posted
Okay, so I know a lot of us didn't buy Rokk as the Time Trapper, as was revealed toward the end of the preboot. As I recall, there were some rampant theories about whose face lay beneath the hood, though I somehow can't remember who those centered around. Certainly, the fact that his/her/its(?) face was always shrouded completely by the hood left the possibility open that we might have recognized the face if we'd seen it.
So who SHOULD have been the Time Trapper (assuming, of course, that it shouldn't have just been some shlub)? Or did Rokk being said villain really work for you?
<Personally, only one Legion character makes sense to me, but I'll leave that for later so as not to influence your ideas.>
-------------------- "Suck it, depressos!"--M. Lash
From: The Underbelly of Society | Registered: Jul 2003
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
Dynamo Boy. Banished to a future time that seemed surprisingly like the time period that the Time Trapper was shown coming from in the early days. It has to be him!
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I'd rather the Time Trapper just be his own entity, but if it *had* to be someone we knew, the one that'd make some amount of sense is Rond Vidar -- he's the "time travel guy" and purple's his color (that's about the only reasons I can think of)
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
As I mentioned a few times way back at DCMB, my view has been that the Trapper isn't any individual. "It" is the aggregate potentiality of all creatures, of all sentience, i.e. anyone and everyone is and becomes the entity the Legion calls The Time Trapper. It embodies time and transcends all possibilities of identity.
Or, put together, it can be said to be the the "entityness" of Hypertime: all possibilities manifested in one centripetal being.
The nature of its "motivation" and actions are generated with any given occurrence of spacetime. If it "needs" to a adversarial, for whatever reason, it is; if it needs to be protective, it is. Literally, whatever the situation dictates. But as it has no executive identity or cultural morality, it has no "grand plan."
Its "true goals" are not attainments, not closures. But openings, thresholds of spacetime evolution that lead to... ?
It has the name The Time Trapper, because all the beings that become it are trapped by spacetime until they become it. Its name is the gateway enlightenment experienced by all upon becoming it; it's not a job description. It's ironic, not iconic.
So all depictions of The Time Trapper - a renegade Controller, Rokk, possibly Glorith, any others - are accurate in so far as their non-exclusivity. Endless possibilities are the essential "nature" of it, not simply any one or few identities.
As a character, The Time Trapper could be DC's ticket to make Hypertime a viable variable "non-structure" of the DCU. But unlikely they'll open that door. Their metaphysical inquiries were always pretty tepid until Morrison threw a few icons on the fire.
So, overall, IMO when someone says The Time Trapper is this or that character, they're not wrong, they're just limiting The Time Trapper to a passing manifestation generated by the exigencies of a passing moment.
The Time Trapper is not trapped by Time, or by the other name for Time we call "identity."
It is the infinite totality of all possible futures manifested as an entity in the immediate here and now.
All right, settle down. Don't worry, I'll get back to the Uranus and fart jokes tomorrow!
posted
Interesting, the Trapper as sort of a black hole of beings - more of a force than an entity. We're getting into god territory here, which matches Trapper's powers.
For story-telling, though, I'd find it easier to deal with a single entity. And I'd make Time Trapper its own entity rather than an existing character. Once someone "becomes" the Trapper, it's ball game over...you don't exactly go back and pick up your old life.
Still, thinking about it, the non-individualistic force is good - the whole concept is too big for my earth-bound mind, it's hard to put a "someone" in a position of that much power.
Could the Trapper ever really be defeated? Extinguished?
posted
A Controller, I'd say, as they had it in C-55, the Garth/Imra Wedding special issue. (And then pretty much abandoned later.) That's enough outside the normal flow of the Legion-era DC universe to make some sense.
I can't agree with Reep's reifying of cosmic forces, as that's hard to hang a personality upon without sounding horribly pretentious. And Rokk's being drafted for it in End of an Era was absurd, almost beyond words. Fortunately, that extinguished itself pretty quickly.
From: Starhaven Consulate, City of Angels | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Something about the founders being a little bigger than life appeals to me, whether it was the Universe rovolving about LL's luck, Darksied's interaction with SG, or Cos' role as Time Trapper.
Like Superman's aura continues, I would say those three deserve a bigger than your average superhero role.
From: East Toledo | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Greybird: I can't agree with Reep's reifying of cosmic forces, as that's hard to hang a personality upon without sounding horribly pretentious.
I agree, Grey. And Starlin unfortunately seems habituated to it over at Marvel. But one of my main points is that The Time Trapper has no central identity, no ongoing "temporal" personality. Those that arise are temporary and generated by "the demands of the moment," in response the conflicts of it's as of yet unassimilated constituent identities, which are all identities and beings.
Nor do I believe I am reifying cosmic forces. I've specified The Time Trapper as an "embodying" of Time, as its "entityness", as a form of being. It's not semantics. My position views Time as a being, not a thing. A big difference.
Faraway Lad
Senator of the UP. Permanent Ambassador to the Court of Saint James
posted
I was one of those who had no problem with Rokk as the Trapper. As written it had a kind of warped sense, especially given Rokks fascination for history, love of the legion and desire to do right. As we saw with Jan, isolation over an eternity can affect the mind, so rokk going over the edge and becomming mad and the trapper is a posibility.
However,
I actually prefer the Trapper to be just that. A force of Entropy. Something that sits at the end of time, sending out avatars into the time steam if it needs something, but never moving itself. The Trapper is the end of time and its "job" is to take all of that force of entropy and channel it back in a huge loop to become the big bang that creates everything.
-------------------- Faithfull
From: Newcastle upon Tyne England | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I was comfortable with the idea of TT being a renegade Controller, but I now feel that is limiting TT in some ways. The Controllers, powerful though they were, never made a lasting impression in the DCU.
But I'm less happy about TT being the living embodiment of Entropy. As Grey said, it's difficult to hang a personality who represents some natural force. What does such a character want and why? Why should it concern itself with lesser beings like the Legion? I don't think there has been a satisfactory answer.
I'd rather TT be someone completely off the wall. (OK, Rokk was off the wall, but too far off it.) Who says TT has to be everything he says or pretends he is? Why not an imp from Zrrrf, playing tricks on the Legion? Why not Ra's al Ghul (who, presumably, will still be alive at the end of time)?
-------------------- The Semi-Great Gildersleeve - writing, super-heroes, and this 'n' that
From: The Stasis Zone | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by He Who Wanders: [QBWhat does such a character want and why? Why should it concern itself with lesser beings like the Legion[/QB]
Would such an ephemereral TT even such as Reep's have urge, instinct, or conscious thought?
Time just marches on. If there is a survival instinct, then anything risking end or change to time would get its attention perhaps. If something in the embodiment of Legion risked time marching on (as planned?) time would try to correct.
Such a story would almost seem to waste time having Legion try to defeat TT or even to show an embodiment, better the story that investigates their realization of time.
From: East Toledo | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
If the Trapper can't be 'his' own being, then I'd say one of these two:
Brainiac 5 - He's just as logical choice as Rond or Rokk to me. And he's gone mad more than once. That 12th Level intelligence is just too unstable.
Superman - Why not? He's supposed to be long-lived and he can break the time barrier on his own (or use to be able to before Hypertime). And outliving his family and one true love could have made him a bit mad, mad enough to want to control time. Anyone remember the first Superman movie? A Time Trapper in the making.
From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003
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