Masterdramon writes...

Aloha Greg! Finally caught up with the queue again, and figured I'd "celebrate" my asking my own question for the first time in a while.

First off, absolutely loving just about everything about PHANTOMS so far. The maturity of the storytelling, worldbuilding, and character exploration on display in just the first arc has been stupendous.

I particularly appreciated your acknowledgment in a recent answer of racial blindspots you and the creative team could see in hindsight with the way Mars-16's society was set up, and the genuine effort put into course-correcting here, resulting in a far more nuanced and topical take on racial prejudice and hierarchy than most contemporary shows would even dare TOUCH.

Meanwhile the animation, sound design, and voice talent remain top-notch as ever (particular props to Greg Cipes...people who have only heard him do Beast Boy in the VERY broad take from "Teen Titans Go!" have to have been thrown for a loop by his performance here). The dialogue, both dramatic and humorous, carries a sharpness that few other shows of its type can match. And that heart of mystery and black-ops intrigue, which always gave YJ its own strong, unique identity to set itself apart from other versions of the DCU, remains as strong as ever (though I totally called the king's murderer right off the bat, LOL).

All this combines to create what is shaping up to possibly be the best season of this show yet, and the reason why Thursdays are the day of the week I'll be most looking forward to for the foreseeable future. ;)

Now, to the actual question...

One element introduced in OUTSIDERS that really interested me were the Control Chips used by the Light and their associates. While they seem like garden-variety fictional mind control devices in terms of their utility and effects, their actual origin and functionality are never brought up on-screen, as they are clearly a well-known feature of the criminal underworld by Team Year Eight.

So these are a few of the questions that I've been mulling over since my last rewatch of OUTSIDERS. If any of these are considered to be spoiler requests or touch on unseen elements of PHANTOMS, feel free to skip over, but I figured I'd give it a shot!

1) Who first invented the Control Chips?

2) In "Auld Acquaintance" Vandal mentions that one of the Light's goals was cornering the market, as it were, on "every conceivable method of mind control." As he says this, we get a quick montage of examples from Season 1, including Starro-Tech, G-Gnome telepathy, the Joker's plant-controlling gloves, Queen Bee's pheromone abilities, and Psimon's psychic powers. Were any of these precursors or bases for the Control Chip tech?

3) Anything you're willing to share about how the Control Chip's level of...well, control, compares to the above-mentioned methods? For example, Starro-Tech explicitly only allows an external user remote control of the mind, without actually altering the victim's thoughts. If not neutralized by a Cure Chip, do Control Chips have this same limitation, or do they work along an entirely different vector?

4) Is there a "standard" Control Chip model used by the various meta-traffickers around the world, or is this the sort of case where once the technology exists, unsavory characters of all sorts reverse-engineered their own "flavors"?

5) How does the Control Chip imprint who the victim is supposed to be obeying? Clearly in Jace's case, for example, she had primed the chips she used on Brion and Tara so they would obey her, but is that done by a voiceprint sample, DNA, or some other method?

I'm probably overthinking this one little part of the worldbuilding, but hey, that's what this sight is for! That, and asking for the age of every character who has ever been mentioned for a single femtosecond, LOL...

Regardless, wishing you, the rest of the cast and crew, and all of your loved ones the absolute best! Cannot wait for the next chapter of PHANTOMS to enter my eyeballs.

Mahalo nui loa! :D

Isaac writes...

Hello! I was wondering if you ever watched Robert Kirkman's Invincible (2021) animated series? It's about superheroes and gave me the same vibes as Spectacular Spider-Man and Young Justice (just WAY gorier). I really enjoyed it, and one aspect of it that I absolutely loved was the longer episodes, running about forty-to-fifty minutes each. I know it's way above your pay-grade, but I was just curious, if you had the choice, would you want to extend your episodes to fifty-some minutes like Invincible? Or would you want to keep them a little over twenty minutes? Assuming of course you'd be able to still produce twenty to twenty-six episodes for each season, which Invincible didn't do at just eight episodes per the first season.

