With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

[Soul Shocker]

My qualifications are uni classes two decades ago, but it's fairly basic stuff. Nuclear reaction releases energy in the form of high energy short lived radiation wavelengths (x, gamma, light, etc), without an atmo to absorb a high percentage of that energy (no overpressure wave) then the blast wave (thermal wavelengths) and the radiation are pretty much all that is left, thus the explosion is more concentrated producing higher temperatures for longer, the higher energy will also turn far more matter (lunar regolith) radioactive.

The crater still glowing hot for far far longer than it would on earth is also part of the process, no atmo to help with that part of convection, so most of the energy has to be radiated away in the form of light and radiation, that takes a lot longer than convection.

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How does overpressure convert radiation to something else?
I would have thought the radiation would be same.
But definitely it'll have trouble cooling down in vacuum

 

[hkim]

You set off one little nuke and they all got scared, so you moved from Angel Grove down to Bel-Air-

 

[Chaoswind]

How does overpressure convert radiation to something else?
I would have thought the radiation would be same.
But definitely it'll have trouble cooling down in vacuum

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That isn't what I said? Or what I mean... Let me put it in simple terms.

A nuke on earth with an energy value of 10 would have that energy be absorbed by the atmosphere producing an overpressure wave (5 energy gone), some would be taken by the blast wave and the light flash that would normally blind people (3.8) and some of the remaining energy would result in irradiated matter (1.2).

On our moon there would be no atmosphere, so the value of 10 is distributed into mostly the blast wave, light flash and the radiation.

With all the nukes exploding inside Rita's stronghold the energy is going to be spend vaporizing the lunar regolith, turning the matter into crystal, making it radioactive.

Ah, so your concern with the scene is that the ground should be visibly red hot?

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Yes.

 

[WereDragon]

My qualifications are uni classes two decades ago, but it's fairly basic stuff. Nuclear reaction releases energy in the form of high energy short lived radiation wavelengths (x, gamma, light, etc), without an atmo to absorb a high percentage of that energy (no overpressure wave) then the blast wave (thermal wavelengths) and the radiation are pretty much all that is left, thus the explosion is more concentrated producing higher temperatures for longer, the higher energy will also turn far more matter (lunar regolith) radioactive.

The crater still glowing hot for far far longer than it would on earth is also part of the process, no atmo to help with that part of convection, so most of the energy has to be radiated away in the form of light and radiation, that takes a lot longer than convection.

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I am reasonably confident that Rita's base was pressurised. While it wouldn't stay that way for the initial reaction and significant fraction of a second afterwards the conditions would be the same as an Earth surface detonation. The blast wave would of course expand more rapidly but it would still have absorbed the same energy.

 

[Mr Zoat]

You set off one little nuke and they all got scared, so you moved from Angel Grove down to Bel-Air-

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Four little nukes, and one medium nuke.

Yes.

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It now says 'giant crater of molten glass'.

 

[rdfox]

How does overpressure convert radiation to something else?
I would have thought the radiation would be same.
But definitely it'll have trouble cooling down in vacuum

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Other way around. The high-energy EM radiation emitted by the nuclear reaction is slowed and absorbed by the surrounding atmosphere, heating it and, through Boyle's Law, creating the massive overpressure that generates the blast effects in an atmospheric nuclear detonation. In a vacuum, there's nothing to absorb that radiation, so it doesn't get converted into a fireball and blast wave, except by the relatively negligible mass of the bomb case, internal components, and unreacted nuclear materials (only a small percentage of the fission and/or fusion fuel actually is involved in the chain reaction before the bomb blows itself apart too much for the reaction to continue).

This is why it's easy to differentiate an atmospheric nuclear burst from any other sort of massive explosion on Earth; the nuclear burst has a distinctive "double-flash" signature, where there's an initial burst of violently intense visible light from the ongoing nuclear reaction, then a drop-off in light levels followed by them rising again to a second peak (significantly lower than the first) as the fireball forms and rises to its peak temperature through mechanical compression of the shock front.

