Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

jmatt wrote:
Sunlight on Snow wrote:...and the Livewire clone being with the team that sends (New) Japan into orbit...
I was wondering what that panel was. We've seen that before, yes? My memory of it is hazy.
In "Book of Death: The Fall of Ninjak" Ninjak says that Livewire is back together with Harada and she tell him that she's going to launch Japan into space. Then he says it will be a parasite and he will not allow her to do that. Later on, he says "You're not Livewire. She died years ago. .... You're just a collection of her memories." Something like that. At the end he sacrifices himself when he's trying to nuke New Japan.

The only difference between "The Fall of Ninjak" and how it's visualized in this issue is we actually see an aged Harada and the Livewire clone (and some scientists) looking at a hologram of New Japan.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by kinggirlfriend »

You're right, cant believe I glossed over that. Good stuff!

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by jmatt »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:The only difference between "The Fall of Ninjak" and how it's visualized in this issue is we actually see an aged Harada and the Livewire clone (and some scientists) looking at a hologram of New Japan.
Then no wonder my memory of it is hazy. :P

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

jmatt wrote:
Sunlight on Snow wrote:The only difference between "The Fall of Ninjak" and how it's visualized in this issue is we actually see an aged Harada and the Livewire clone (and some scientists) looking at a hologram of New Japan.
Then no wonder my memory of it is hazy. :P
:lol:

Oh, by the way, do you recognize one of the scientists? :clap:

It's not just "some" scientist - 2 are random, 1 is not - and he was also mentioned in "Fall of Ninjak" and made a rather interesting appearance and speech in Rai #2 as well.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Keith »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:
jmatt wrote:
Sunlight on Snow wrote:The only difference between "The Fall of Ninjak" and how it's visualized in this issue is we actually see an aged Harada and the Livewire clone (and some scientists) looking at a hologram of New Japan.
Then no wonder my memory of it is hazy. :P
:lol:

Oh, by the way, do you recognize one of the scientists? :clap:

It's not just "some" scientist - 2 are random, 1 is not - and he was also mentioned in "Fall of Ninjak" and made a rather interesting appearance and speech in Rai #2 as well.
Wha-wha-wha-what?? I thought those were the triplet psiots who work for Harada. Which one are you talking about, and who is he?
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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

Keith wrote:
Sunlight on Snow wrote:
jmatt wrote:
Sunlight on Snow wrote:The only difference between "The Fall of Ninjak" and how it's visualized in this issue is we actually see an aged Harada and the Livewire clone (and some scientists) looking at a hologram of New Japan.
Then no wonder my memory of it is hazy. :P
:lol:

Oh, by the way, do you recognize one of the scientists? :clap:

It's not just "some" scientist - 2 are random, 1 is not - and he was also mentioned in "Fall of Ninjak" and made a rather interesting appearance and speech in Rai #2 as well.
Wha-wha-wha-what?? I thought those were the triplet psiots who work for Harada. Which one are you talking about, and who is he?
All 3 look a lot like a young version of Dr. Silk and he will mention in Rai #2 that he had been involved in building the Livewire (clone), New Japan, and Rai.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Keith »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:
Keith wrote:
Sunlight on Snow wrote:
jmatt wrote:
Sunlight on Snow wrote:The only difference between "The Fall of Ninjak" and how it's visualized in this issue is we actually see an aged Harada and the Livewire clone (and some scientists) looking at a hologram of New Japan.
Then no wonder my memory of it is hazy. :P
:lol:

Oh, by the way, do you recognize one of the scientists? :clap:

It's not just "some" scientist - 2 are random, 1 is not - and he was also mentioned in "Fall of Ninjak" and made a rather interesting appearance and speech in Rai #2 as well.
Wha-wha-wha-what?? I thought those were the triplet psiots who work for Harada. Which one are you talking about, and who is he?
All 3 look a lot like a young version of Dr. Silk and he will mention in Rai #2 that he had been involved in building the Livewire (clone), New Japan, and Rai.
Oh man... you might be onto something there!!
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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by jmatt »

Keith wrote:Wha-wha-wha-what?? I thought those were the triplet psiots who work for Harada. Which one are you talking about, and who is he?
Now that you mention it, I remember being confused by the triplets... I wasn't thinking of clones.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Dallow Spicer1 »

jeremycoe wrote:
jmatt wrote:
jeremycoe wrote:Enjoyable, but nothing revelatory. The 2 typos (that I saw) were really bad. If they need me to proofread the books for free I'll happily do it :D
I caught one: cloud or judgment. What was the other?
I looked back and couldn't find it. Maybe there was only the one?
The other one was the double 'be be' when Rai was talking on the second to last page. "Someone to remind the people what it means to be be civil...."

Not great!

