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Brian writes...

Hi Greg,
Hope you're well and that your book is successful and work on Rebels is going well. I've tweeted and posted before and can't express how much I appreciate your epic style of storytelling. I'm from the Boston area and would love to see them invite you to our Comic-Con this summer.

Now I am a Lex Luthor fanatic. I find him to be a fascinating character, which is why I cosplay as him and go to costume parties. The Young Justice version in particular was really quite fantastic and I just wanted to thank you, the other writers, and Mark Rolston for crafting such an amazing version of this great character.

Having recently finished YJ: Legacy I was blown away by the story and couldn't help but be disappointed by Lex's lack of screentime and dialogue. Your dialogue is always so brilliantly written and Mr. Rolston delivers the lines so flawlessly.
1)I was just wondering if there was a reason that even as a major "boss" in the game he had so little screentime and dialogue.
2)Was there any dialogue for Lex that was written but didn't make it into the game? If so would you mind posting that dialogue to Ask Greg

Thanks again,
Brian

Greg responds...

1. Don't overthink it. It is what it is. Much as you might have liked it, he's just not a lead character in the game. He got the screentime that was warranted, no more, no less. (I mean, we'd love to give endless screentime to nearly every character on the show. But that's never going to be possible.)

2. Not that I know of. Certainly none that I edited.

But I'm glad you like Lex. I'm fond of our version too. And I can't say enough about Mark's contribution to that.

Response recorded on February 21, 2014

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Anonymous writes...

I think the problem that quite a few people have, myself included, with Wally's character/story on Young Justice might stem from the fact that he was the 'normal' one amongst the members of the original team. And on a show that at it's core is built around angst and drama, the normal characters tend to get lost in the shuffle since they don't come with built-in storylines like a character with a criminal family/background (Artemis and Kaldur), leadership issues (Kaldur and Dick), an inferior clone made by the enemy (Superboy), or a Martian used to discrimination living on Earth. They're just harder to fit into the story of the show. So it's much more important to their characters for the show to create an emotional connection to the audience and develop some meaningful relationships for that character to make them relevant to the show at large. And that's where I think the show failed as far as Wally was concerned.

For instance, you've said that Wally was a very insecure person during the first season and one of the big reasons why you paired him with Artemis. But out of all the members of the team, he always struck me as being the only one that wasn't insecure about who he was, or his role on the team. He was never shown to be bothered by his inferiority to Barry in season one, and even a good portion of the fandom didn't even know Barry was faster until BLOODLINES in season two. In fact, it was Conner who got the inferiority to the mentor storyline fleshed out in season one. And it was never said that Barry didn't originally want him to be his sidekick on the show. Plus the only insecurity he showed with girls was with Artemis. But that was more of a by product of him thinking she hated him because he was a jerk to her when she joined the team, not because he was insecure about who he was. So the show never really established him as an insecure character during the first season. He just came across as an idiot and an occasional selfish jerk simply because he was an idiot and an occasional selfish jerk; not because he was trying to overcompensate for his insecurity because of that.

And it's more of the same in the second season. Wally had became a completely different character between seasons and the only explanation the show gives is basically time-skip happened. I mean, Wally nearly killed himself just to become a hero and absolutely loved being one throughout the first season despite everything that happened. He also was pretty much supportive of his friends no matter what during that season, too. But during season two, Wally wanted absolutely nothing to do with being a hero and was accusing friends of being traitors and blaming them for trying to stop an alien invasion that he couldn't care less about for the majority of the season. It's like the show tossed away whatever previous characterization he had to justify his retirement and get him out of the way before reverting him back to something much closer to his previous characterization in the final two episodes. Which is why I found it a little hard to use Wally's previous characterization during the first season to defend his character in season two when he's not even close to being the same character. And I don't mean to say it's impossible that he could change that much over the gap, but it's such a drastic change that I think it deserved some sort of in-universe explanation.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that you said that Wally's 'humanity' was what you liked most about his character, but I'd say that that was the biggest flaw that this version of Wally West had. I mean, one of the things I've always loved about Wally in the comics and on other shows is that he would normally do the right thing simply because it was the right thing to do. That was missing with the Wally on Young Justice to me. Everything was always about him and what he wanted. Sure, he'd say some nice things to his friends on occasion, but he was the guy that would basically throw an inner-fit at the thought of saving a little girl's life instead of working on another mission with the League. And whatever development he was suppose to get from COLDHEARTED didn't seem to stick or didn't happen as he was practically thrilled that someone got kidnapped simply because he was bored at the beginning of the Young Justice video game. And Wally sitting out the majority of an alien invasion where things get worse and worse goes against everything I've ever loved about him over the years, and the scene at the end of DARKEST pretty much destroyed the character for me. The only times he was shown to help out was when the situation suited his interest, such as retrieving Artemis in SUMMIT, or helping out his family in BLOODLINES and ENDGAME. If the situation didn't have something directly to do with him, he couldn't be bothered to help and that's just not Wally West in my opinion.