In a case like this, of nukes going off inside some sort of structure on the lunar surface... well, since it's unlikely that the five devices would have initiated exactly simultaneously, the most likely result I see is as follows: The first device goes off inside the base, where it initially acts like an atmospheric burst, with the radiation release heating and compressing the air inside it, but that's a very limited amount and it's not enough to fully absorb the radiation pulse like the massive volume of Earth's atmosphere can, so much of the radiation continues on unabated. Over the course of a few dozen nanoseconds (one light-nanosecond is near enough to one foot/30 centimeters for these purposes), the radiation will have fully heated and compressed all the air in the base, and have also massively heated all the solid and liquid materials in it, as well. Within 100 nanoseconds, Rita and her minions will all be dead. To paraphrase Randall Munroe, they won't have died of anything, per se, they'll simply have stopped being biology and started being physics. Meanwhile, the metal and/or stone structure of the base itself is starting to rapidly sublimate away, but on a time scale a few orders of magnitude slower than the air and liquids. Likewise, the other nukes will have their bomb cases starting to sublimate, but given the thermal resilience and neutron reflectivity of the materials used for nuclear bomb cases, that probably won't be an issue for them before their own timers reach zero. The high-energy radiation pulse, having passed through the outer walls of Casa Rita, now splits into two different cases. Any of the photons (since that's what they are) on trajectories that take them above the local horizon will now expand unimpeded into space, dispersing according to the square-cube law as they do; depending on the relative positions of sun and base, and if there's a solar storm ongoing, auroral effects may be seen near the zero point. The photons heading below the local horizon, meanwhile, will pass into the lunar regolith (i.e., surface) and start heating that, resulting in a thermal pulse through the upper layers that sees much of the nearby regolith begin to sublimate into vapor and generate a pressure wave that starts excavating a crater. (Please note that I am basing this on boosted fission weapons; you can probably double the timeframes for fission-fusion-fission devices known as "hydrogen bombs," due to the extra steps.)

Within the first microsecond or so, the nuclear reactions within the first bomb to go off have run their course, as the vaporized and superheated nuclear assembly blows itself apart and drops the radiation levels below prompt criticality. Within a few more microseconds, the pressure effects of the heated air inside the base will be enough to rupture the exterior and allow a very tiny fireball to form as the plasma that was the contents of the base rapidly begins to expand into the surrounding vacuum, the superheated solid material vaporizing and continuing to expand it briefly before the energy levels drop low enough that the plasma recondenses into gas and drops to a low enough temperature that blackbody radiation is no longer in the visible spectrum.

Around this time, another of the weapons will likely go off. At this point, with little but very thin plasma/vapor surrounding it above the horizon, the upper half of the emitted radiation will reheat the plasma (making it light up again, but not doing much else except boosting its dispersal speed) and then shoot off into space to interact with, at most, the solar wind; the lower half will first heat the vaporized regolith, boosting its pressure (and thus expansion speed), and then add another pulse of energy to the regolith, sublimating more of it and making the crater bigger. You can then repeat this step three more times for the remaining weapons, which means that in under a second, all aspects of what could be seen as a fireball would have cooled and recondensed into particulates that will fall out over the next several hours; with the lack of wind on the lunar surface, these will only travel as far as their horizontal velocity will allow before impact, likely limiting the significant fallout area to less than a kilometer around the zero point. The primary radioactive fallout will be, as on Earth, actual bomb debris, rather than regolith transmuted into radioisotopes by the radiation flux, but I'm not familiar enough with the radiochemistry of lunar surface material to say exactly what would happen.

So within a few minutes, we'd end up with a red-hot glass-walled crater and some radioactive dust in the area, as described. We would also have diplomatic phone lines burning up worldwide as everyone frantically tried to figure out who the hell just violated the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Treaty by setting off nuclear weapons there, and how in hell they got them there without anyone noticing (no matter how classified, you can't hide a space launch with current technology).

I'm not sure how long it would take for the crater's glass to cool to the point of solidifying (it might well still be liquid a few minutes after the bursts), much less cool down to the point of no longer glowing with blackbody radiation, but I'd say that OL's/Billy's estimate of it being safe for someone in an ordinary space suit to walk through within five years is reasonable; remember, it's the immediate radiation levels that are elevated in an exoatmospheric burst compared to an atmospheric one. Once the nuclear reactions are over, that radiation pulse is done and expanding at the speed of light, leaving the area, never to return. Lasting radiation is in the form of transmuted radioisotopes found in the crater itself, and the fallout that comes primarily as bomb debris that's now mixed with other materials kicked up by the mechanical actions from heating the surrounding matter, and those isotopes tend to have half-lives measured in days or hours; within a few years, there will have been enough halving cycles to lower radiation levels to well below what EVA suits are designed to protect against.

