In the first place, I’d say unnamed red superheroine didn’t. We’ve never seen her before. We don’t know who she is. And the particular hostility she has to Tyler is suspicious.
In the Human Alloy’s defense, he’s being pretty mellow about it. He’s a nice guy, including to Tyler (actually to everyone), so he gets a pass.
Tyler’s teachers know about him being Moon Shadow, do they not? Maybe Human Alloy figured out that Tyler probably has his gear in his back and went to conceal it, and is trying to dissuade a search by blaming Tyler’s signal presence on a glitch.
Yes, excellent point.
Pretty much, people who know of Tyler’s plight and secret identity- his teachers and his after school tutor- are nice to him. It’s his parents and similar elitist metahumans who aren’t.
Not every teacher knows Tyler’s secret ID though, just a handful and that’s only because they were in positions to learn it due to circumstances, like the doctor because he got infected while adventuring as Moonshadow or the principal by adding things up. It’s not a common thing like ‘memo to all Teachers: Tyler Marlock is Moonshadow’, although the truth has been slowly spreading due to the interactions.
Actually, Cranston was there at the meeting where they decided to make Tyler a superhero. He’s the one who called the Revenant, remember. Oddly, the one staff member we know for sure doesn’t know Tyler’s other self is Dr Positron, because if he does, so does his ‘cousin’ at Praetorian Academy, and we’ve seen that one is clueless.
@Prairie Son:
Actually, the call to the Revenant by Cranston early on (in the same issue Tyler debuted in) was just for the former to teach Tyler how to survive. It wasn’t really their plan to turn him into a vigilante detective superhero. In fact, it was only during the alien invasion that Cranston realized that’s what actually happened (Thought balloon quote: “2 + 2 = R (eye of Horus/Revenant symbol)”).
@Nightmask:
Yeah, good point. Only Cranston, Clay, Kyle, and Newby so far explicitly know. Maybe not the Alloy.
But the Alloy’s a nice guy, and he’s not being mean to Tyler here, so he gets a pass.
@ Prairie Son:
Holy cow, Positron *should* know despite his Praetorian counterpart not knowing. Positron was there when Tyler was cured of the alien virus. And it’s public knowledge that Moon Shadow was the one who was infected. It’s impossible for him not to at least make the logical link between the two.
The only way he doesn’t is for him to buy Zodon’s reasoning that Moon Shadow got it then passed it on to “normal-boy”. One of the smartest supercomputers in the world can’t be that obtuse.
@Prairie Son Actually I think that Dr. Positron does know, there is no reason other than his “sibling” that he should not. I hope Aaron gives us a better answer at some point.
In fact, didn’t she say a few pages ago she had just joined the EDL and this was one of her first jobs, thus she really didn’t want to screw up or be seen as a screw-up?
Likewise I’m pretty sure the Human Alloy got his teaching job AFTER the Tyler-Moonshadow thing was set up, and thus shouldn’t know Tyler has a secret identity. That said he DOES know Tyler as “the non powered kid in PS 238”, especially after he ran over him like a truck. 😀
I really like the top panel of Zodon.
On a side note, has we ever seen Zodon’s real hands, he has buttons at the top of his control panel but doesn’t seem to use them. Would it be conceivable that maybe he doesn’t have any?
I wondered if Tyler should have ditched the wristband and then just come back to it. I realized that:
a) It might trigger the EDL’s internal security at a level equal to or worse than the current multiple Tyler glitch;
b) Depending on where it’s left, a chaperone- such as a particular red-haired woman- might find it and realize (not wrongly) that Tyler was up to something.
Thus, keeping it with him was the likely best way to go about, working under the cover of Zodon’s security hacking. Assuming he’s successful at being undetected all the way until the end, it even makes him appear innocent. 🙂
Maybe not, since the glitch shows Tyler. I mean, they probably know it’s a glitch and Tyler’s not actually involved in it, but they’re naturally going to assume that any time Red talks about Tyler it’s just because of the glitch, not for any actual hostility she has for him.
@Prairie Son:
Addendum: It’s implied they picked the Revenant because he’s similarly un-superpowered (except for his wealth ;-))- so he was a good choice of tutor for a kid dealing with superpowers on a regular basis without having powers himself.