As for his relationships, I think the issue for me was how unbalanced they seemed to be. I mean, I can appreciate the slow build and subtlety the show did with building up Artemis' side of their relationship; though I did think the show relied a little too heavily on telling us that they were going to get together in an effort to make her small moments such as asking about his parents in MISPLACED or making the sling for his arm to mean more than they really did. The problem is that the show basically punched me in the face with Wally's side of the relationship in contrast. The show pretty much shouted that he should get together with Artemis in DENIAL, he had an entire episode in FAILSAFE where she's almost all he could think about, was basically her number one fan for the majority of INSECURITY, and was shown to do nothing but worry about her in season two. Artemis never had anything remotely close to those type of things during the two seasons while he was alive. That's because Artemis had a lot going on besides Wally, as she had her family/trust issues, being a mole suspect, and the undercover mission. Where as with Wally being the normal one, the show made Artemis his thing and smashed us over the head with it. That's why I always preferred the M'gann/Conner relationship despite never being big fans of their characters since neither side dominated their relationship. It was balanced. It never felt like one of them was way more committed to the other like it did with Wally and Artemis. And like a previous poster before me mentioned, I think his friendship with Dick was handled in a similar way. It's why their reactions to his death fell completely flat and contrived to me because Wally wasn't really ever shown to be as important to them as they made him out to be after he died. And as a character, Wally got very little out of those relationships himself.

And like most of the 'normal' characters, Wally was killed off because there's only so much a show feels they can do with them. You guys milked about as much drama/angst you could get out of his relationship with Artemis over the two seasons and because of that, Wally was no longer useful to the show because he didn't bring any drama/angst as his own character. In essence, as a standalone character he had no real story of his own and that made him an expendable character.

Unfortunately, it just seemed like the majority of the things that made Wally tick and were important to his character would seem to have been left out of the show for the most part. And I'd say that he's the only one out of the main cast of either season that was handled that way. It's why while I normally enjoy Wally in the comics and other shows (I loved him and Jay/Barry in the episode "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!" that you wrote for Batman: The Brave and the Bold, by the way), I had a hard time getting invested into his character on Young Justice. And the Wally you talk about here and the Wally that was on the show just seem like two completely different characters to me.

Greg responds...

Well, to some extent, I'll grant that there were things about Wally we didn't spell out as clearly as we might have in the series, though if you were also reading our companion comics, Wally's insecurity about his relationship to Barry would be hard to miss. But I'll also grant that you shouldn't have to read the comics to enjoy the series.

But I think we painted Wally consistently. His insecurity is there to see, certainly in "Infiltrator" and other episodes. We might not have stated it, hammered the nail on the head, so to speak, but I'm confident it's there. If you chose to see him as an idiot and selfish jerk, I can't stop you. But Brandon and I thought the insecurity was pretty clear. Clear enough that we were afraid we overdid it. Perhaps we were wrong. But I still don't think so, and the fact that a handful of fans disagree with me isn't exactly changing my mind. That's neither meant as a criticism of you or any other fans. Nor am I simply being defensive. In the end, all I can do is trust my own creative judgement (and that of my partners in crime - in this case Brandon Vietti), for better or for worse. If that judgement is faulty - and again, I'll grant that it could very well be - that doesn't change anything. Because if I start second-guessing myself all the time, the work, I'm sure, would suffer. In general, I think my instincts are decent, and the proof of that, I believe, is that most fans seem to respond positively - both to Wally and to the show in general. Doesn't make me right, of course, but what other recourse do I have?

As for some of your analysis, I believe you are choosing to interpret Wally in the most negative light possible, and that's certainly not how we saw him, and given the extremely vocal love for our version of the character expressed by a vast majority of fans, I will once again suggest that we simply agree to disagree. I'm not going to convince you. You're not going to convince me.

Having said all of the above, I still appreciate your post and your point of view. And who knows? Everything I read gets absorbed into my brain and tossed around into the mix. Maybe a Star Wars Rebels character will benefit from your words.

Response recorded on February 21, 2014

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Tupka writes...