As for why someone would want to explore that crater? Well, the world's nuclear powers do have only a limited data set regarding the effects of nuclear weapons, and the more data they can harvest, the better the models they can develop from them to allow for simulations to better predict weapons performance and effects. This is particularly true of exoatmospheric nukes; the first exoatmospheric tests were conducted in 1958, and there was a limited window of time before a testing moratorium went into effect to conduct further tests. Even after the moratorium broke down in 1962, it was only another year before the Limited Test Ban Treaty prohibited further exoatmospheric testing, so there's very limited data there... and no data regarding how an exoatmospheric burst on a planetary surface would behave (plus nobody's ever experimented with what the effects of a nuke on lunar regolith are, given how small a sample we have of it on Earth!). So all of the nuclear powers' defense hierarchies would consider examining the results of this to be of vital importance... and honestly, the civilian physicists would really want to get a look at it, too. The geologists might also be interested, since there's a chance that they could get a much better look at the strata of the lunar surface than they got from core samples taken on Apollo missions (if nothing else, this would definitely go deeper into the surface!).

 

[ForeverShogo]

As far as upcoming threats go . . .

Obviously, Lord Zedd could show up to cause trouble.

Whether or not Zedd shows up, Master Vile and Rito could show up in an attempt to avenge Rita. (Her dad and brother.)

When Vile showed up in canon, because he hated that Rita married Zedd, he temporarily depowered the Rangers which caused Zordon to call in the Aquitar Rangers as temporary replacements. Which also briefly brought in Hydro Hog, the Emperor of Dark Waters and main enemy of the Aquitar Rangers. (Hydro Hog died pretty quickly when he showed up, because in the original sentai footage he was just a monster of the week rather than a major villain.)

Then there's the Machine Empire. Which is followed up by Divatox trying to enact her plan from the Turbo movie. Which is in turn followed up by her trying to get revenge in the Turbo tv series after the Rangers thwarted her.

After that Dark Specter shows up to trigger the events of In Space. Z-Wave happens. Humanity starts efforts to colonize the stars and encounters the bug warlord Scorpius, which triggers Lost Galaxy. (Which is kind of funny because they ended up using the costumes from Starship Troopers for Terra Venture's soldiers.)

And if this Paul didn't participate in the space shenanigans, well, back on Earth you'd have Lightspeed Rescue and the threat from demons ruled by Queen Bansheera.

And so on. And so on. Needless to say, there are still plenty of threats to come.

 

[Coda]

I'd have thought you could just out produce him.

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out-produce

super Earth

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super-Earth

"We thought that We would bare witness to your latest-"

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bear witness

hyper efficient

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hyper-efficient

depositing drone camera out of subspace

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Either "depositing a drone camera" or "depositing drone cameras"

 

[Duke Long]

"The armor on the exterior of our zords is more than thick enough to block the alpha and gamma radiation, and the air filtration system will keep out radioactive particulates.

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Seems a bit weird that he doesn't mention beta radiation. Is it just not very dangerous or isn't produced by this sort of phenomenon? I don't know much about it.

The Tyrannosaurus Dinozord looks over the crater rim, it's head turning left and right.

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Extraneous apostrophe.

Low but elevated levels appears to trigger the human body's radiation countermeasures, causing-."

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Source? Sounds interesting.

 

[ForeverShogo]

Low dosage radiation potentially being beneficial is described here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_hormesis

It's wikipedia, but it's better than nothing.

 

[Mr Zoat]

out-produce
super-Earth
bear witness
hyper-efficient
Either "depositing a drone camera" or "depositing drone cameras"

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Seems a bit weird that he doesn't mention beta radiation. Is it just not very dangerous or isn't produced by this sort of phenomenon? I don't know much about it.
Extraneous apostrophe.

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Thank you, corrected.

Source? Sounds interesting.

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A documentary on Chernobyl I watched about fifteen years ago. I don't remember the name.

 

[SotF]

Just imagining the world governments demand that Zordon share Zord technology only for him to flatly say "No, you'd just do something stupid with it."

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Technically, the governments already got Zord technology from Zordon, it's what eventually leads to groups like Lightspeed Command being formed.

Speaking of which, around this point is when the Aqua Base would have started construction...

This thread is the first place I've heard of the zeo crystal. I assume that since nuclear weapons were made with ill intent, the force field blocked the blast but the place where it is got buried.

