X-O Revelations

[jmatt]

An imminent topic we haven't talked about too much.

Question: Given what we've seen in the AH teasers, how does an X-O armor "infect" an entire planet, and why does every living thing have to be eradicated?

The answer to that question is going to a big linchpin, not only in the AH event but for the very premise of the X-O title altogether. It has to be reasonable and believable and not stomp too heavily on what readers already know and what they hope to see.

Think about it: Valiant is about to make some pretty consequential revelations about the origin and nature of the X-O Manowar armor. How this unfolds will change the trajectory of the X-O title, the biggest pillar in the VEI universe.

If it is a well-conceived and plausible premise, readers will be happy. If it turns out to be Valiant's version of midichlorians, readers will grumble and freak. The stakes are high.

[Phoenix8008]

An imminent topic we haven't talked about too much.

Question: Given what we've seen in the AH teasers, how does an X-O armor "infect" an entire planet, and why does every living thing have to be eradicated?

The answer to that question is going to a big linchpin, not only in the AH event but for the very premise of the X-O title altogether. It has to be reasonable and believable and not stomp too heavily on what readers already know and what they hope to see.

Think about it: Valiant is about to make some pretty consequential revelations about the origin and nature of the X-O Manowar armor. How this unfolds will change the trajectory of the X-O title, the biggest pillar in the VEI universe.

If it is a well-conceived and plausible premise, readers will be happy. If it turns out to be Valiant's version of midichlorians, readers will grumble and freak. The stakes are high.

Maybe that pillar will fall?? Not that I'm rooting for it, but we do have Warren in the 'State of the Union' interview saying: "And Bloodshot will be very center to our universe for some time to come. I can’t tell you the plans that we have for him. I can tell you that they are probably as exciting as anything we’ve done up here in the past two years."

Could Bloodshot be the center of the universe if X-O is it's central pillar still? Or is the soon to be focus on Bloodshot because he is going to be a serious movie property soonish??

[hkupo]

An imminent topic we haven't talked about too much.

Question: Given what we've seen in the AH teasers, how does an X-O armor "infect" an entire planet, and why does every living thing have to be eradicated?

The answer to that question is going to a big linchpin, not only in the AH event but for the very premise of the X-O title altogether. It has to be reasonable and believable and not stomp too heavily on what readers already know and what they hope to see.

Think about it: Valiant is about to make some pretty consequential revelations about the origin and nature of the X-O Manowar armor. How this unfolds will change the trajectory of the X-O title, the biggest pillar in the VEI universe.

If it is a well-conceived and plausible premise, readers will be happy. If it turns out to be Valiant's version of midichlorians, readers will grumble and freak. The stakes are high.

You're right about this being a linchpin and I have faith they won't go all Phantom Menace on us.

What I'm wondering is how different Aric's armor is compared to the rest. From what I've read I'm guessing the armors have a reputation of corrupting the users. The Hunters refer to Malgam(think that's his name) like he was one of them before the armor took him and he went all crazy in Earth's Orbit.

Plus Aric's armor hasn't been used for thousands of years. The Vine spoke about it in legend and only being used by some folk hero/savior and then they kept it locked away until they could find a suitable replacement. Which took so long most considered it superstition. The way Livewire and Aric interact with the X-O added to the fact that it's spent so much time on the Vine world without destroying or infecting shows this one's definitely different. I can't wait to see the whole picture.

[lorddunlow]

Maybe Shanhara is like a Mogwai and it is nice and wholesome, but the spores from it turn evil like The gremlins.

[grendeljd]

Maybe Shanhara is like a Mogwai and it is nice and wholesome, but the spores from it turn evil like The gremlins.

Totally, this is it! Awwww, cuddwy wittle Shanhara just wants to pway wiff Owly & Wormy!!! Don't get wet in the stweam, wittle Shanhara, it'll be bad for you!!

[grendeljd]

An imminent topic we haven't talked about too much.

Question: Given what we've seen in the AH teasers, how does an X-O armor "infect" an entire planet, and why does every living thing have to be eradicated?

The answer to that question is going to a big linchpin, not only in the AH event but for the very premise of the X-O title altogether. It has to be reasonable and believable and not stomp too heavily on what readers already know and what they hope to see.

Think about it: Valiant is about to make some pretty consequential revelations about the origin and nature of the X-O Manowar armor. How this unfolds will change the trajectory of the X-O title, the biggest pillar in the VEI universe.

If it is a well-conceived and plausible premise, readers will be happy. If it turns out to be Valiant's version of midichlorians, readers will grumble and freak. The stakes are high.

You're right about this being a linchpin and I have faith they won't go all Phantom Menace on us.

What I'm wondering is how different Aric's armor is compared to the rest. From what I've read I'm guessing the armors have a reputation of corrupting the users. The Hunters refer to Malgam(think that's his name) like he was one of them before the armor took him and he went all crazy in Earth's Orbit.

Plus Aric's armor hasn't been used for thousands of years. The Vine spoke about it in legend and only being used by some folk hero/savior and then they kept it locked away until they could find a suitable replacement. Which took so long most considered it superstition. The way Livewire and Aric interact with the X-O added to the fact that it's spent so much time on the Vine world without destroying or infecting shows this one's definitely different. I can't wait to see the whole picture.

I suspect that the huge impact of the Hunters coming to earth will be more a result of the potentially cataclysmic damage they cause while battling Aric. You're right, jmatt - making a radical shift to the origin of XO is a tricky thing.

