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houmaprotector) wrote2018-09-01 10:47 am
houmaprotector) wrote2018-09-01 10:47 am
Let's go meet Bon-Gumbo (Powers/Canon etc. for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fablelands
As Alec gets into more and more games, I figured I'd be prudent to actually discuss just which version of Swampy (because his canon is long winded and complicated like only DC comics can be.) but it'll give you an insight into some of my thought processes.
This is Alec Holland, the real Alec Holland circa DC's New 52 (one of the few good things about it.) Moore's iconic Swamp Thing run altered Swampy's canon to reveal that he was never Alec Holland. Any hope of his humanity returning wouldn't happen since Alec's memories, consciousness, thoughts, and general sense of being was merged with a bunch of plants. The plants got humanity, Swampy got humanity, but imagine your ficus plant suddenly aware of humanity.
Swampy earned his wings, became worthy even to wear a white ring, and basically became a human plant. After his death, the Swamp (cough cough *DC Comics* cough) brought back the original Alec Holland, the human Alec in the hope that they could make him the new Swamp Thing. Alec rightfully told them to fuck off initially - until a series of events including the return of Anton Arcane and Abigail Arcane led him back to the Swamp to defeat the Rot, DC's version of magical death.
After being attacked, Alec insists the swamp make him the swamp thing again. They re-use the bio-restorative formula and Alec Holland, the real Alec, becomes his own version of Swamp Thing, more in line with the traditional avatars of the past. The DC Universe's elemental forces, the red, the blue, the green, the machines, the fungus etc- they like to use human beings as hosts for their will. The humans ultimately become corrupted, succumbing to the near-absolute power of being able to do whatever tf they want and life (which is made up of all the things they now represent.) gives no fucks cause...that's life.
Anyway, Alec has an advantage in that he's been the Swamp Thing. He possess Swampy's original memories of Abigail, their daughter Tefe (who isn't his kid, sort of.) and the Green. That gives him a degree of control other Avatars don't possess. Through a series of events, he becomes the ultimate avatar, fully owns the role, and basically becomes perpetually tired(tm). with everybody.
Who is Alec Holland?
Alec Holland is a Botanist, biologist, and overall smart person whose goal in life was basically to be a normal human being, albeit trying to be a decent one. Unfortunately destiny (in the form of Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson, Alan Moore, Scott Snyder, and Charles Soule) led to him having a terrible accident that turned him into a muck monster. His consciousness split, and while he shared some of it with a pile of rotting vegetable matter, he eventually became the swamp thing in his own right and - thanks to his previous incarnation's knowledge, made himself the ultimate swamp thing, King of the Green, the original green man who rules over the other avatars who had fallen into corruption thanks to their access to absolute power.
His whole new 52 arc is basically the reverse of Moore's Swamp Thing. While Swampy was a plant learning how to be a person, Alec is a person learning and accepting that he's a plant now. He's got a few allies in this, from other avatars to Abigail (who is also an avatar now, but let's not go into her quite yet.) to human beings who can tolerate a guy who was basically royally screwed over by nature itself. Consequently, he normally refers to himself as a man learning how to be a plant, which comes with certain caveats.
Powers, Abilities, and things he does.
Power Level: Alec is basically the earth itself and can canonically lift over a ton, grow himself to devour a city, and basically shred humanity if he so chooses. (Peep his Wikia) As "Alec" Alec he's experimented with this, growing himself to the size of a mountain to stomp on a Scottish village.
That said, he is not invulnerable. He is a plant, and so he can burn, he can be poisoned, and he's sensitive to pollution and the actions of both the red (animal life) and the rot (death).
He also has access to the other memories, skills, and life stories of the other avatars - and given that the first avatar was a trilobite (what a story that guy's got amirite?) that's a considerable list of skills that he can summon at any given time. Normally.
What is the Green?
Imagine that little voice in the back of your head that says "Hey, you know what would be fun? screaming at guests in the middle of the parking lot. Go on! Do it! They pissed you off! They were rude to you at your 9-5!" and you, being a reasonable human being, thinks "If I did this, I'd get fired." so you ignore that little voice that sort of slides away all depressed?