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Dallow Spicer1 »

I pretty much fall on the side that this issue was a recap of what's happened so far in VEI. I was expecting something mapping out the future ala VH1 RAI 0. That said it was an decent enough read. Not a fan of Portello's art though, bit bland for my taste, I liken it to Luppacino and Clayton Henry (I'm not saying they are bad artists, just not to my taste).

3/5

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by tell »

I found some of the items around Gilad's safehouse interesting. Shadowman's scythe is on the wall and it looks like maybe Armstrong's satchel too. Divinity's spacesuit and Ninjak's costume are also there on the page with the Armor Hunters.

Was that the village Warmother is from on the top of page 2?

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by grendeljd »

tell wrote:I found some of the items around Gilad's safehouse interesting. Shadowman's scythe is on the wall and it looks like maybe Armstrong's satchel too. Divinity's spacesuit and Ninjak's costume are also there on the page with the Armor Hunters.

Was that the village Warmother is from on the top of page 2?
Sweet, I need to take a closer look at those pages again!
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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

grendeljd wrote:
tell wrote:I found some of the items around Gilad's safehouse interesting. Shadowman's scythe is on the wall and it looks like maybe Armstrong's satchel too. Divinity's spacesuit and Ninjak's costume are also there on the page with the Armor Hunters.

Was that the village Warmother is from on the top of page 2?
Sweet, I need to take a closer look at those pages again!

Karana actually takes Armstrong's satchel with her and puts her book in it at the end of the story. :clap:

Hard to believe Armstrong would leave his satchel behind though. Perhaps he got lost inside, again!

Page 2 - War Mother village?
Most definitely, yes.

In the panel below the village that seems to be the wrecked (aircraft) carrier we've seen floating in the crater way back in Eternal Warrior/Emperor #7-8. At least this seems to be some wreckage inside a huge crater.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by tell »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:
grendeljd wrote:
tell wrote:I found some of the items around Gilad's safehouse interesting. Shadowman's scythe is on the wall and it looks like maybe Armstrong's satchel too. Divinity's spacesuit and Ninjak's costume are also there on the page with the Armor Hunters.

Was that the village Warmother is from on the top of page 2?
Sweet, I need to take a closer look at those pages again!

Karana actually takes Armstrong's satchel with her and puts her book in it at the end of the story. :clap:

Hard to believe Armstrong would leave his satchel behind though. Perhaps he got lost inside, again!

Page 2 - War Mother village?
Most definitely, yes.

In the panel below the village that seems to be the wrecked (aircraft) carrier we've seen floating in the crater way back in Eternal Warrior/Emperor #7-8. At least this seems to be some wreckage inside a huge crater.
I didn't notice she grabbed the satchel, very cool!

I've been meaning to read the older EW stories again, I'll have to check out this crater.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by tell »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:Karana actually takes Armstrong's satchel with her and puts her book
Hard to believe Armstrong would leave his satchel behind though. Perhaps he got lost inside, again!
I don't recall ever seeing Armstrong depicted later than the pirate days with Bloodshot, do you? Maybe he runs out of soul-juice or whatever and dies for real at some point between then and the 4001 timeline, or maybe he disappears into his satchel like you said and will be back for whatever this Unity 4001 group will be. I hope it's that, would be a pretty great way to have him pop up.

I looked back at the crater on page 2, I had assumed that was a chunk of New Japan because the dead animals everywhere look like dino corpses to me. On a side note I really hope they have some of the dinosaurs survive the fall from space and begin to repopulate earth, it's a perfect way to bring dinosaurs into the normal world which I miss from the original universe. I was super excited to see them in the first issue of Rai they were in and super bummed when they all appeared to die in space.

One other thing, I didn't see Savage depicted here anywhere, nor in the Valiant Universe 2017 spread page from the FCBD issue. I'm not reading anything into it, just too bad.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

tell wrote:
Sunlight on Snow wrote:Karana actually takes Armstrong's satchel with her and puts her book
Hard to believe Armstrong would leave his satchel behind though. Perhaps he got lost inside, again!
I don't recall ever seeing Armstrong depicted later than the pirate days with Bloodshot, do you? Maybe he runs out of soul-juice or whatever and dies for real at some point between then and the 4001 timeline, or maybe he disappears into his satchel like you said and will be back for whatever this Unity 4001 group will be. I hope it's that, would be a pretty great way to have him pop up.

I looked back at the crater on page 2, I had assumed that was a chunk of New Japan because the dead animals everywhere look like dino corpses to me. On a side note I really hope they have some of the dinosaurs survive the fall from space and begin to repopulate earth, it's a perfect way to bring dinosaurs into the normal world which I miss from the original universe. I was super excited to see them in the first issue of Rai they were in and super bummed when they all appeared to die in space.

One other thing, I didn't see Savage depicted here anywhere, nor in the Valiant Universe 2017 spread page from the FCBD issue. I'm not reading anything into it, just too bad.
Savage hasn't much of a recorded history yet.