But Tyler turning into one? That caught them off-guard.
Vashti probably knows as well, as she was part of the UoJ. Ditto Rockslide. Harold likely figured it out, as he met Tyler and then got the quarter from Moonshadow. And Lyle knows, but then Lyle knows everything.
We don’t know how much they know him. The Revenant picked up on the plan to depose President Cranston and called them for backup/to follow through with the plan. So the question becomes why did he call them in particular, in a world filled with metahumans? Is there a specific reason or was it as something mundane and ordinary as they were the closest and quickest to respond? Do we factor in his infamy among metahuman heroes 1) who think non-metas should not do superhero work and 2) that he’s wanted in 39 states? And let’s consider that the UoJ/PS238 Faculty didn’t have a direct line of communication with the Rev. Cranston had to remember his number to contact him, or else they’d have to wheel out a spotlight.
As for the Revenant, I don’t think he intended to really have a sidekick or be training a child non-meta superhero. There’s no explicit motivation from the Revenant for Tyler to go on that path. The equipment and training was in line with allowing Tyler to keep up with his classmates in metahuman combat and danger situations- allowing him to get around (grapple line swinging), protecting him from falls, teaching him to do detective work (I think more to compensate for his lack of powers than as training for vigilante detective work himself), etc.
For me, the real, direct shift for Tyler from “action survivor” to “badass normal” was not in his initial training but when Charles Brigman started terrorizing Excelsior students. Without prompting, outside of his tutoring and training, Tyler took initiative and put on his gear by himself. It was his own idea, and the Rev was even surprised by it.
So not seeing that the Rev’s non-powered student would become a non-powered vigilante detective child superhero himself? Not something we can hold against the PS238 Faculty.
(That said, I think it makes PS238 all the more wonderful. :-))
—
Also, I realized two more reasons Positron (and thus Praetorian Academy’s Prefect) should know Tyler = Moon Shadow:
Positron 2 managed to decode the alien scout’s transmission on the evening of the alien invasion. It was Tyler’s DNA sequence. The virus should have only worked by being injected into Tyler specifically. If Moon Shadow wasn’t Tyler, quarantine would not have been necessary- but it was. Ergo, Tyler = Moon Shadow. There’s no way Positron.
Actually reading back over the arc I think I’m going to go with the switch being when Tyler chose to retake the armor. Before that it was mostly other people pressuring him to be Moonshadow or it looking like not a big deal until it is. Yea I’m counting Charles meticaliously cutting off every other option. Wait it out, he’s planning to seriously hurt someone before that happens. Tell the adults, he’ll try to kill one of my friends and they can’t all fly. Not my problem other people are here, he’s singling me out. Show up as me, he’ll try to kill one of my friends.
Actually looking back I think Revenant realized he was going down a dark path after Tyler got sick and took a step back to figure out what he actually wanted to be doing. At the same time Toby arrived. Toby aggravated Tyler’s feelings of self doubt simply by being the trophy his “parents” always knew he could be. But you know what Toby wasn’t, Toby wasn’t Moonshadow. When Revenant actually makes it a choice Tyler says yes this time. After that there is a lot less can’t someone else do it in Tyler’s attitude when people need his help. And he does things which have the hint of danger even when nobody really needs him too.
Your analysis and reasoning are very astute and I think more accurate than mine. 🙂 Yeah, it’s one thing to decide to don the equipment to hide his identity and confront Charles and another to, more or less, be asked, “Do you want to be Moon Shadow again and onwards?” What you said is spot on.
Errata: One more reason, not two.
The other reason I thought of (which was wrong) was that Positron-Diana knew that Tyler went to PS238. I mistakenly thought she also knew he was Moon Shadow. Actually, she’d only know later on via Positron 2’s revelation of Tyler’s DNA and Positron 1’s part in curing him of the alien virus.
Makes me wonder if Praetor has even been asked ‘who is Moonshadow?’ The segments of Positron (if that’s the best description) don’t seem to be consciously sharing information back and forth.
The Headmaster may have decided that molding Moonshadow into a Praetorian student (with the “shadow powers” and his own personal jet) may have been too much trouble to be worth the trouble.
If Positron knows Tyler = Moon Shadow, therefore the Prefect* knows.