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It should be fine, it was buried in a sealed vault deep beneath where the palace was...Rita didn't know about it, and Zedd knew around where it was at this point because it's one of the things that Zordon hid around the solar system and the Zeo Crystal's protections are also why he looks the way he does, the power in the thing flayed/burned him alive and Zedd barely survived the attempt at stealing it.

I kind of doubt it got buried even more than it originally was...it took Zedd a lot of time to tunnel down to it in the first place while doing everything else and only succeeded most of the way through season 3...

For the moon, if you're using other things in it, there would be the trashed NASADA facility that the Green Psycho Ranger took over with the 60's/70's rangers story from the comics...and in the magically habitable zone on the Moon, you also have the portal to Miniroi that could have been torn open by the nukes.

 

[PrinceJonathan]

Technically, the governments already got Zord technology from Zordon, it's what eventually leads to groups like Lightspeed Command being formed.

Speaking of which, around this point is when the Aqua Base would have started construction...

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I thought the government got the tech after Zordon died.

 

[SotF]

I thought the government got the tech after Zordon died.

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Lightspeed is described as years in the making there, and the moon base is even older. It was built because Zordon needed help to repair the defense station he'd placed on the moon that Psycho Green trashed about a century earlier, they accidentally freed Psycho Green which led to the setup there for Grace's ranger team...it was built after the moon landings which was why Zordon decided to provide aid there and had the offer.

Apparently Zordon had been in contact with, at least, the US Government since the brief Wild West Rangers incident.

 

[PrinceJonathan]

Lightspeed is described as years in the making there, and the moon base is even older. It was built because Zordon needed help to repair the defense station he'd placed on the moon that Psycho Green trashed about a century earlier, they accidentally freed Psycho Green which led to the setup there for Grace's ranger team...it was built after the moon landings which was why Zordon decided to provide aid there and had the offer.

Apparently Zordon had been in contact with, at least, the US Government since the brief Wild West Rangers incident.

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Huh...that's pretty neat. Wonder how they reacted to the Big Reveal? Imagine being sworn in as the President and being brought up to speed on this ultra super classified bullshit. "Wait, so we're allied with an alien space wizard who's a floating head in a tube, and he's recruited a small group of child soldiers to fight evil space aliens? WHAT THE FUCK!!!?"

Actually now that I think of it, if Zordon was in contact with the US government why didn't he tell them about Rita Repulsa?

Zordon in the 60's: "Hey, I see you're working on a Space Program. Good, good. Uh..this may sound strange coming out of the blue, but if any of you happen to stumble across a trash can out in space, don't open it."

 

[ForeverShogo]

Because a lot of that is stuff from comics made long after Mighty Morphing Power Rangers aired.

 

[SotF]

Huh...that's pretty neat. Wonder how they reacted to the Big Reveal? Imagine being sworn in as the President and being brought up to speed on this ultra super classified bullshit. "Wait, so we're allied with an alien space wizard who's a floating head in a tube, and he's recruited a small group of child soldiers to fight evil space aliens? WHAT THE FUCK!!!?"

Actually now that I think of it, if Zordon was in contact with the US government why didn't he tell them about Rita Repulsa?

Zordon in the 60's: "Hey, I see you're working on a Space Program. Good, good. Uh..this may sound strange coming out of the blue, but if any of you happen to stumble across a trash can out in space, don't open it."

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In the comics, it's, largely, because Grace is a bitch...

 

[Mr Zoat]

1st April 1995
15:41 GMT -7

It's a heady feeling, knowing that there's nothing on the planet that can stop you.

Yes, back in the world of fiction, normal police couldn't do a thing to stop me. But the League certainly could, and a hundred other wizards and superheroes, and even if they couldn't stop me, their ill-regard would make my life harder.

Now? I'm on a world where I don't know anyone. I might actually be better served by finding another planet to set up shop on. But I… I think I remember… In the Power Ranger series, something about most of the galaxy being evil-controlled? Though if they considered Rita to be a high-level operative, maybe… Maybe I'm some sort of ultimate hero by their standards? Maybe I actually could lead a crusade and overthrow the evil rulers of the galaxy?

I should probably learn what exactly they mean by 'evil'. And what their idea of a completely 'good' civilisation looks like. Power Rangers didn't strike me as a setting with a great deal of moral nuance, but to have an evil empire there has to be a certain functional structure to it, and if the leadership are regularly, say, blowing up inhabited planets for fun then that structure wouldn't exist.