Anyways, Happy Halloween! I'm eagerly awaiting the next episode of YJ Phantoms! Artemis' arc is looking to be fantastic!

Keira writes...

I do geuninely appreciate what you did with Halo in Outsiders. I thought you crafted the arc of an otherworldly being trying to outline its own identity very well. I thought the point of her arc was clearly communicated- last season she was trying to grasp the bare fundamentals of being human, and in this one, it seems like she's reached a place where she explore them in more depth.

Her arc was one of favourite parts of the last season, and I thank you for that.Looking forward to more.

Caleb writes...

When (in Team Years) did King Orin retire as Aquaman?
Did Kaldur immediately take up the mantle after Orin?

Anonymous writes...

Young Justice Questions in regards to Batwoman:

1. Is her full name Katherine "Kate" Rebecca Kane?

2. Are she and Bruce Wayne maternal cousins?

3. When did she join the Justice League and what was her designation number during her time as a member?

4. Within the animated series, does her immediate family consists of Jacob Kane (father), Gabrielle "Gabi" Kane (mother), Elizabeth "Beth" Kane (twin sister), and Catherine Hamilton-Kane (stepmother)?

5. Within the animated series, when and why did Kate Kane become Batwoman?

Suzie writes...

Hello got a few more Young Justice questions.

1. To confirm are Bart and Eduardo a couple?
2. What are the names of Tula's parents?
3. When and how did Superboy make his engagement ring to Miss Martian?

Elizabeth writes...

A) Does Roy Harper suffer from chronic phantom limb pain?

B) Is he going to college?

C) Does have a father-son relationship with Ollie?

Windy writes...

Hey Greg,

This is just a few quick questions:

1) Who was Tara's guardian during s3? I know Gregor became hers afterwards, but she needed someone listed as her guardian when attending school
2) Who's Violet's guardian?
3) Who is/was Foragers?

Hoping none of these are spoilers, and have a great Halloweekend!

Anonymous writes...

1 Was jace already insane before ultra humanite mentored her?
2 If the answer to question 1 is yes, did he mentor her because of her insanity since he thought she would be easy to control?
3 What does ultra humanite think of her insanity?
4 Was there a specific reason you picked ultra humanite as a member of the light?
5 When did ultra humanite mentor jace

Nick writes...

Hi Greg!

Thank you VERY much for answering my Z-designation questions. The designation ordering is a small part of the show but one that has always interested me. The little touches of world-building throughout YOUNG JUSTICE are one of my favorite things about the show, and I can only imagine how much unseen work goes into fleshing out the universe you and Brandon have created. And I completely understand that the G- and Z-series were special cases, and have no expectations for seeing the other fulls lists unveiled. Discovering them as the show goes along is half the fun!

One question I do have spinning out of the Z-designation ask though is Katana's numbering. It is what prompted me to ask that question in the first place. My general understanding of the designation assignments (and please correct me if I am wrong) is that when multiple heroes join at once, they are given their numbers in the order that they debuted as heroes. But Hardware (Z-04) was designated before Katana (Z-05), despite you having stated that Hardware debuted in Team Year Five with Katana debuting in Team Year Three -- in Japan. So my question is...

1A. Was Hardware's debut year a mistake?
1B. Was Katana's designation based on when she debuted in America instead of Japan?
1C. Or perhaps most likely, did Batman simply recruit his team in different batches, quietly assigning designations in multiple waves?

While I hope this would only apply to the defunct Z-series you have agreed to unveil, if any of it touches upon still present spoilers, I completely understand if you cannot answer at this time.

As always, I wish you, Brandon, and the team the best on completing production for the final episodes of Season 4, and thank you for continuing to keep up with the queue as the current season is airing! Very excited for the Artemis arc and only still crying a little bit after the "Involuntary" ending. (Okay, a lot bit.)

Oh, and I'll be helping to moderate the Reddit AMA on 11/2 -- so if you only get to this question after that -- a huge thank you to you and Brandon for answering even more questions there!