That's the green in a nutshell. In more detail it's the web of life that deals with plants, crops, jungle plants, etc. etc. It wants to live, so it's been taking human hosts to do it from the red kingdom. The red raises it's own avatars and the other kingdoms sort of pick from the red's supply of pink ape things to also represent them, imbuing them with their own magic.
Each Kingdom wants their kingdom to win, but human beings, much like you in the parking lot, recognize that if they don't keep the balance, IE don't yell at guests, they're going to get fired - or something is going to die. This is illustrated in Moore's run as the Floronic Man (also woodrue) forces all the plants to grow and fill the atmosphere with oxygen. Swampy points out that without humans the plants would have no Co2 - which is what plants need to live.
TLDR, the green is the little nagging voice Alec has to deal with constantly that basically says "give into your inner desires and rip all the humans apart" but he has a good handle on it and refuses to take it's shit (especially after he nearly stepped on a Scottish town.) Still, it's a powerful force and one that a powerful magic user could use to manipulate him. (again, despite seeming all powerful, he's not. He's just - close.)
In fablelands
In fablelands Alec arrives just prior to the discovery of the machine kingdom (New 52) while he's living in the swamp with Capucine after defeating Seeder - his former student Jason Woodrue who also was a green man, albeit briefly. Alec killed Seeder (accidentally, and he feels bad about it.) buried him in the deep green, and nearly killed all life on earth by causing the atmosphere to over fill with oxygen. He was doing it to trick the green, who conferred his Avatar status back on him. When they'd done that he locked the other avatars away inside himself, putting them into their winters.
Riding high and feeling considerably powerful and very not human, he's dropped into this place with memories of Linda (his first wife) and Abigail (the current avatar of the rot, his destined love, and current "wife"). Those awaken a spark of humanity in him.
He is completely cut off from his world's green, but Moore covered Swampy visiting other places by having original swampy visit "The blue", another world's vegetation. Consequently, he's visited this world's green and found...no one. No previous avatars and a very "meh" green force. He's planning on doing more through investigating, especially when he has reason to believe that Abby and Linda might still be alive.
In the Nexus
Caught between his world's green and the nexus's green, Alec is far more volatile and far more dangerous. He 's found agents of the rot, and is failing to see that his actions may have consequences especially when he's pissed off the spirit of Autumn, and the spirit of winter. He has very little understanding of those seasons and still misses being a human being.
(while his predecessor is shaking his head kind of sadly.)
Here's a brief break down of his abilities, that he possess in both games.
Transformation: Alec can be anything that he can think of that looks vaguely plant like, but he can get more creative as well. From tentacled monsters to mountains, he can change his shape and quickly regrow his body if his old body becomes injured or damaged in some way. There are ways to stop it magically, specifically with rot or death spells, but failing that, at least infablelands He'll be able to change himself into any shape under 7 feet ideally.
Constructs: Holland can change himself and also create constructs, trees, houses, boats, all using the green. Much like Green Lantern, he can make constructs out of the green that his mind can think of. Unlike Swampy he can get really creative with them so expect boats, houses, etc. etc.
Communion with Nature: Alec is...a plant effectively and while he still has human desires he has far more interest in plants and their abilities then he used to do. He's constantly expelling oxygen and can raise the level of oxygen in an isolated or inclosed area thanks to the fact that he's always expelling it, and he can talk to any earth based plant. Alien plants (like, Groot.) he could theoretically learn the language of to speak to them in their own tongue. They can provide him with information unless otherwise manipulated via magical means. (like "Hey that thing is over there!")
Mind-Trip Tubers Alec can grow unusual fruits, tubers, and other fruits. Larger collections of them take time but he won't do anything like grow full farms and forests. There's a balance of nature.
NEGATIVES
He puts plants over people Unless you're one of the few people who has wormed his way into his heart (sometimes literally) - he tends to prioritize plants over people and spend his time taking care of them. Large groups annoy him, and human beings who don't listen to the environment just turn him off completely. He'll tap of out of conversations like that.