If the Prefect knows Tyler = Moon Shadow, then he should also know that Moonshadow has no real superpowers.
If Moon Shadow has not real powers, then Praetorian Academy isn’t interested?
Alternative/additional:
If Positron knows Tyler = Moon Shadow, therefore the Prefect* knows.
If the Prefect knows Tyler = Moon Shadow, then he should also know that Moonshadow is linked to the Revenant.
If Moonshadow is linked to the Revenant, then it’s better not to go after him or else risk the Revenant getting personally involved in the Academy’s affairs**- which means trouble.
* I sincerely apologize for being pedantic, but it’s “Prefect”, like “Prefect of Discipline”. “Praetor” makes it sound like the Academy is all about him. Instance of being called that: 12122012.
** The Revenant is already investigating the Academy, but doing something to Moon Shadow would give the Revenant a more personal motivation against them.
One revisal to your theory: At the end of the soccer game, it was pointed out that PA needed to start a file on Moonshadow (and Cecil). First, they shouldn’t need to start a file if the androids are sharing data, because Prefect would know to have a file. Second, they should have a file because Moonshadow gave the Praetorian Guardsmen one of his cards after they collected Charles. Third, Moonshadow should have a file because he was front and center during the Septos Invasion.
All of this means they should be viewing Moonshadow as dangerous on multiple levels. He can build a superteam on the fly, appears to have some connection to the Revenant (the Rainmaker Incident), willingly charges into alien invasions, has been off planet to visit Argos, and most importantly KEEPS INTERFERING IN ACADEMY BUSINESS.
What any of this means we can argue about for the next year. 😛
I think I’m just going to start reviewing the books over the next few days (which isn’t a bad/boring thing ;-)). There are a whole bunch of details to be sorted through.
– I pointed out how Positron MUST have off-the-charts computer-powered intellect and thus cannot not realize Tyler = Moon Shadow. But remember when Positron 2 had to take over the K-Square for Positron-Diana and had to interact with Cecil? He actually forgot his lab goggles on his head.
– We can try to figure out the nature of the Prefect’s link to the PS238 Positrons. We’ve had a demonstration of said link from when Positron 2 had to run off from the K-Square to Sam’s Swap Shop to free the trapped bullies. There’s an active link for them to directly communicate with each other which they can notice, maintain, and terminate. Perhaps the Prefect is simply listening in on them in a “passive” sense. Maybe he has some programs and subroutines to hide himself, but he can’t use the link “actively”, not merely in the sense of talking to the Positrons (which he won’t do) but in the sense of using one to directly and intentionally go through the Positrons’ files (open a channel, establish a connection, start accessing Positrons’ memories). Doing that would probably alert at least one of the Positrons in the sense of noticing an active file access NOT from any known Positron. So maybe the Prefect’s knowledge is actually more limited than we think?
– We can also consider the when and how of the Prefect’s assembly. Anything that happened before him going on-line would be stuff he shouldn’t know, unless the Positrons brought it up for discussion or review. The Headmaster/Durvin may be an advanced hi-tech “insta-school” machine, but I doubt the Prefect automatically came with the founding of Praetorian Academy.
– The Positrons should have recognized him as one of them by now, particularly since Herschel and Cranston know how Durvin became the Headmaster. If yes, I wonder if they’ve realized he may have been listening in on them and have developed countermeasures.
I would assume that he (the Prefect) is just intercepting transmissions and that would explain his lack of information (BTW You answered your own question).
And I would also assume that Positron 2 was a prototype and therefor has certain defects.
I’d say this is more likely proof of a case of an Unwitting Double Agent…the Prefect -thinks- he has secret access to the Positron network, but Positron is aware of it and has been hand-feeding him the information he receives. So in the end he’ll be all GOTCHA. “Oh, I’m afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive…” Nice twist for Evil to be the recipient of it.
Given Prefect’s appearance, I think he’s a previous attempt at building a new Positron. And we also (Now that I continue to think about it) know that PS238 doesn’t have anything Moonshadow related in Tyler’s file, else PA would have it from when they downloaded the mainframe.
Really, Aaron has done a very good job of replicating all the inconsistencies that the Big Two generate in their ‘verses.