Dinosaurs- my theory is they will also jump through the island's portal (into the present day London).

Crater - yeah likely just a random crater. The wreckage doesn't seem to be big enough for a carrier anyway.

Armstrong - in Timewalker #5 Ivar picks up Gilad in 9999 C.E. and Gilad says he will join Ivar under one condition: "No Aram!" If Aram was already dead, Gilad wouldn't say this. What Gilad says about Aram in this issues sounds like Aram could indeed be dead though - "he was a kind and noble man." - or just missing.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by tell »

Sunlight on Snow wrote:Armstrong - in Timewalker #5 Ivar picks up Gilad in 9999 C.E. and Gilad says he will join Ivar under one condition: "No Aram!" If Aram was already dead, Gilad wouldn't say this.
Yeah but Ivar is a time traveler so it doesn't much matter if Aram was dead, the Aram he did bring was from 8000 years in Gilad's past. Granted if Aram was dead for thousands of years it seems strange that Gilad would have some fiery grudge and be unwilling to see him.
Sunlight on Snow wrote: What Gilad says about Aram in this issues sounds like Aram could indeed be dead though - "he was a kind and noble man." - or just missing.
Yeah that's what I was thinking too. Gilad mentions Aram in the past tense, he appears to have his satchel and he picks up and gazes sadly at a bottle of liquor that was sitting on the shelf as if it had an emotional connection to him. I don't recall Gilad ever being a drinker so I was thinking that it was potentially a memento of his dead/lost/gone brother.

If Aram was dead though it doesn't make sense that Gilad would go from speaking highly of him in 4002 to despising him 9999. I'm leaning towards him leaving for a long time to some other world, like into the satchel, or the Faraway, or even off planet.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by jmatt »

tell wrote:Divinity's spacesuit and Ninjak's costume are also there on the page with the Armor Hunters.
Good catch! I missed that one. Although whether that's Ninjak's costume next to it is a little questionable for me.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by jaspersk »

I thought it was crap. The other books that came in
Were good though

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by ShadowTuga »

:rant:
I was really, like really hoping there was a reason to buy this. What a letdown. A recap of everything I've read? How much for it? facepalm

I get that new readers are happy about this being there to read, and it doesn't harm anyone; but I literally waited for a nugget of future info, whatever, something NEW. And nothing. Nada. Just a recap, as said. If this was the FCBD book, awesome idea!! Another type of free book? Even better!!
Paying for it, you bet I want something I can't have in the hundreds of VEI issues already published, and that I already own, by the way. Not cool.
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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by Sunlight on Snow »

ShadowTuga wrote::rant:
I was really, like really hoping there was a reason to buy this. What a letdown. A recap of everything I've read? How much for it? facepalm

I get that new readers are happy about this being there to read, and it doesn't harm anyone; but I literally waited for a nugget of future info, whatever, something NEW. And nothing. Nada. Just a recap, as said. If this was the FCBD book, awesome idea!! Another type of free book? Even better!!
Paying for it, you bet I want something I can't have in the hundreds of VEI issues already published, and that I already own, by the way. Not cool.
Exactly. This would have been a perfect FCBD issue.... just like the first VU Handbook.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by IMJ »

I bought this because I'm still into Rai, but I ordered it and it's variants without knowing it was a one-shot.

I would be happy with a regular, long term Rai book that hits issue 100, contiguously from #1. More and more I'm falling out of comics, and it's mostly because of the confusing publishing models, and constant #1's that are indiscernible from new ongoings due to variants and whatnot.

The content of this book was fine for me because I'm not reading much else of the VU outside of the Deluxe Hardcovers, but reading everyone's opinions here, I can certainly understand why this should've just been a FCBD issue with a single cover.

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Re: Rai & the History of the Valiant Universe - Discussion

Post by otomo »

I'm all caught up on 4001, and just read this because I picked it up and waited.

Gotta say, after Rai vol 4 doing some prequel stuff there, and then this... that's a lot of filler Rai the last few Rai outings. And the percentage of filler Rai to full new story Rai is not so great.

They gave homage to all of Valiant's series. Now, I'm newer, came to VEI just with the new XO...but I did go back and read a TON of TPBs before hand. I gotta say, that if I didn't know what I was looking at and just saw this as a "first taste of valiant" I'd see a pretty boring thing with a bunch of references to characters I have no idea who they are. It's overwhelming and it's not a great introduction on that level. It's a good REMINDER however, for those of of who have consumed a lot of content and don't want to or perhaps don't have the time to go back and reread some of this stuff. Since a lot if it is so fresh in my head, it wasn't super necessary.

I didn't really find the torch passing character moments all that interesting personally either.

I'm eager for more 4001, and wished this had a little bit more meat to it. Maybe War Mother will hit that spot for me.
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