The N.S.A. agent I'm walking towards spots me and drops his coffee, the cardboard cup hitting the pavement and splashing its contents all over his shoes. He winces, hands twitching as he instinctively goes for his gun and then stops as he considers the situation.

"Senior Agent Ramirez." I wave my right hand and the cup floats up, coffee streaming up into it from the ground and from his feet. "Allow me."

He takes the coffee, looking around for something to put it on and finding nothing.

"What?"

"I can't return the nukes. I used them to blow up an enemy stronghold. But I used all of them, so I don't have any more."

"Yeah. The N.R.O. passed that on."

"I'm sure that the N.R.O. picked up the detonation; I doubt they knew I used all five. Anyway, Rita Repulsa is radioactive dust and there shouldn't be any more monster attacks for the next few months at least."

"M. Hm."

"Questions? Comments? Feedback on my approach?"

"Attacking a U.S. military facility is a serious crime-."

"And I'll care the moment you have someone who can arrest me. Because it's just the Power Rangers who could even try, and they're currently just glad that she's gone. I mean, be reasonable. What's worse? A few dozen instances of assault and trespass, or an alien invader with giant monsters?"

"Four guys had broken bones."

"And if you're going to be a baby about it, I'll visit them and fix them. I'm calling on you because I want to make sure that you're not panicking and planning to do something stupid, not because I want to be friends. Do you have any reasonable requests or sensible questions or can I get on with my day?"

"You're a.. fictional character. How are you even having this conversation?"

"I'm a magic construct based on a fictional character with that fictional character's memories and abilities. I myself am not fictional."

"'Magical'..?"

"They literally dropped a magic potion on a comic. I can't think of any sort of nanotechnology or whatever that could do that." He frowns-. "Yes, I was created by accident. Feel free to joke about it on your own time."

"Okay. So they're dead."

"Yes. The group around Rita Repulsa are dead. There are a great many other hostile aliens in the universe and I don't know how they'll feel about me nuking one of their allies. But Rita's efforts were fairly typical of how they work, so you don't need to worry about them sending a fleet of space ships or anything sensible like that."

"Then what's changed?"

"Now you've got a chance to find an agent with testicles, have them walk over to the Command Centre, and ask for information directly like a sensible person. I'm only bothering to talk to you so no one starts a nuclear war." Hm. "No Earth-nation starts a nuclear war."

"Our orders are to be hands-off with the kids who fight with giant robots."

"Then I.. guess that your ignorance is your problem? Or I can fly by the White House and be rude to the President instead of you, if that would be more helpful?"

"Yeah, for a guy who's supposed to be a superhero, you're being a real dick right now."

"I'm less than a day old and everyone I love never existed. Oh, and my extrasensory perception is so strong that I can see every war and instance of suffering on the planet. Try it sometime."

"I.. guess-. Every war?"

"Yeah, so I'm going to be stopping those. And I'm probably.. going to be building a Star Wars defence network to stop I.C.B.M.s, and… I don't know. I'll see where the mood takes me. I don't mind warning you and yours in advance but to be very clear, I don't work for you or any other government."

Wait, 1995? Zimbabwe isn't completely wrecked yet. Gosh, I'd forgotten about that due to Zimbabwe not existing on Earth 16. All the government-engineered theft, murder, economic ruination and starvation I can prevent.

Senior Agent Ramirez takes a breath. "Well, you're right. I can't physically restrain you, so there's no point in me trying to arrest you. I don't have any authority to set agency policy, so I can't tell you how my bosses are going to react."

"I wasn't expecting you to." I look around the street. "Want to meet up here in a week so you can pass on any questions they have?"

"Frankly, no, but I will anyway."

"Good man. Excuse me while I go and do something important. Good luck persuading the testicularly challenged to do something sensible."

I.. don't raise my right hand to my forehead. Considering everything, it just seems…

Yeah.

But I vanish anyway, and after a moment of… Disquiet-. There's no Ophidian here, is there? I didn't think about how much a part of me she was, until…

2nd April 1995
00:45 GMT +2

And here we are. Sarajevo. A city with no military value being bombarded by some dead men. Railgun, auto-target any soldier not running away. Ring, locate me sniper nests and artillery positions.

Targets found.

I raise my left hand, making it glow orange. I was a bit too young to really remember the details of the Bosnian War. I remember that the worst war criminals went to ground, dodged anything approaching justice for years and then ran down the clock in the Hague, but the details of the fighting? Nothing.