Prairie Son, actually I think the Prefect’s appearance is based on Lt. Cmdr. Data from Star Trek: the Next Generation, in the same way PS238’s resident time traveler is a reference to Doctor Who. I don’t really think it’s a clue to *when* he was built in-universe; rather, its purpose is to suggest “android”.
(Speaking of android, the breakthrough sci(-fi) achievement that made Data a successful sentient artificial lifeform is his POSITRONIC brain. This itself is a tribute to Isaac Asimov and his robot stories as Asimov’s positronic brain is what made his sentient robots possible.)
Appearance/character design aside, if the Prefect was a previous attempt at a Positron, it implies:
1. Positron himself was not involved-
2. furthermore, he completely doesn’t know-
or else he would have recognized the Prefect right from the start.
It can, however, be argued that if Positron was aware of any such project perhaps the outside appearance of the Prefect was altered and so Positron doesn’t recognize him. We do know Positron isn’t the only sentient robot walking around; we have the roboticized/robotified(?) Dr. Irons, and the unnamed off-panel Revenant villain who didn’t set off Cecil’s meta-detection ability. So Positron meeting the Prefect, it’s reasonable for Positron to write off the Prefect as a fellow android whose existence is independent of his (although we readers know it’s not).
I wondered if the two have even seen each other- much less interacted- but I checked and they were both on the field during the soccer match but didn’t talk to each other. Are there any others?
As for “replicating all the inconsistencies that the Big Two generate in their ‘verses”, there’s a simpler explanation than that, which I apologize in advance for because I mean no offense to Aaron- but it’s possible that Aaron simply missed this detail and made a writing/editing error which we readers picked up. Can’t blame him because it seems he does EVERYTHING in making the comic as well as because it’s actually and already a HUGE universe he’s created.
Funny thing regarding “waysigns in ventilation shafts”. I played that old Game Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.
Interestingly the ventilation shaft walls did have waymarkers written onto them, but in curde handwritten colors. Presumably Cons were in them before, so they marked down ways for anyone that might follow (and/or for themself to navigate).
It made navigating there much easier and made totaly sense in context.
Drawn like that, Zodon makes me think of Davros as much as M.O.D.O.K.
How is it that some of these superjerks got to see Tyler grow up and they STILL accept he could be a security risk….? So sad.
In the first place, I’d say unnamed red superheroine didn’t. We’ve never seen her before. We don’t know who she is. And the particular hostility she has to Tyler is suspicious.
In the Human Alloy’s defense, he’s being pretty mellow about it. He’s a nice guy, including to Tyler (actually to everyone), so he gets a pass.
Tyler’s teachers know about him being Moon Shadow, do they not? Maybe Human Alloy figured out that Tyler probably has his gear in his back and went to conceal it, and is trying to dissuade a search by blaming Tyler’s signal presence on a glitch.
Bag* damn typos.
Yes, excellent point.
Pretty much, people who know of Tyler’s plight and secret identity- his teachers and his after school tutor- are nice to him. It’s his parents and similar elitist metahumans who aren’t.
Not every teacher knows Tyler’s secret ID though, just a handful and that’s only because they were in positions to learn it due to circumstances, like the doctor because he got infected while adventuring as Moonshadow or the principal by adding things up. It’s not a common thing like ‘memo to all Teachers: Tyler Marlock is Moonshadow’, although the truth has been slowly spreading due to the interactions.
Actually, Cranston was there at the meeting where they decided to make Tyler a superhero. He’s the one who called the Revenant, remember. Oddly, the one staff member we know for sure doesn’t know Tyler’s other self is Dr Positron, because if he does, so does his ‘cousin’ at Praetorian Academy, and we’ve seen that one is clueless.
@Prairie Son:
Actually, the call to the Revenant by Cranston early on (in the same issue Tyler debuted in) was just for the former to teach Tyler how to survive. It wasn’t really their plan to turn him into a vigilante detective superhero. In fact, it was only during the alien invasion that Cranston realized that’s what actually happened (Thought balloon quote: “2 + 2 = R (eye of Horus/Revenant symbol)”).
@Nightmask:
Yeah, good point. Only Cranston, Clay, Kyle, and Newby so far explicitly know. Maybe not the Alloy.