Back during production of Legacy, it was revealed the last boss had to be replaced because the Greek Gods were good(ish) guys on Earth-16.

Considering the ocean/earthquake theme, was the last boss originally Poseidon? Tiamat was never really in command of quakes, but Poseidon was.

Greg responds...

Honestly, I don't remember.

Response recorded on February 21, 2014

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Sebastian "Brother" Blood writes...

Hey Greg,
I am another in your legion of fans, converted by Gargoyles, which i saw as a kid on Jetix, and then came SSM, which was EPIC. Since, in India, YJ wasnt telecast (we are not encouraged to watch animation or read comics here, quite the opposite, sadly as it is considered "childish") I ordered DVDs to see it. I also ordered Rain of the Ghosts (I started it, and it felt awesome. An all ages, yet not dumbed-down novel) and YJL online. The reason i wrote this to you is that while YJL has a solid story, as a game, there is no other way to say it, it's sub-par. Many of the levels are repetitive and borderline unnecessary and even illogical (For example, In the Museum civilian rescue with John Stewart, the villains who are non-ninjas also magically appear and keep attacking us instead of trying to get to safety, as a villain in a story, not a game, would, and 6-7 times i believe. It is irritating and pointless. If 2 or 3 hordes were there, i would have understood. And this repeats on every stage. The cargo boat level was also the same. The fighting system is also boring once you figure out that all the characters are essentially the same with different animation. The graphics arent too great either, but they arent that bad either.) I think that the developers should take support from you guys into figuring what parts should be there. My ideal version would be that the game would be like a season's worth of Young Justice with us playing the fights and doing recon and so on.... Well, i would recommend that the developers take a template of Arkham City, which flawlessly does what YJL tries to do, but the only thing which is common is that both have a great story. I liked the Red Arrow Journals. If you do make a game set post-season two, please do more stuff like that. But, honestly, by the time you read this (I estimate that it will be in July 2014) a decision on that will be out and i fear it will not be the one we want. So, it might have been pointless to write the above stuff, but i wanted to get it out of my system. Also, two questions :-
1. Do you have any idea of your fanbase outside of the US?
Respectfully,
S.

Greg responds...

1. Only anecdotally. Fans who post here or on Twitter, etc.

2. Did I miss your second question?

As for the game, as I've candidly admitted before, I'm not personally a gamer. I can work on story, but most of the things you're discussing are a bit beyond my area of expertise - even a bit beyond my understanding. If the game-play wasn't the best for you, I hope the story and characters still made it worthwhile. Far as I know, there's been no decisions made yet.

Response recorded on February 13, 2014

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Anonymous writes...

In Legacy, Tula researches the statue pieces in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Is this the museum in New York, or one in Metropolis?

Greg responds...

I believe New York, but I'm not 100% sure.

Response recorded on February 10, 2014

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Yojimbo writes...

In Young Justice: Legacy,

1) Who voiced Bumblebee in place of Masasa Moyo?

2) If my previous question(s) didn't answer it, who did Jeff Bennett voice?

2) If my previous question(s) didn't answer it, who did Vanessa Marshall voice?

3) If my previous question(s) didn't answer it, who did Jeff Bennett voice?

4) If my previous question(s) didn't answer it, who did you voice?

5) What's one moderate-major thing you changed in the script?

Greg responds...

1-4. Again, I don't have that info with me at the moment. And I don't trust my memory.

5. I don't know that there was anything major in the script. I did a pass on all the dialogue, so that hopefully it sounded spot on to our characters. And Brandon and I both worked the story with Little Orbit before they got to script. We wanted, for example, to make sure that the Light's plan made sense, given their objectives. And, of course, we wanted to make sure that the correct Team members, given the time period, were present or accounted for, and that no one who shouldn't be there was - except as bonus fun DLCs.

Response recorded on February 10, 2014

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Yojimbo writes...

In Young Justice: Legacy,

1) Who voiced Batgirl in place of Alyson Stoner?

2) Who voiced Rocket in place of Kittie/Denise Boutte?

3) Who voiced Killer Frost in place of Sarah Shahi?

4) Who voiced Bane in place of Danny Trejo?

5) Who voiced Psimon in place of Alan Tudyk?

Greg responds...

I'm afraid I don't remember, and I don't have the information with me at this moment.

Although, I thought Alyson did voice Batgirl. Hmmm....

Response recorded on February 07, 2014

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Yojimbo writes...

1) Would the unidentified alien race who sent Tiamat to Earth figure into a story in season 3?