Iron slugs and beams of orange light out, and men fall or are disintegrated. I could do this part in my sleep. I erect an orange shield around myself in case someone decides to try shooting me with an anti-aircraft gun of some kind, and then I erect another over the ruined city. That one starts taking hits almost immediately, but…

I told the world-. The comic world, that the Justice League had effectively become its rulers. But here, it… Really is just me. And there's no one whose-. Who I like enough to listen to, to let myself be talked down by.

That.. might not be a good thing. But it's where we are. And looking at the piles of shallow-buried corpses littering the countryside around here, I'm not exactly worried about my ability to do better than the default option.

Hail Orange Lantern, I guess.

 

[Darko]

Yeah, for a guy who's supposed to be a superhero, you're being a real dick right now.

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I mean, it is the 90s.

A lot of superheroes were dicks during this period.

And I'm wondering if all the changes Paul makes are going to stick when this is over.

 

[hance1986]

Ghhhh I want to see more of this

 

[NameOrdane]

But Rita's efforts were fairly typical of how they work, so you don' t need

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Extra space here.

 

[RamiroGalletti]

"Good man. Excuse me while I go and do something important. Good luck persuading the testicularly challenged to do something sensible."

The lack of similar lines on fiction is a crime

 

[Mr Zoat]

Extra space here.

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Thank you, corrected.

 

[ForeverShogo]

There's a United Alliance of Evil, so I'm sure there's some kind of official structure to things that allow something semi-reasonable to function. Well, reasonable depending on, as you put it, how they actually define evil.

Though it's funny you mentioned a threat bringing a fleet of ships. Because at least one faction had them and then just . . . didn't really use them for some reason.

The Machine Empire showed up with a fleet of warships, a bunch of fighters that could transform into walkers, and an actual full on army of soldiers and the like for waging a war. They announce their arrival by bombing Rita's palace and forcing her, Zedd, and their minions to flee. Then they promptly do the usual Power Ranger villain thing of sending small squads of cannon fodder grunts alongside the latest monster of the week.

Oh, and the Machine Empire attacking Rita and Zedd to try to claim Earth for themselves was considered breaking away from the United Alliance of Evil.

tl;dr . . . Some villains in Power Rangers actually do have proper world conquering fleets and armies but don't actually use them against the Rangers.

 

[moralrelativity]

I, for one, welcome our new orange overlord.

 

[Chojin Patriarch]

1st April 1995
15:41 GMT -7

It's a heady feeling, knowing that there's nothing on the planet that can stop you.

Yes, back in the world of fiction, normal police couldn't do a thing to stop me. But the League certainly could, and a hundred other wizards and superheroes, and even if they couldn't stop me, their ill-regard would make my life harder.

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Whereas here, it's just a few teenagers with attitude, who are kind of ambivalent about which side you're on, and might have trouble with some of a Lantern's more hardcore combat techniques. I doubt a Ranger suit could resist Identity Theft, if OL felt strongly enough to want it.

Spoiler: Commentary spoilered for length

Now? I'm on a world where I don't know anyone. I might actually be better served by finding another planet to set up shop on. But I… I think I remember… In the Power Ranger series, something about most of the galaxy being evil-controlled? Though if they considered Rita to be a high-level operative, maybe… Maybe I'm some sort of ultimate hero by their standards? Maybe I actually could lead a crusade and overthrow the evil rulers of the galaxy?

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Admittedly, some of those evil forces are whole armies. ...Who still largely operated on a monster-of-the-week basis.

I should probably learn what exactly they mean by 'evil'. And what their idea of a completely 'good' civilisation looks like. Power Rangers didn't strike me as a setting with a great deal of moral nuance, but to have an evil empire there has to be a certain functional structure to it, and if the leadership are regularly, say, blowing up inhabited planets for fun then that structure wouldn't exist.

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Probably rather darwinistic in their operation. If you aren't strong, then you get ruled. And strength didn't necessarily mean 'could fight a Megazord in hand-to-hand combat'... Powerful magic users were a common feature, I think?

The N.S.A. agent I'm walking towards spots me and drops his coffee, the cardboard cup hitting the pavement and splashing its contents all over his shoes. He winces, hands twitching as he instinctively goes for his gun and then stops as he considers the situation.

"Senior Agent Ramirez." I wave my right hand and the cup floats up, coffee streaming up into it from the ground and from his feet. "Allow me."

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Indeed. What's a bullet going to do to him? I am curious, though. Is OL still carrying Rita's staff around? That's certainly a look.