But the Alloy’s a nice guy, and he’s not being mean to Tyler here, so he gets a pass.
@ Prairie Son:
Holy cow, Positron *should* know despite his Praetorian counterpart not knowing. Positron was there when Tyler was cured of the alien virus. And it’s public knowledge that Moon Shadow was the one who was infected. It’s impossible for him not to at least make the logical link between the two.
The only way he doesn’t is for him to buy Zodon’s reasoning that Moon Shadow got it then passed it on to “normal-boy”. One of the smartest supercomputers in the world can’t be that obtuse.
@Prairie Son Actually I think that Dr. Positron does know, there is no reason other than his “sibling” that he should not. I hope Aaron gives us a better answer at some point.
Did I just miss that message? Also logic.
Hmm… I missed a message from Messenger.
In fact, didn’t she say a few pages ago she had just joined the EDL and this was one of her first jobs, thus she really didn’t want to screw up or be seen as a screw-up?
Likewise I’m pretty sure the Human Alloy got his teaching job AFTER the Tyler-Moonshadow thing was set up, and thus shouldn’t know Tyler has a secret identity. That said he DOES know Tyler as “the non powered kid in PS 238”, especially after he ran over him like a truck. 😀
No, that was Pistonic, the IT guru. Different character.
What really?
*looks it up*
HUH, you’re right. That’s what I get for not doing my research before I say something.
Security isn’t about liking people. Besides that, in this universe, mind control and evil twins are called “tuesday”.
Heck, Tyler HAS a superpowered clone-twin, and his dad is at least half-way convinced that Tyler’s the (potentially nefarious) duplicate.
I really like the top panel of Zodon.
On a side note, has we ever seen Zodon’s real hands, he has buttons at the top of his control panel but doesn’t seem to use them. Would it be conceivable that maybe he doesn’t have any?
I’m not sure those are buttons. They may well be indicators – in his peripheral vision just keep them simple, color-coded.
Zodon looks a bit like Bowser jr in the first panel…
I wondered if Tyler should have ditched the wristband and then just come back to it. I realized that:
a) It might trigger the EDL’s internal security at a level equal to or worse than the current multiple Tyler glitch;
b) Depending on where it’s left, a chaperone- such as a particular red-haired woman- might find it and realize (not wrongly) that Tyler was up to something.
Thus, keeping it with him was the likely best way to go about, working under the cover of Zodon’s security hacking. Assuming he’s successful at being undetected all the way until the end, it even makes him appear innocent. 🙂
I’m wondering if any of the other chaperones (specifically Human Alloy) are going to notice that Red seems somewhat hostile towards Tyler.
Maybe not, since the glitch shows Tyler. I mean, they probably know it’s a glitch and Tyler’s not actually involved in it, but they’re naturally going to assume that any time Red talks about Tyler it’s just because of the glitch, not for any actual hostility she has for him.
@Prairie Son:
Addendum: It’s implied they picked the Revenant because he’s similarly un-superpowered (except for his wealth ;-))- so he was a good choice of tutor for a kid dealing with superpowers on a regular basis without having powers himself.
But Tyler turning into one? That caught them off-guard.
And I thought they knew the Revenant 🙁
Vashti probably knows as well, as she was part of the UoJ. Ditto Rockslide. Harold likely figured it out, as he met Tyler and then got the quarter from Moonshadow. And Lyle knows, but then Lyle knows everything.
We don’t know how much they know him. The Revenant picked up on the plan to depose President Cranston and called them for backup/to follow through with the plan. So the question becomes why did he call them in particular, in a world filled with metahumans? Is there a specific reason or was it as something mundane and ordinary as they were the closest and quickest to respond? Do we factor in his infamy among metahuman heroes 1) who think non-metas should not do superhero work and 2) that he’s wanted in 39 states? And let’s consider that the UoJ/PS238 Faculty didn’t have a direct line of communication with the Rev. Cranston had to remember his number to contact him, or else they’d have to wheel out a spotlight.
As for the Revenant, I don’t think he intended to really have a sidekick or be training a child non-meta superhero. There’s no explicit motivation from the Revenant for Tyler to go on that path. The equipment and training was in line with allowing Tyler to keep up with his classmates in metahuman combat and danger situations- allowing him to get around (grapple line swinging), protecting him from falls, teaching him to do detective work (I think more to compensate for his lack of powers than as training for vigilante detective work himself), etc.
