proud this episode, but he out Batmanned the god damn Batman. He even kept Wally in the loop! Bruce sure as in hell wouldn't have done that. Nice to know Dick and Zatanna did have something, and continue to do so it seems. Kaldur's a double agent for the Team, but only Wally, Dick, Artemis and Kaldur himself knows it.....

Gotta wonder how Kaldur will pass off Artemis going onto the Manta sub though....

[Batman]

Yeah, if they were trying to make the audience like Annoying Fish Boy, they did a horrible job of it.
Wally and Artemis are either financially very well off or know people who are (yes, okay, they know me so they do by default but you know what I mean) given the size of their abode (not to mention the TV). They also have a dog.
Conner is either a lousy shot or the bioship doesn't like him (or a combination thereof). Those missiles were slow as molasses and the refire rate was nothing to write home about. He should have been easily capable of shooting them out of the sky forever.
I really liked a) Artemis not dying and b) Calder not being a traitor afterall.
I do wonder if Dick was being honest when he said that only the four of them knew the truth. Conner said he couldn't hear Artemis' heartbeat...except she wasn't dead, and nobody did anything to mask it/stop her heart long enough for him to be fooled. So I either missed something (which wouldn't be the first time) or Conner is in on the scheme and Dick didn't tell them.

[JimmyTheCannon]

Either that, or the fake blood Dick put on Artemis's chest somehow affected it. But perhaps that's giving them too much credit.

[frigidmagi]

It's certainly possible for Conner to be in on it and Dick keep it a secret as a trump card. Or maybe he just picked up on the whole thing via his super senses and decided to pitch in and keep quiet. Or Dick used some kind of white noise generator to dampen the sound of Artemis' heartbeat or something else. Wally at least seems to be in college, but given his abilities, if he used them commercially he could turn a pretty nice profit. Or maybe they have stock in Wayne Enterprises (a gift maybe from Dick?).

Seeing Artemis back in the saddle was awesome but had the side effect of pissing me off towards the new 52. They introduced an Artemis character in the new Teen Titans book, so they could kill her off in 2 issues. That really feels like a "fuck off" to any fans of the cartoon looking to buy in. It's honestly just bad.

As for the fish turd. I'm pretty sure no one is suppose to like him. He's a jackass.

[Batman]

The bit about them apparently having access to a not inconsiderable amount of money was mere observation, nothing more. As you said, that could be my money by way of Richard, or it could be they stuck with comics continuity and Wally won the lottery, or something completely different. I did not mean to imply that them being rich (either by themselves or at one remove) was in any way a problem.

[Cynical Cat]

The Wayne Foundation's public service requirements on their scholarships is considerable, but so is the endowment.

[Batman]

Really. Used to be the only requirement to get a scholarship was-'Um-you work for me.'

[Dark Silver]

Just a reminder folks.....New Episodes of Young Justice begin the morning September 29th

Second Half of Season 2.

[frigidmagi]

Satsification and the epsiode is well named. It is mainly focused on Orginial Roy Harper (he of one arm) and his attempts to:

A; make sense of what the fuck just happened and where has all this time gone
B; decide just who he's gonna blame for this
C; how is he gonna deal with the fact that he is now part of a matched set

I like how he dealt with Red Arrow (Clone didn't ask to be made, didn't do anything wrong, not gonna be pissed at someone who can't help it) and his reaction to Green Arrow (Fuck You!) made good sense. I would like to note something... I don't like Green Arrow. I think everything he can do Batman or Hawkeye can do better. I find him smug, stupid and ridiculous. This episode actually made me feel sorry for the poor bastard. As far as he knows out of the 3 youngsters he's even partly taken under his wing:

1: Kidnapped and replaced for 8 years without him even noticing.
2: Was a Clone that was a sleeper agent, he never noticed
3: KIA

Batman manages a better track record for God Sakes!

The second line is Artemis' "death" and how everyone is dealing with it. Nightwing and Wally are visibly cringing as everyone around them mourns (Artemis' mother the orginal Huntress thanks him for being so supporting and you can actually see guilt and regret in Wally's eyes and face, that is some good animation guys!) and people are. Ted Kord is actually brought up to. It seems JL policy is to keep deaths as secret as possible, so those KIA? Hologram in the basement... Literally. Which is causing discontent in the ranks (it's a fucking Chair Force Atom policy... OF COURSE!) We see this in a discussion between Blue Beetle and Impluse (who is of course eating something, the food bill in the speedster houses must be a nightmare that rivals the flashbacks of green berets and James Bond).