He's a walking swamp He is a walking swamp and has all the attributes of such. Smell, size, drippiness. He's a muck monster which means that he's gross.
He doesn't run very fast. When he travels he usually uses the green and regrows his body in a different location. Running he sorta lumbers.
This is Alec Holland, the real Alec Holland circa DC's New 52 (one of the few good things about it.) Moore's iconic Swamp Thing run altered Swampy's canon to reveal that he was never Alec Holland. Any hope of his humanity returning wouldn't happen since Alec's memories, consciousness, thoughts, and general sense of being was merged with a bunch of plants. The plants got humanity, Swampy got humanity, but imagine your ficus plant suddenly aware of humanity.
Swampy earned his wings, became worthy even to wear a white ring, and basically became a human plant. After his death, the Swamp (cough cough *DC Comics* cough) brought back the original Alec Holland, the human Alec in the hope that they could make him the new Swamp Thing. Alec rightfully told them to fuck off initially - until a series of events including the return of Anton Arcane and Abigail Arcane led him back to the Swamp to defeat the Rot, DC's version of magical death.
After being attacked, Alec insists the swamp make him the swamp thing again. They re-use the bio-restorative formula and Alec Holland, the real Alec, becomes his own version of Swamp Thing, more in line with the traditional avatars of the past. The DC Universe's elemental forces, the red, the blue, the green, the machines, the fungus etc- they like to use human beings as hosts for their will. The humans ultimately become corrupted, succumbing to the near-absolute power of being able to do whatever tf they want and life (which is made up of all the things they now represent.) gives no fucks cause...that's life.
Anyway, Alec has an advantage in that he's been the Swamp Thing. He possess Swampy's original memories of Abigail, their daughter Tefe (who isn't his kid, sort of.) and the Green. That gives him a degree of control other Avatars don't possess. Through a series of events, he becomes the ultimate avatar, fully owns the role, and basically becomes perpetually tired(tm). with everybody.
Who is Alec Holland?
Alec Holland is a Botanist, biologist, and overall smart person whose goal in life was basically to be a normal human being, albeit trying to be a decent one. Unfortunately destiny (in the form of Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson, Alan Moore, Scott Snyder, and Charles Soule) led to him having a terrible accident that turned him into a muck monster. His consciousness split, and while he shared some of it with a pile of rotting vegetable matter, he eventually became the swamp thing in his own right and - thanks to his previous incarnation's knowledge, made himself the ultimate swamp thing, King of the Green, the original green man who rules over the other avatars who had fallen into corruption thanks to their access to absolute power.
His whole new 52 arc is basically the reverse of Moore's Swamp Thing. While Swampy was a plant learning how to be a person, Alec is a person learning and accepting that he's a plant now. He's got a few allies in this, from other avatars to Abigail (who is also an avatar now, but let's not go into her quite yet.) to human beings who can tolerate a guy who was basically royally screwed over by nature itself. Consequently, he normally refers to himself as a man learning how to be a plant, which comes with certain caveats.
Powers, Abilities, and things he does.
Power Level: Alec is basically the earth itself and can canonically lift over a ton, grow himself to devour a city, and basically shred humanity if he so chooses. (Peep his Wikia) As "Alec" Alec he's experimented with this, growing himself to the size of a mountain to stomp on a Scottish village.
That said, he is not invulnerable. He is a plant, and so he can burn, he can be poisoned, and he's sensitive to pollution and the actions of both the red (animal life) and the rot (death).
He also has access to the other memories, skills, and life stories of the other avatars - and given that the first avatar was a trilobite (what a story that guy's got amirite?) that's a considerable list of skills that he can summon at any given time. Normally.
What is the Green?
Imagine that little voice in the back of your head that says "Hey, you know what would be fun? screaming at guests in the middle of the parking lot. Go on! Do it! They pissed you off! They were rude to you at your 9-5!" and you, being a reasonable human being, thinks "If I did this, I'd get fired." so you ignore that little voice that sort of slides away all depressed?
That's the green in a nutshell. In more detail it's the web of life that deals with plants, crops, jungle plants, etc. etc. It wants to live, so it's been taking human hosts to do it from the red kingdom. The red raises it's own avatars and the other kingdoms sort of pick from the red's supply of pink ape things to also represent them, imbuing them with their own magic.
