quote:Originally posted by future king: Anyone ever wonder how Drake would make out power-wise if the energy that makes up his unstable form were put to use other than in a human form body containment suit to act as a hero (by his own choice)?
I mean if you think about it he could basically "possess" the circuitry of a interstellar battle cruiser, let's say, and turn it into a powerful mega monster battlecruiser capable of now quickly dispatching any invading unknown alien forces, etc. Or how about assist a scientist by donating his energy into an instrument designed to, oh I dunno, cut through the core of a planet or sun or something? Can you imagine how Wildfire could influence any man-made instrument by amping up its power level?
I wonder why Drake was never utilized in this fashion in any past stories. Maybe no writer has thought to do so yet. Maybe someone should.
Interesting...I have a twist on this in store in my fanfic.
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by future king: Anyone ever wonder how Drake would make out power-wise if the energy that makes up his unstable form were put to use other than in a human form body containment suit to act as a hero (by his own choice)?
Someone did use Wildfire as more of a power source. (I don't remember the specifics) It happened near the end of the twoboot Legion when he switched from the Coipel armor to the modified Cockrum suit. That look didn't stick though.
And I would say that WILDFIRE is absolutely among the heavy-hitters. He's there though solely because of the power of his anti-energy blasts - he's not extremely versatile. I would gauge his strength level as just below Ultra Boy's ultra strength for explosive strength, but probably not continued exersion.
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Hm. I'd guess that for Drake to "inhabit" some other contraption, it would have to either be designed especially for him or modified specifically for his energy signature. Even if the device was designed to be powered by anti-matter energy, I'd assume that's no guarantee it could handle his sentient variety. I'd suspect he'd "fry" 99% (or more) of devices, ships, etc. he'd attempt to power.
There could also be a danger of the device using him up. Most machines (pretty much all, really) consume energy to make them work, so he'd have to be protected somehow.
I guess you can argue that Drake's energy is somehow renewable. After, all he's always blasting away baddies without any ill effects. But it seems to me he just kinda distributes it and probably collects it afterward. I don't think he's ever been shown to actually 'lose' what he expends.
I also wonder why he's helpless (and powerless) outside his containment suit. Apparently, he has to direct himself through the suit to be a threat. Always seemed kinda odd to me.
[ July 10, 2010, 10:32 AM: Message edited by: Chief Taylor ]
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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future king
Excuse me but can you please direct me to the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles?
posted
I also think that if he did inhabit a particular contraption and then use his energy, that energy would not be used up for good but rather be expelled and then gathered up from wherever it went (open space?) and re-assembled into that Erg energy mass allowing him to then re-enter his Wildfire suit.
From: ontario | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
Well, in the DCU anti-matter doesn't automatically explode when in contact with matter. The science of the DCU is rooted in physics theories from '50s and '60s. That's how an entire Anti-Matter Universe can exist and it's citizens/energy can exist in our Universe.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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quote:Originally posted by Chief Taylor: I don't think he's ever been shown to actually 'lose' what he expends.
At the end of the story I mentioned above, Brainiac tells Wildfire that he actually did have a finite amount of energy to expend and that from that point on, the more energy he used, the more he was essentially killing himself. This was never a follow up to this though.
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote:Originally posted by future king: Can you imagine how Wildfire could influence any man-made instrument by amping up its power level?
That would seem like something Lightning Lad / Lass would be able to do, not Drake. His anti-energy would destroy any man-made instrument it was shunted into, unless that instrument was made of anti-matter, or magnetically shielded from contact with the anti-energy (in which case it wouldn't be able to *use* that energy...).
It's kind of what makes Drake's personality work as established, that his power is purely destructive and annhilates / endangers anything he comes into contact with. The containment suit isn't to protect *him,* after all, it's to protect the rest of the universe from him.
Sun Boy, Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, etc. can all generate incredible amounts of energy, and use them to power things or construct buildings or provide life-giving warmth and light, etc.
Wildfire is 10,000 nuclear bombs, walking around in the shape of a man, and I think it would detract from the pathos of the character if he was just like Sun Boy or Lightning Lad.
Registered: Aug 2006
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cleome46
or you can do the confusion 'til your head falls off
posted
[snip]
quote:Originally posted by future king:
...I mean if you think about it he could basically "possess" the circuitry of a interstellar battle cruiser, let's say, and turn it into a powerful mega monster battlecruiser capable of now quickly dispatching any invading unknown alien forces, etc....
I wonder why Drake was never utilized in this fashion in any past stories. Maybe no writer has thought to do so yet. Maybe someone should.
Makes you wonder what would happen if he were to team up with a character like, say, the second Computo?
Also, I forget who previously mentioned this, so forgive me. I also would like to see Drake become adjusted, or more at peace with, the fact that he doesn't have his original corporeal from anymore. It might open up a little more of his character and even be a jumping-off point for him to be able to use his powers in other ways than the traditional one.