He takes the coffee, looking around for something to put it on and finding nothing.

"What?"

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No doubt he's got the basics of OL's story, if the NSA were watching the Rangers. Pops out of nowhere after Baboo and Squatt make an appearance, proceeds to stonewall the Rangers, then steals some nukes alongside Rita's goons...

"I can't return the nukes. I used them to blow up an enemy stronghold. But I used all of them, so I don't have any more."

"Yeah. The N.R.O. passed that on."

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It would have been hard to miss the giant explosion on the Moon, after all.

"I'm sure that the N.R.O. picked up the detonation; I doubt they knew I used all five. Anyway, Rita Repulsa is radioactive dust and there shouldn't be any more monster attacks for the next few months at least."

"M. Hm."

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Just the fact he said 'for a few months' is telling. That implies there's bound to be another warlord along before long.

"Questions? Comments? Feedback on my approach?"

"Attacking a U.S. military facility is a serious crime-."

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Remember, agent, you're talking to the proverbial 800-pound gorilla here...

"And I'll care the moment you have someone who can arrest me. Because it's just the Power Rangers who could even try, and they're currently just glad that she's gone. I mean, be reasonable. What's worse? A few dozen instances of assault and trespass, or an alien invader with giant monsters?"

"Four guys had broken bones."

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Presumably a few Putties or Goldar getting enthusiastic.

"And if you're going to be a baby about it, I'll visit them and fix them. I'm calling on you because I want to make sure that you're not panicking and planning to do something stupid, not because I want to be friends. Do you have any reasonable requests or sensible questions or can I get on with my day?"

"You're a.. fictional character. How are you even having this conversation?"

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...Would be amusing if this guy were a DC fan, but more likely someone in the research department is.

"I'm a magic construct based on a fictional character with that fictional character's memories and abilities. I myself am not fictional."

"'Magical'..?"

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Yes, Magic is real, agent. How do you think Rita made the giant monsters?

"They literally dropped a magic potion on a comic. I can't think of any sort of nanotechnology or whatever that could do that." He frowns-. "Yes, I was created by accident. Feel free to joke about it on your own time."

"Okay. So they're dead."

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Decisively so. Unfortunate for future events, unless Rita manages to reincarnate somehow. But that Ranger team will have to sort it out for themselves...

"Yes. The group around Rita Repulsa are dead. There are a great many other hostile aliens in the universe and I don't know how they'll feel about me nuking one of their allies. But Rita's efforts were fairly typical of how they work, so you don't need to worry about them sending a fleet of space ships or anything sensible like that."

"Then what's changed?"

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Well, consider: a Superhero with realistic levels of genre-savvy and an open-minded view on poking his nose into society's ills...

"Now you've got a chance to find an agent with testicles, have them walk over to the Command Centre, and ask for information directly like a sensible person. I'm only bothering to talk to you so no one starts a nuclear war." Hm. "No Earth-nation starts a nuclear war."

"Our orders are to be hands-off with the kids who fight with giant robots."

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...Until you can get some of your own, I suppose. But that might be tricky.

"Then I.. guess that your ignorance is your problem? Or I can fly by the White House and be rude to the President instead of you, if that would be more helpful?"

"Yeah, for a guy who's supposed to be a superhero, you're being a real dick right now."

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...You haven't read OL's comics, have you? He's very much being a 90's comic book hero, anyway.

"I'm less than a day old and everyone I love never existed. Oh, and my extrasensory perception is so strong that I can see every war and instance of suffering on the planet. Try it sometime."

"I.. guess-. Every war?"

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Including the ones you might not know about yet.

"Yeah, so I'm going to be stopping those. And I'm probably.. going to be building a Star Wars defence network to stop I.C.B.M.s, and… I don't know. I'll see where the mood takes me. I don't mind warning you and yours in advance but to be very clear, I don't work for you or any other government."

Wait, 1995? Zimbabwe isn't completely wrecked yet. Gosh, I'd forgotten about that due to Zimbabwe not existing on Earth 16. All the government-engineered theft, murder, economic ruination and starvation I can prevent.

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Planning to indulge on a little conquest of your own, OL? Or at least some aggressive civil correction?

Senior Agent Ramirez takes a breath. "Well, you're right. I can't physically restrain you, so there's no point in me trying to arrest you. I don't have any authority to set agency policy, so I can't tell you how my bosses are going to react."

