Friday, March 4, 2016

Top 5 Fridays: Top 5 Plot Points That Sounded Cool, But Weren't


Welcome back to another exciting installment of Top 5 Fridays! Have you ever read a story that had one plot point that seemed dumb? Now with that thought in mind, has that plot point come out of left field and doesn't make sense to the story? More often then not, there are actually cool sounding plot points in stories, but when they are actually brought to page it doesn't work out. From execution to logic holes, a Plot Point could fall into infamy if the writer isn't careful. Today I'll be going over such plot points that have bothered me in recent arcs. This is just my opinion, so if you enjoyed any of these that is 100% fine. Let's begin...

5: Parallax vs. Hal Jordan
Let's start off this list with the reason this list was thought up. Parallax was my first encounter with Hal Jordan, so seeing the insane killer lantern first appeared in the most recent Green Lantern story arc, I was pumped to say the least. Two of the darkest points in Hal's life were going to throw down and throw down hard. When he finally arrived though...I was disappointed. We got a fight but when Green Lantern turned into pure light he pussed out and ran, swearing that he will have his family again one day. It would have been fine if it was any other version of Hal... BUT THIS IS PARALLAX! The man who killed hundreds of Lanterns, caused the Zero Hour, and while we here at Weird Science aren't fans of it, was also the one to end the threat of Deimos in Convergence! How is the being who nearly caused the entire multiverse to collapse TWICE afraid of a trench coat wearing version of himself?! He wouldn't have backed down against Hal, no matter how powerful the glove is. Now not only do we miss out on an epic battle, we might never see him again after the Rebirth...and that's a damn shame... 


4: Futures End's End
Did you know there is another side to time travel fixing stories? While some believe that you can easily change one thing that will effect the future, there are others that believe that something else will just naturally change and cause the same effect; you can't change fate. Despite this seemingly impossible theory, the changes are logical. An example can be found in the Doctor Who episode, "The waters of Mars," where a young woman was saved from her destined death, but due to her being so mentally scarred by the event, she took her own life. This was a logical change that kept the timeline in check. Which is why the explanation of why the Future's End Future remained is utter ridiculousness! Tim Drake was able to go back and have Brother Eye self destruct...yet when he returns, the god like machine still has control. Why? Because of all the Eye-droids left behind at Terrifitech...even though that time takes place years after Tim destroying Brother Eye...What the $&#%?! I don't care how many times you say wibbly wobbly timey wimey, if your going to do something like that you NEED a logical explanation! Eye-droids - Brother EYE = no eye-droids! 


3: Super-Solar Flare
I won't lie when I say that when I saw Superman's newest power, the Super-Solar Flare, I bounced in my seat like a school boy. It was so cool looking and devastating that I was hoping he would use it often...just kidding. With a power powerful enough to wipe out an entire forest, you should not use it that often! Use it for the big threats i.e. Darkseid and the Anti-monitor. Just imagine Mobius looking at Clark as he flies towards him, beginning to glow, but using the solar energy he got from Apokolips. Not only would we have our favorite Kryptonian back, but also DESTROY Mobius in a cool way! However once the power was revealed, EVERY superman title wanted a crack at it. Eventually it became less of a new power and more of a cheap gimmick...and then it lead to Truth and we all know how that has shaped up. I hope when Rebirth hits, this power with potential gets pulled back in how much it's used; it'll make the appearance of it that much more special. 


2: Apokolips War II 
When people first open the epic Earth 2 series, we are greeted by a world at war. We see the original Wonders die to keep the world safe, but years later were at a second war with Apokolips with our new Wonders on the front line. This was a fantastic way to prove these new guys were equals of the original Man of Steel, Dark Knight, and Amazing Amazon, as well as elude to the fact the Wonders were World War II veterans pre-flashpoint. Volumes 3-5 of Earth 2 contained a war that had epic action, destruction, character building, and had a hopeful ending... Then it didn't. For reasons I'll never understand, DC thought the only reason people liked Earth 2 was because of the war, so they kept it going, trying and failing to develop more characters or grow their currently fantastic ones... then in over the top fashion, they lost the war and it felt hopeless... In 35 issues Earth 2 was a war weary planet but had hope to live on...then 26 issues of World's End killed that hope, and in a sense, our favorite characters. 


1: The Batman Eternal Machine
Two years ago, The Dark Knight of Gotham celebrated 75 years of being one of comic's biggest icons. For this anniversary, Scott Snyder created a story that, frankly was really far fetched for a Batman story, but still enjoyable. It follows a man who is being told that he is a part of an eternal game that involves the Batman and Gotham. Bruce created a machine that would make a proper clone of himself to be the Batman, as his human body can only handle the stress of being Batman for so long. It's a clever take on Batman's future...but let's be real, there's no way Batman would be able to keep it under wraps let alone make it work, no mater how smart he is... During Superheavy you see it nearly completed...and in issue 49 you see it fix batman's mind...even though Alfred said the machine wasn't ready...I don't know... This doesn't make Batman... Batman is human, who inspires others to fight against crime and corruption... but this takes away that humanity... It takes the Man out of the Bat.

That's it for this weeks Top 5 Friday! What plot points do you find stupid? Leave a comment and I'll see ya next week!

3 comments:

  1. I like the Bat Manchine. Batman's supposed to be the second smartest guy in the world; he's allowed some sci-fi. As for the rest: World's End was terrible, Truth was bad, Future's End was terrible and Parallax v. Hal was ok.

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  2. Trinity War was a disappointment. As was (and I know I'm gonna cop flak here) The Dark Knight Returns. I dunno- the talking head news announcers got annoying REALLY quickly, and the story played out a bit too slowly for me.

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  3. The end of Future's End was such bullshit--and you know, if there had been a twist ending where Brother Eye took over anyway because of some lingering tech that might have been one thing, but wasn't it just that Brother Eye said it was going to send away the refugees from Earth 2 and then self-destruct itself, and was like "psyche!"? What a cop-out. Another plot point that seemed cool but wasn't was everything in the Blight crossover during Forever Evil. It was total crap.

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