IMO they can't have the full reveal be a case of the Armor being such a huge threat to the people of earth, (ie a parasitic mechano-organism as is being suggested so far) that would seem to be a hole you can't dig out of once you're in.

My guess at this point is that Shanhara will still have an earthly point of origin. Keeping in mind that time travel is very possible in this Valiant universe, and with the existence of The Faraway showing us that bizarre high tech from the very far flung future can show up at any point in time (and potentially anyplace), it could easily be from our own future & not alien.

Further to that, it could have been distributed outward to other alien races via the Vine, who had access to it in their distant past. This concept flows nicely with their culture of 'seeding & harvesting the universal garden'.

And the final piece to my idea is that perhaps the tech that Shanhara comes from only becomes corrupted when it actually bonds with semi-compatible alien races (of whom the Vine were not?), and remains pure if bonded to a human - the species who are its creator... If this is revealed, the Armor can have all these revelations about its parasitic nature be true and yet not be a threat to earth & /or humans....

[hawkeyeps]

I always wondered why the Vine kept their sacred artifact on a space cruiser instead of Loam, maybe the Vine rulers knew the XO was bad news and cut a deal with Armour Hunters to keep it contained.

I seem to recall a Vine politician freaking out at a priest saying the Hara vine story was BS when Aric was trashing Loam, they screwed up and now Aric has the Armour and Earth is in the cross hairs of the Armour Hunters.

Maybe the Vine rulers we're happy to see it go, it's Earth's problem now.

Were the Vine rulers taking orders from "Command"? And were they doing so to save their planet?

Are the Vine immune to the XO because they are plant based and the armour requires protein...like nanites

[jmatt]

making a radical shift to the origin of XO is a tricky thing.

A shift, only in the sense of what readers currently know -- and all we know at this point is a myth of questionable veracity.

My guess at this point is that Shanhara will still have an earthly point of origin.

Still?

it could easily be from our own future & not alien. .... If this is revealed, the Armor can have all these revelations about its parasitic nature be true and yet not be a threat to earth & /or humans....

An interesting notion, and one that leaves the door open for future X-O adventures without upsetting the apple cart too much.

But I think the big question at hand is how does the armor "infect" a planet's inhabitants? What's the mechanism? I can see them coming up with an explanation for why the wearer might be corrupted, necessitating his dispatch. But why everyone else?

I'm nervous, because I found the premise of Dr. Silk zombifying everyone on Earth with some ancient written symbols a tad too goofy and unexplained to be a reasonable premise.

[jmatt]

Maybe the Vine rulers we're happy to see it go, it's Earth's problem now.

Mmm, I dunno. They seemed pretty freaked out about losing it.

[kjjohanson]

I always wondered why the Vine kept their sacred artifact on a space cruiser instead of Loam

This is one of three big problems with the first arc (I'm currently doing a re-read of the VEI books and will be blogging about each arc starting sometime soon; I'll address the other two when I do that).

In short, I think each of the problems stem from VEI trying to stick a little too close to the VH1 origin, which was fine back then as comics were not quite as sophisticated as they are now. But if they're going to stick to what people know, they need to address the bigger questions that pop up.

[jmatt]

I always wondered why the Vine kept their sacred artifact on a space cruiser instead of Loam

In short, I think each of the problems stem from VEI trying to stick a little too close to the VH1 origin,

While I agree, one could rationalize that if they were seeking a warrior "worthy" of wearing the armor, that warrior would most likely be found at the front lines of their conquests, not back on placid Loam.

[BugsySig]

I always wondered why the Vine kept their sacred artifact on a space cruiser instead of Loam

In short, I think each of the problems stem from VEI trying to stick a little too close to the VH1 origin,

While I agree, one could rationalize that if they were seeking a warrior "worthy" of wearing the armor, that warrior would most likely be found at the front lines of their conquests, not back on placid Loam.

Or they knew about the Armor Hunters and kept the armor away from Loam on purpose to avoid them.

I think the issue with the armor possibly infecting the whole population is that anyone who wears it can be infected.

Just because there is one armor, doesn't mean there's only one wearer. Already 3 individuals on Earth have worn Shanharra. Gafti is dead, but Livewire seems to have retained something.

So potentially any inhabitant could have worn the armor at one time or another. The Hunters just aren't willing to investigate hard enough to find out who.

[jmatt]

I think the issue with the armor possibly infecting the whole population is that anyone who wears it can be infected. ...Just because there is one armor, doesn't mean there's only one wearer. ...The Hunters just aren't willing to investigate hard enough to find out who.

An interesting idea, albeit extremely heavy handed.

Perhaps that's why we've seen so many cover images of Livewire with mechanical arms. Perhaps this is a concept they came up with before Unity, and decided to hold off on exploiting so as to wrap into a larger event, like AH.

[IanAlexavier]

I like the idea of the X-O being a futuristic Terran based entity. I wonder if Bloodshot is someone involved in the origin of the X-O??

[greg]

Every living thing eradicated... where have we seen that before?

Oh yeah... the Boon.

With its blue glowing orb in the center.

Like a ball of X-O armor.

[jmatt]

Every living thing eradicated... where have we seen that before?

Oh yeah... the Boon.

With its blue glowing orb in the center.

Like a ball of X-O armor.

The difference being that the Boon killed everyone, not the Armor Hunters. But I still like your X-O / Boon theory.