-------------------- Hey, Kids! My "Cranky and Kitschy" collage art is now viewable on flickr. Drop by and tell me that I sent you.
From: Vanity, OR | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
Wouldn't that ruin what makes the character unique? Wildfire to me screams of a character directly influenced by the Marvel-style of writing. He reminds me of The Thing or Rogue. His has an edge which differentiates him from the older members.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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cleome46
or you can do the confusion 'til your head falls off
posted
Frankly, I've always found those characters being eternal angst machines to be kind of tedious, too.
I'm not saying that it has to be a perfect transition and that the character has to be a beacon of peace and happiness all the time. Just... angst and alienation doesn't need to be the central focus of the character's life forever. Usually, when writers take a heroic character in a "new direction," what they really mean is, "turning the character into a doormat and/or a complete rat b*st*ard."
What would be wrong with a "new direction" in which the character actually became better rather than worse, for a change? Particularly in a futuristic environment where there might be species and/or cultures that didn't think of bodies and organic physical forms in the same way that humans traditionally do.
-------------------- Hey, Kids! My "Cranky and Kitschy" collage art is now viewable on flickr. Drop by and tell me that I sent you.
From: Vanity, OR | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
How could he get over it? You say that people are different in 30th century, but no matter what you live in there are basic needs that must be met. His very form isolates himself from those around him, and he can be exploited as a power source.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I actually kind of thought that Levitz might go in that direction with the Wildfire/Quislet friendship. Having another energy being to hang out with might radically change his perspective.
It would've been interesting to see more of him with Neon (Celeste McCauley) as well.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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cleome46
or you can do the confusion 'til your head falls off
posted
quote:Originally posted by Red Arrow: How could he get over it? You say that people are different in 30th century, but no matter what you live in there are basic needs that must be met. His very form isolates himself from those around him, and he can be exploited as a power source.
I disagree. Not everyone actually has the same "basic needs" all the time. Not even actual flesh-and-blood humans.
What if, as others have commented, he saw his present condition as not unique at all; say, if he met and formed friendships with other energy-based beings? People do change their priorities and associations over time, as they mature and encounter experiences they didn't previously.
As to the exploitation angle, I don't really get why Wildfire is somehow more vulnerable than any of his teammates to exploitation. The only way to avoid that would be for him to isolate himself from the dangerous environment he works in. Even then, it's not a given that other beings who wanted to exploit his powers would just leave him be. You could argue that being surrounded by other powerful people who care about him is safer for him than solitude would be.
-------------------- Hey, Kids! My "Cranky and Kitschy" collage art is now viewable on flickr. Drop by and tell me that I sent you.
From: Vanity, OR | Registered: Dec 2008
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
It's possible today to turn matter into anti-matter (in microscopic quantities, at CERN, for a short time...), so I'm sure that, 10 centuries from now, a green-skinned person who is a million times smarter than Einstein could probably find a way to, at least temporarily, reverse the charge in Drake's anti-energy and turn him into 'just energy,' at which point he could maybe power machines or whatever. (Since the team already has Lightning Lad, Sun Boy, etc. who can create ridonkulous amounts of non-anti-energy, without risking killing a fellow Legionnaire by using his body and soul to power a flashlight or just a catastrophic explosion, exactly why he would do this remains a mystery...)
Turning him into flesh and blood would be a more difficult trick, but just because I can't explain the science of how that would happen doesn't mean that the comic-book universe isn't chock full of characters like Lazon or Black Vulcan or Living Lightning or Photon who transform into energy and back again. Thanks to those precedents, we can wave at science and tell it to sit down and shut up, since it's clearly possible in the comic book universe.
Perhaps a bit of research into the captured (or willingly volunteering?) Lazon could help Drake to figure out how to 'spin' his energy form back into a material body with intense concentration, eventually getting easier and easier as he 'exercises' whatever process he needs to do so.
He'd still be made of antimatter, but he'd be able to interact with the material world, in some sort of magnetically-sealed transsuit dealie (a 'body condom' of sorts, making any sex 'safe' in more ways than one). Since such a suit has already been established to be all-but invisible and 'molecule-thin,' he wouldn't even have to look like some Human Bomb legacy, in a bulky (or even visible) containment suit.
I'd expect the only reason he hasn't developed the ability to turn into a human form in this (or some other) manner, and, albeit in a limited fashion, regain a sense of a human existence, is the same reason why Charles Xavier always ends up in the wheelchair, Spiderman is wearing blue and red again, Ben Grimm can be cured a dozen times and always turns back into the Thing, etc, etc.
Editorially-mandated pants-wetting terror at the concept of character growth.
Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
In X-STATIX, Prof. X was able to whip up all kinds of suits for energy-chick Veenus Dee Milo to inhabit, including one for... well, just about anything.
I'd say it's long past time that Drake had a few different types of suit she could jump into, even a fleshy one that looks like his old human self.
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