2) Based on Black Manta revealing his part in helping collect statue fragments was a stepping stone into the Light, is Ocean Master no longer a member of the Light during the events of Legacy?

3) After she was rescued in Gotham City by Alpha Squad, was Dr. Sandsmark given an A-designation by the Justice League?

4) Red Arrow's third journal mentions a report of Blue Beetle joining an "illustrious fraternity" on November 1, Team Year One. Is this confirmation he joined the Justice League (just wanted to know for sure)?

5) Was Klarion seeking to collect the Tablet of Destiny for the same reasons he sought the Helmet of Fate back in season one?

Greg responds...

1. We had plans, but I'm not going to be specific.

2. He is not.

3. No.

4. No. Red Arrow meant he had joined the "fraternity" of super-heroes more generally.

5. Yes and no.

Response recorded on January 31, 2014

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Paul writes...

Hi Greg! A few YJ questions:

1) If Little Orbit make another Young Justice game and start discussing potential DLC characters, do you think you might entertain the idea of including Troia and Sergeant Marvel as DLC characters? If the show and the comic don't come back, the games made by Little Orbit might be the fans' only chance of seeing them, even if they're just thrown in there for non-canon fun like Bumblebee, Lagoon Boy, Blue Beetle and Wonder Girl were for Legacy. I realise it's probably not your call as you're not an employee of Little Orbit, but maybe this is something you could suggest to them if they get in touch again please?

2)Just out of curiousity, why did you opt to put Troia in the 'Junior' class, when the other original Titans from the comic (i.e. Dick, Wally, Garth) made it to the 'Senior' class'? Having Jason Todd, the Marvels, Batgirl etc. as 'Juniors' makes sense to me, but Donna's a bit more iconic due to her comic book counterpart's affiliation with the founding Titans, so I was just wondering what the rationale was for not having her make it past 'Junior' level.

3a) Why wasn't Donna Troy used in the companion comic book, once it became clear that you wouldn't be using her in season 2?
3b) Did you consider including her in any issues?

4) With Troia and Sergeant Marvel originally planned to be included in the bridal shower scene, I wondered if we would have heard Mary say, "Shazam!", to shatter the ice that Captain Cold had formed around them? Was it planned for her to say that, either before or after Zatanna's 'garb us for battle' spell, had she been in the scene?

5) I read online that the reason for Lieutenant Marvel and Sergeant Marvel not being on the Team in season 2, from what you said at Wondercon, is that there wasn't enough room for their story arc. My question is, since Batgirl, Beast Boy, Robin and Wonder Girl didn't have arcs in season 2 but were included nonetheless, why didn't you keep the Marvels around in minor roles too?

Greg responds...

1. It all depends on content, I would think. But I'm not opposed to the idea, especially as fun DLC extras. The problem is that those characters were never designed. And we'd all want Phil Bourassa to design them in collaboration with Brandon Vietti. Or maybe Chris Jones or Jerome Moore in collaboration with Phil and Brandon. In any case, I'm happy to make the suggestion, if and when.

2. The fact is, as I've said many times before, both Wonder Girls (Donna and Cassie) were off-limits to us when production began. By the time they got ON-limits, it was too late to include Donna in Season One. So she became a "Junior", so to speak, by default.

3a. Well, keep in mind, that didn't become clear until partway through production. We had planned to use her in two episodes (208 and 220) of Season Two until it just became a production impossibility. Anyway, had the comic continued - or the series for that matter - we would have definitely have introduced her. But both ended before we had the chance.

3b. None that came out. But we have plenty of stories.

4. She would have said "Shazam!"

5. Weren't we already crowded enough?

Response recorded on January 30, 2014

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a red arrow fan writes...

Hi Greg,
Just played the YJ Legacy.
Collected 3 Red Arrow journals.

Then a strange question came to me.
As player we can see the journal content by the computer in the Cave.
But in fact, I mean the team's fact, do they really find some Red Arrow's journals and read it?
Or they didn't really got some journal in the missions. The journals can only be seen by Player. As some player reward?

I asked this because that would be a bit weird if the team really read the journals of Red Arrow and still did nothing to help their friend. And also Red Arrow would be careless to put his digital journal every where.

Anyway, I like the idea of Red Arrow Journal.
I would like to get more and more side story about some sub characters in this show, in any way.

Greg responds...

I don't think the Team read the Journals. They are a treat for the audience/player. And the entries themselves are canon. But they were never assumed to be read by members of the Team or the League.

But the notion that the Team and League didn't try to help Roy is clearly false. You saw one of their efforts on screen in the series.

Response recorded on January 28, 2014


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