Episode 99: Plutonian
Takes place April 12.
Short version
Star Conquerors abduct the ClusterShip and its crew in an attempt to revive a Mother Star, but Paul and the League interrupt them and the Mother Star dies.
Longer version
Lantern Koriand'r contacts Paul to inform him that the Spider Guild Queen has created a new offspring designed to instinctively be an effective Orange Lantern. Due to the information that Paul provided about orange mindsets, this new Spider addresses him as "Daddy", but he dissuades her as she already has a parent and they have no genetic or social relationship. However, he realises that she will eventually receive a ring, if not from him, then from Vril Dox, who will undoubtedly want to test the effectiveness of the Queen's genetic engineering.
Paul then takes Koriand'r on a working holiday to Earth, where Russia is launching a fleet to make contact with Lantern Khan's Clustership. However, the fleet and the Clustership abruptly vanish, with the ground crew showing signs of mental tampering. Doctor Mist identifies and counters the magic responsible, revealing the ships now parked at Pluto, where a force of Star Conquerors has taken over the crew and is using them to excavate and awaken a tremendous Mother Star. For better or for worse, when Paul interrupts their efforts, the Mother Star is unable to maintain consciousness and expires. Manga Khan, in the aftermath, resigns from the Orange Lantern Corps, stating that his insurance doesn't cover giant starfish gods.
- Affably Evil: Tangseid has no doubt achieved some good things in the world, like having Green Arrow spend time mentoring and training new metahumans instead of being on the front lines. But he freely acknowledges that his motivations are ultimately selfish and that his methods of complete personality replacement can be considered murder. He's not sadistic about it, though; it's all just business.Tangseid: Now, obviously I need to know everything about how you found out, and the names and locations of anyone else who suspects or whom you spoke to about your suspicions… But I can see this is very stressful for you, and I don't like inflicting unnecessary suffering when I don't profit from it. [activates mind control devices] So why don't I take your suffering away?
- Alternate Universe:
- We continue to see some of the aftermath of Repetition and Duplication.
- In an unnamed reality, there is a version of Paul (nicknamed by the author as Tangseid) who decided to Mind Control the Justice League, among a lot of other people, in order to bring about his vision of a better world.
- Another version of the SI ends up in the world of Stargirl (2020) and seeks out Jade so that he can use her father's personal lantern.
- Boss Battle: Subverted. When the Mother Star awakens, Paul starts assessing his options to fight it, but then it turns out to be already dying, starved for something that he is unable to positively identify (but possibly related to dreams).
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: This is what Tangseid does to people if deemed necessary.
- Death of Personality: This is what Tangseid says he did to Wonder Woman."It was really… More like murder. Her original personality and values don't exist any more; it's like her body is inhabited by a new person who's a bit like her former self."
- Deprogram: Subverted. Anita Fite tried to undo what Tangseid did to Wonder Woman, but failed. He later explains to her that the change was too thorough.Tangseid: You were trying to remove a spell which.. wasn't there. It couldn't work any more than a fire extinguisher can turn ash into wood.
- Distracted by the Sexy:
- Koriand'r attempts to remonstrate with two young male graffiti artists. Neither is able to pay much attention to what she's saying, although one does manage to ask for her number. Even Robin checks with Paul to find out whether she actually has a number. The chapter includes a link to demonstrate why.
- When visiting a Russian base, Koriand'r is given a coat so that her appearance doesn't distract the soldiers. Even though it covers more of her body, it doesn't make her any less distracting.
- Dramatic Irony: Immediately after Paul has waded his way through the Amazons' teasing about his unaware sexual interaction with the Spider Guild Queen, he gets a call from Lantern Koriand'r, which a young Spider Guilder interrupts with "Daddy?!"
- Hive Caste System: The Spider Guild in Vega has branched out and produced a Spider designed to intuitively be a skilled Orange Lantern, based on the information Paul provided about the desired traits. On the face of it, this is a logical approach, if different from what he expected; what throws him for a loop is that this new Spider calls him "Daddy".
- If I Wanted You Dead...: The Spider Queen mentions to Paul that all their potential enemies are monitoring them so closely that they feel no need to attack. Since she intends to hold up her end of the bargain, she feels the spiders are in a good position.
- Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: Played straight by the Star Hunters whom Paul fights. Naturally, their attempt to revive a Mother Star fails, and they are locked away in the Guardians' Sciencells.Star Hunter: Will not stop us. Can not stop us.
- Official Kiss: The Renegade asks Luna to decide whether she's interested in him, and she states that actions may speak louder than words, then leans over and kisses him.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Manga Khan draws the line at a Mother Star. As such, he quits the OLC, much to Paul's joy.
- That's No Moon: It turns out that Pluto is merely a containment vessel for a Mother Star. Paul takes a while to realise just what he's looking at; he initially searches for entities on or under the surface and comes up short, but eventually realises that the whole thing is a living entity.
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Ugly Cute: She's still a ten-legged spider-ish alien, but who can resist a little girl who jumps on her "Daddy," tries to climb the inside of the construct ball he catches her in (and falls down, "Owie"), and happily shouts "Wee!" when he whisks her away so he can talk with her mother?
