Comment on The New Kid on the Block

  1. Theonlywayout (Guest) on Chapter 2 Sat 01 Dec 2012 11:01PM UTC

    Got sent here from TvTropes (the story looked way too long to read in the comments on LJ) and I am loving this story so far. I guess what surprised me the most was how you still kept the personalities and behaviors of the characters completely believable even if this is totally AU. The way you played Capt. Cold made me smile and get creeped out at the same time. It was awesome and accurate. And Zoom as the sidekick? Plot twist! It surprised me in a good way. I dig and it seems to be working out really well so far. Question: how exactly is Zoom's costume different? You said it was less streamlined and had brass knuckles? I'm trying to get the Zoom from the comics to fit this one in my head.

    Anyway, I'm excited to see the rest of The Team show up. On to the next chapter!

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    1. itsxandy on Chapter 2 Thu 03 Jan 2013 10:29AM UTC

      I can't believe I missed some of these comments. I only just looked through my Spam mail and realized I missed a lot of these comments. I'm glad you liked Captain Cold (I always feel like I'm a little shaky on my characterizations of the Rogues because sometimes the Rogues' personalities change from comic writer to comic writer, and when I first started writing, I got a lot of the character reference material through the Rogue fandom too, which is a kind of a sloppy way of doing things (like a telephone game and all that). And I really feel like adding Zoom was a stroke of genius/luck on my part, I can't even feel humble about that because it worked out perfectly. If I didn't have Zoom here, I could've played the plot off Barry and Wally, but then there'd be no connection to the YJ team, who would otherwise have no reason to even be in this story. With Zoom, he kind of prevented me from this "there's a missing place that should have been filled" kind of mood/situation, but he pulled the plot together and I ended up with a "there was an open spot and someone else got there first" idea, which I liked because it was a different approach that I never would've thought of otherwise.

      As for Zoom's outfit, well, you know how in the very very first episode of Young Justice, Kid Flash's outfit didn't initially come with the shoulder padding or the gloves with the little snack compartments? Well, after Zoom joined the team, he started protecting himself for different sorts of enemies (most of the Rogues, he doesn't have to worry about physical attacks/getting punched). Hunter follows a slightly different level of physics, so getting punched, even by enemies with superstrength, usually won't do much, but there's still a chance that people will manage to hold him down and then punch him, in which case he could definitely be taken out. Wally's body's been kind of conditioned by running at superspeed, so in a way, he's physically a lot stronger (well, technically more durable).

      Zoom, on the other hand, is just manipulating time. He has a completely human body. The material of his costume is double layered for better protection and insulation (the Flash doesn't have to worry as much about cooler weather), and his boots are kind of balanced between protective and lightweight because he focuses on lower body strength (if I were to choose a fighting style, it would be tae kwon do, though he's not limited to a single form of martial arts, thanks to the fact that he spars with and learns from his teammates, who all have different styles, which he's picked up on (plus training with Black Canary)). He was supposed to have a chinguard on his costume, but on top of the fact it never looked right, I also always forgot about it and in the end decided he just doesn't have one. In practical terms, he probably should though.

      He also ended up equipping an impact-activated taser in the form of brass knuckles in his gloves at one point, though Barry didn't really approve. The problem with Zoom is that even though he's ridiculously fast, he still has normal human strength. If he were to punch Superboy, he could maybe knock him back a little. Superboy might actually have to take a step back. Best he could do is probably land a side kick on Superboy, which could knock him on his back but not take him out, barely even hurt him. The taser helped Zoom preserve his strength, not having to strike at full force and/or several times in order to take someone down, but it also cost him a lot of the precision, which was his strongest point. To be honest, the taser was definitely worth the drawbacks, and there was only slight disapproval, but both Jay and Barry's the slight disapproval was enough to discourage Zoom from keeping the tasers any longer than he had to, and eventually he figured out a way around it.

      Anyway, a friend of mind did a rough sketch based off what I described to her several months back. It's not exact, but it can give you a pretty good idea of the basic look.

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