"I wasn't expecting you to." I look around the street. "Want to meet up here in a week so you can pass on any questions they have?"

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I suspect that even if he doesn't want to, he'll be ordered to.

"Frankly, no, but I will anyway."

"Good man. Excuse me while I go and do something important. Good luck persuading the testicularly challenged to do something sensible."

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Ah, Mr Zoat. You've a talent for dropping such clever lines...

I.. don't raise my right hand to my forehead. Considering everything, it just seems…

Yeah.

But I vanish anyway, and after a moment of… Disquiet-. There's no Ophidian here, is there? I didn't think about how much a part of me she was, until…

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Still, he seems to be tapping into something. I'm sure one day he'll find out what.

2nd April 1995
00:45 GMT +2

And here we are. Sarajevo. A city with no military value being bombarded by some dead men. Railgun, auto-target any soldier not running away. Ring, locate me sniper nests and artillery positions.

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Ah, yes, another damn fool thing in the Balkans... The whole region's been a trouble-spot for centuries, after all.

Targets found.

I raise my left hand, making it glow orange. I was a bit too young to really remember the details of the Bosnian War. I remember that the worst war criminals went to ground, dodged anything approaching justice for years and then ran down the clock in the Hague, but the details of the fighting? Nothing.

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I expect things will start to calm down a little if word spreads about a flying man who shoots both sides...

Iron slugs and beams of orange light out, and men fall or are disintegrated. I could do this part in my sleep. I erect an orange shield around myself in case someone decides to try shooting me with an anti-aircraft gun of some kind, and then I erect another over the ruined city. That one starts taking hits almost immediately, but…

I told the world-. The comic world, that the Justice League had effectively become its rulers. But here, it… Really is just me. And there's no one whose-. Who I like enough to listen to, to let myself be talked down by.

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Very much a 'Who are you, with no-one to tell you who to be?' situation.

That.. might not be a good thing. But it's where we are. And looking at the piles of shallow-buried corpses littering the countryside around here, I'm not exactly worried about my ability to do better than the default option.

Hail Orange Lantern, I guess.

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I'm sure those caught in the middle of all this will thank you, at least.

Well, all those little wars that were abounding in the Nineties might calm down a little, with a certain orange fellow persuading the combatants to cool it with the war crimes. Especially if those who complain get reduced to wet smears by a railgun or energy weapon. It's one way of making the world a better place, I guess, by way of being the guy with the biggest stick...

 

[Khettien]

The problem isn't really stopping the fighting (regarding Sarajevo, here.) The problem was/is KEEPING it stopped, without killing everyone involved and making a graveyard out of a country.

 

[Signaller]

I wonder if there's an Alan Scott in the PR verse, who just never found a lantern and presumably stayed in the railroad industry, or perished shortly after the inciting incident of the normal story?

 

[Thundersmight94]

I'm kinda just waiting for Ambush Bug to show up and battle Paul or for him to summon the team so he can return to their home reality/comic book.

 

[SotF]

There's a United Alliance of Evil, so I'm sure there's some kind of official structure to things that allow something semi-reasonable to function. Well, reasonable depending on, as you put it, how they actually define evil.

Though it's funny you mentioned a threat bringing a fleet of ships. Because at least one faction had them and then just . . . didn't really use them for some reason.

The Machine Empire showed up with a fleet of warships, a bunch of fighters that could transform into walkers, and an actual full on army of soldiers and the like for waging a war. They announce their arrival by bombing Rita's palace and forcing her, Zedd, and their minions to flee. Then they promptly do the usual Power Ranger villain thing of sending small squads of cannon fodder grunts alongside the latest monster of the week.

Oh, and the Machine Empire attacking Rita and Zedd to try to claim Earth for themselves was considered breaking away from the United Alliance of Evil.

tl;dr . . . Some villains in Power Rangers actually do have proper world conquering fleets and armies but don't actually use them against the Rangers.

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The small forces thing is more of because it's made clear that the only reason they had a massive force in the first place was entirely a quick strike against Zedd and Rita.

The Machine Empire is at war with several groups, including another machine force (the one that their older kid is romancing the daughter of the leader of...while both leading families want each other dead, and their oldest kids are planning a coup), you also have Rita's father, Divatox has been raiding his stuff for supplies the same as anyone and everyone else, and there are a pile of others clashing, and that's without other Ranger teams...and Dark Spectre beating the shit out of them to force them into the United Alliance of Evil.