Wednesday 30 July 2014

Countdown to Justice: Chapter Two

Take a trip to Smallville in the latest chapter of Countdown to Justice.

Chapter Two: Look To The Stars
      The journey to Smallville is not long. Perhaps not a blink of an eye, but with my prodigious speed the journey is over quickly. An abrupt stop brings me to the outermost field of the Kent farm. I can sense him inside, alone. His thoughts are calm, focused through that telescope of his. Focused on the stars.
      I try not to peer too deep into his mind. Though I have no qualms over reading the thoughts and memories of an enemy or a criminal, as I did in my days as a Manhunter on Mars, Clark Kent is a potential ally and deserves more respect. That said, I used my telepathy to track him down, and a few of his foremost thoughts are unavoidable.
      Lois Lane…Daily Planet…Krypton…these things I already knew. Even without telepathy, a brilliant detective would be able to deduce that Clark Kent is Superman. I pray that none but me have.
      There is one thought I did not anticipate…Watchtower. I shut off my mind, but the detective in me wonders what this means. If he wishes for me to know, then he will tell me, but he has piqued my interest. 
      Invisible, I sneak close to the house. Though I cannot be seen, and through my density powers I barely displace the grass beneath my feet, but there is a chance he may still be able to hear me.
      His powers are legendary. Despite the desolation his kind wreaked on Metropolis, the people of Earth revere ‘Superman’ as a god, in a way the police or armed forces can only dream of. He is beyond the human: Ms. Lane’s first article after the Kryptonian invasion called him “the pinnacle of otherwordly power”. They see him not as a man with power, like the Hawk, Bat or Arrow, but as power itself given invulernable, primary-coloured form.
      I am below him now, looking up through the porch, through the floors of the house, at the attic. His eye is fixed on the telescope lens. For a moment, I wonder why a man with telescopic vision would use such an instrument, but I quickly realise that’s not the point. Dr. Erdel once said of me that my humanity is a greater strength than any of my abilities, and I believe that Clark Kent may cherish his humanity even more than I do mine.
      Then he hears me. I don’t know how I gave myself away, but his Kryptonian hearing is keen enough for a hundred humans. He leaps out of the window and lands before me. Though I remain invisible, he knows I am there.
      “Whoever you are, don’t make this any harder on yourself.” His blue eyes turn red and bore deep into mine. I allow him to see me, and he is momentarily taken aback at the sight of a human detective. Then I show him my true, Martian colours.
      “You’re not from Kansas, are you?” he says. His tone is lighter and more relaxed now. He knows I am not a threat.
      “Greetings, Son of El,” I begin. “My name is J’onn J’onzz.”

(Click image for detail)

To be continued... 

Follow the blog to be updated when a new chapter arrives! Chapter Three lands next week, on August 6th.

Saturday 26 July 2014

Green (BRAWL 2014 entry)

After a week of work, it's done!


And, as with many of my recent animations, here is some added canon I whipped up. Note that this is meant to enhance the film, but you don't need to read this to understand it, nor does it serve as an explanation of my somewhat shaky plot.

The Crystal Conspiracy: When the Torang Prime mine was first opened, fifty years ago, a few green crystals were found in a volcanic area on the planet’s surface. Tests revealed that a green crystal would produce cleaner, longer-lasting energy than the same amount in orange crystals, and so the company director Sorven Crick (direct descendent Hareton Crick, then president of Octan and nicknamed ‘President Business’) organised a cover-up. The green crystals were hidden, all data pertaining to them was destroyed, and scans of the upper layers of the planet were done to ensure that the robot miners were only 13% or less likely to find them. This was intended to keep consumers buying more of the orange crystals, rather than buying the more efficient green in smaller quantities. 

Following Sorven Crick’s death twenty years ago, all knowledge of the cover-up and the purpose for the specified ‘mining zones’ passed out of memory, and so the company began digging across previously-unexplored parts of the planet. By this time, the upper layers of the surface in which the robots had been mining had been mostly eroded away, and so the rediscovery of the green crystals was inevitable.

Torang Prime: Far out in the Dark Reaches, Torang Prime is the largest planet in a vast system, orbiting a grey sun. As such, there is no organic life on Torang Prime or any other planets in the Torangi system, save for the mining operation that has come to this world. It is similar to what scientist descibe as a ‘canonball world’, where intense pressure has crushed the planet’s surface into diamonds (only on Torang Prime, much of the world’s surface has been crushed into orange crystals instead).

So as not to damage the structural integrity of Torang Prime (as a rival corporation did on the planet Xamathamax, which exploded just minutes before the miners reached the planet’s core), the company planned a hundred year tenure on the planet, which would ensure that the planet would not be damaged or stripped totally bare. Even with the discovery of the green crystals, and increased production in previously unexplored ‘zones’, the company is predicted to fall short of their Maximum Mining Gain by 30%, a prediction which won current company director Orvin Klank the Miner’s Guild Environmental Award. This tenure ends in thirty years.

Wednesday 23 July 2014

Countdown to Justice begins!

After putting it on hold for a couple of months while I tried to get the last couple of minifigures I needed, here is chapter one of my ongoing DC LEGO Universe project, Countdown to Justice!

Chapter One: The Martian
The snow is beating heavily at the window of my office. Outside, the city of Metropolis is unnaturally tranquil and blanketed in white. I never grow tired of the snow, for it is a phenomenon I never would have had the pleasure of experiencing on Mars.
My name is J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, and I am the last of my kind. I came to Earth through a crack in space and time. Your scientists say my home planet cannot sustain life. They are half-correct, for though Mars is now a barren wasteland of iron-laced stone, it was once home to the greatest race in the Sol system. The Curse of H’ronmeer changed all of that.
Now I live among you, using my unique abilities to disguise myself as a human. On Mars I was a Manhunter, an officer of the law, and so here on Earth I have chosen to be a detective. I continue to do my best to help protect the lives of those who cannot protect themselves.
But your world is rapidly becoming a very different place. A more dangerous place.
Last summer, men from the world of Krypton brought the full power of gravity itself to bear in the middle of Metropolis, killing thousands and doing untold damage to the city. Though a human champion, the man Luthor is funding Metropolis’ reconstruction, life on Earth will never be the same again.
  Yet he is not the only champion fighting for you. One of the Kryptonians, who had lived here in peace for thirty-three years, repelled the invaders and aids in the great rebuilding. The people call him Superman.
  Faster than a speeding bullet. Stronger than a steaming locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
It is to this Man of Steel that I now go. He has fought to keep his identity a secret, and understandebly so, but he does not see what I see. He does not yet realise that the continued existence of us all lies in unity, and he must look beyond Metropolis. Beyond America.
For now, he will look to Mars.


(Click image for detail)

To be continued... 

Follow the blog to be updated when a new chapter arrives! Chapter Two is out now!