Each Kingdom wants their kingdom to win, but human beings, much like you in the parking lot, recognize that if they don't keep the balance, IE don't yell at guests, they're going to get fired - or something is going to die. This is illustrated in Moore's run as the Floronic Man (also woodrue) forces all the plants to grow and fill the atmosphere with oxygen. Swampy points out that without humans the plants would have no Co2 - which is what plants need to live.
TLDR, the green is the little nagging voice Alec has to deal with constantly that basically says "give into your inner desires and rip all the humans apart" but he has a good handle on it and refuses to take it's shit (especially after he nearly stepped on a Scottish town.) Still, it's a powerful force and one that a powerful magic user could use to manipulate him. (again, despite seeming all powerful, he's not. He's just - close.)
In fablelands
In fablelands Alec arrives just prior to the discovery of the machine kingdom (New 52) while he's living in the swamp with Capucine after defeating Seeder - his former student Jason Woodrue who also was a green man, albeit briefly. Alec killed Seeder (accidentally, and he feels bad about it.) buried him in the deep green, and nearly killed all life on earth by causing the atmosphere to over fill with oxygen. He was doing it to trick the green, who conferred his Avatar status back on him. When they'd done that he locked the other avatars away inside himself, putting them into their winters.
Riding high and feeling considerably powerful and very not human, he's dropped into this place with memories of Linda (his first wife) and Abigail (the current avatar of the rot, his destined love, and current "wife"). Those awaken a spark of humanity in him.
He is completely cut off from his world's green, but Moore covered Swampy visiting other places by having original swampy visit "The blue", another world's vegetation. Consequently, he's visited this world's green and found...no one. No previous avatars and a very "meh" green force. He's planning on doing more through investigating, especially when he has reason to believe that Abby and Linda might still be alive.
In the Nexus
Caught between his world's green and the nexus's green, Alec is far more volatile and far more dangerous. He 's found agents of the rot, and is failing to see that his actions may have consequences especially when he's pissed off the spirit of Autumn, and the spirit of winter. He has very little understanding of those seasons and still misses being a human being.
(while his predecessor is shaking his head kind of sadly.)
Here's a brief break down of his abilities, that he possess in both games.
Transformation: Alec can be anything that he can think of that looks vaguely plant like, but he can get more creative as well. From tentacled monsters to mountains, he can change his shape and quickly regrow his body if his old body becomes injured or damaged in some way. There are ways to stop it magically, specifically with rot or death spells, but failing that, at least in
fablelands He'll be able to change himself into any shape under 7 feet ideally.Constructs: Holland can change himself and also create constructs, trees, houses, boats, all using the green. Much like Green Lantern, he can make constructs out of the green that his mind can think of. Unlike Swampy he can get really creative with them so expect boats, houses, etc. etc.
Communion with Nature: Alec is...a plant effectively and while he still has human desires he has far more interest in plants and their abilities then he used to do. He's constantly expelling oxygen and can raise the level of oxygen in an isolated or inclosed area thanks to the fact that he's always expelling it, and he can talk to any earth based plant. Alien plants (like, Groot.) he could theoretically learn the language of to speak to them in their own tongue. They can provide him with information unless otherwise manipulated via magical means. (like "Hey that thing is over there!")
Mind-Trip Tubers Alec can grow unusual fruits, tubers, and other fruits. Larger collections of them take time but he won't do anything like grow full farms and forests. There's a balance of nature.
NEGATIVES
He puts plants over people Unless you're one of the few people who has wormed his way into his heart (sometimes literally) - he tends to prioritize plants over people and spend his time taking care of them. Large groups annoy him, and human beings who don't listen to the environment just turn him off completely. He'll tap of out of conversations like that.
He's a walking swamp He is a walking swamp and has all the attributes of such. Smell, size, drippiness. He's a muck monster which means that he's gross.
He doesn't run very fast. When he travels he usually uses the green and regrows his body in a different location. Running he sorta lumbers.