Lastly...

Fucking Hell Luthor... Just... Fucking Hell. The man is a traitor. A douche bag. Scum! In a rational universe he would have been murdered by now. And yet... Lex Luthor forces me to respect him. Almost against my will, grudgingly I respect Young Justice's version of Lex Luthor.

My advice... Do not the man talk! Never, ever let him start talking!

[Dark Silver]

Season 2 Episode 9: Darkest

This is another well turned out episode. We get to see how Aqualad got Artemis on "Team Evil", and we get to follow Aqualad and company on a bit of a mission.

This is indeed a tricky game - but as Wally said....IS Khal'dur triple agenting the Team or not?

I mean, they just blew up Mount Justice - Khal'dur doesn't seem all that worried or concerned, Dick seems...grieved...

Lots to process, and I'm glad we still have 11 more episodes left to the season. Lots of questions to answer.

[frigidmagi]

This is easiestly the darkest episode yet. The Cave is gone. Beast Boy, Impulse and Blue Beetle have been kidnapped. Aqua Lad's loyalty is in doubt by his oldest friends. We still have no idea what happened to the League's heavy hitters. Nor do we know who the Light's partners are, or what they want (although we can certainly guess). Wally also seems damn close to losing his shit and I can't blame him. His buddies are getting blown up and kidnapped, Dick is doing who knows what and the love of his life is deep behind enemy lines. He have to be inhuman not to be rattled. On the plus side Lagoon boy only got like 3 lines this episode.

That data had better been worth it.

[Batman]

The explosion that took out the island in Alienated knocked Clark out cold but the Scarab thinks they can take it? That thing either has an ego to match mine or is a lot tougher than it appears so far.
YJ Bart seems to be just as stupid as his comics counterpart but remains noticeably faster than Wally (he effortlessly went up a vertical wall to take out Icicle Jr when that same feat almost went badly for Wally in the series opener).
The Scarab can and will override the wearer's control up to deploying and using weapons, at least while the wearer is distracter or surprised.

Somebody should've told Sphere Calder is now at least officially one of the Bad Guys-she rolls up to him like nothing's happened since he was on the team.

Apparently, YJ has adopted the TNG approach to internal security-never, ever change the override codes. Calder got into Mount Justice with no problems at all. You'd think they'd at least make token changes to their security systems so it looked like he had to work at it, especially given Dick's comments on making it look convincing.
I can't speak for the Light but me, I'd be mighty suspicious.

If we lived in a just world, the bad guys would make good on their word about Annoying Fish Boy being 'fresh meat' and have him for dinner.

[RogueIce]

So for reasons known only to them, Cartoon Network pulled a last minute switch of the DC Nation block to show...that How To Train Your Dragon series.

If this is prelude to another fucking HIATUS I will be...somewhat displeased with their actions.

After we get only three Goddamned episodes I will, in fact, be rather pissed. Of course CN has already fucked this show with the previous hiatus bullshit, including airing what was clearly a season premier right after the season finale, which I'm pretty sure is what made a lot of people gripe over the timeskip who might not have had it aired with a proper break between seasons, but...GAH.

CN and Nick are both pissing me off with their fucked up ways of airing shows and sticking in long-ass breaks and shit.

[Batman]

When I originally read RI's post I assumed the switch meant YJ would be on on sunday instead of saturday or something. But it appears DC Nation is on hold until November for no apparent reason. Combined with the pointless massive mid-season breaks the series had to suffer during its short existence this makes me, in the words of The Doctors mother-in-law, 'very cross'.

[frigidmagi]

Welp... We can whine on the internets... Or we can bitch on the internets

I know, I know. Frigid, don't be silly this won't do anything... Frigid how dare you demand I take action... Blah, Blah, Blah.

But you know what? At least click on the link and tell cartoon network that you're offended and hint that you'll be voting with your wallet. You'll lose 5 minutes maybe and it won't hurt. I promise.