For me, the real, direct shift for Tyler from “action survivor” to “badass normal” was not in his initial training but when Charles Brigman started terrorizing Excelsior students. Without prompting, outside of his tutoring and training, Tyler took initiative and put on his gear by himself. It was his own idea, and the Rev was even surprised by it.
So not seeing that the Rev’s non-powered student would become a non-powered vigilante detective child superhero himself? Not something we can hold against the PS238 Faculty.
(That said, I think it makes PS238 all the more wonderful. :-))
—
Also, I realized two more reasons Positron (and thus Praetorian Academy’s Prefect) should know Tyler = Moon Shadow:
Positron 2 managed to decode the alien scout’s transmission on the evening of the alien invasion. It was Tyler’s DNA sequence. The virus should have only worked by being injected into Tyler specifically. If Moon Shadow wasn’t Tyler, quarantine would not have been necessary- but it was. Ergo, Tyler = Moon Shadow. There’s no way Positron.
Actually reading back over the arc I think I’m going to go with the switch being when Tyler chose to retake the armor. Before that it was mostly other people pressuring him to be Moonshadow or it looking like not a big deal until it is. Yea I’m counting Charles meticaliously cutting off every other option. Wait it out, he’s planning to seriously hurt someone before that happens. Tell the adults, he’ll try to kill one of my friends and they can’t all fly. Not my problem other people are here, he’s singling me out. Show up as me, he’ll try to kill one of my friends.
Actually looking back I think Revenant realized he was going down a dark path after Tyler got sick and took a step back to figure out what he actually wanted to be doing. At the same time Toby arrived. Toby aggravated Tyler’s feelings of self doubt simply by being the trophy his “parents” always knew he could be. But you know what Toby wasn’t, Toby wasn’t Moonshadow. When Revenant actually makes it a choice Tyler says yes this time. After that there is a lot less can’t someone else do it in Tyler’s attitude when people need his help. And he does things which have the hint of danger even when nobody really needs him too.
Your analysis and reasoning are very astute and I think more accurate than mine. 🙂 Yeah, it’s one thing to decide to don the equipment to hide his identity and confront Charles and another to, more or less, be asked, “Do you want to be Moon Shadow again and onwards?” What you said is spot on.
Errata: One more reason, not two.
The other reason I thought of (which was wrong) was that Positron-Diana knew that Tyler went to PS238. I mistakenly thought she also knew he was Moon Shadow. Actually, she’d only know later on via Positron 2’s revelation of Tyler’s DNA and Positron 1’s part in curing him of the alien virus.
But that then raises the question of why Praetor is hiding this info from the Headmaster.
Makes me wonder if Praetor has even been asked ‘who is Moonshadow?’ The segments of Positron (if that’s the best description) don’t seem to be consciously sharing information back and forth.
The Headmaster may have decided that molding Moonshadow into a Praetorian student (with the “shadow powers” and his own personal jet) may have been too much trouble to be worth the trouble.
If Positron knows Tyler = Moon Shadow, therefore the Prefect* knows.
If the Prefect knows Tyler = Moon Shadow, then he should also know that Moonshadow has no real superpowers.
If Moon Shadow has not real powers, then Praetorian Academy isn’t interested?
Alternative/additional:
If Positron knows Tyler = Moon Shadow, therefore the Prefect* knows.
If the Prefect knows Tyler = Moon Shadow, then he should also know that Moonshadow is linked to the Revenant.
If Moonshadow is linked to the Revenant, then it’s better not to go after him or else risk the Revenant getting personally involved in the Academy’s affairs**- which means trouble.
* I sincerely apologize for being pedantic, but it’s “Prefect”, like “Prefect of Discipline”. “Praetor” makes it sound like the Academy is all about him. Instance of being called that: 12122012.
** The Revenant is already investigating the Academy, but doing something to Moon Shadow would give the Revenant a more personal motivation against them.
One revisal to your theory: At the end of the soccer game, it was pointed out that PA needed to start a file on Moonshadow (and Cecil). First, they shouldn’t need to start a file if the androids are sharing data, because Prefect would know to have a file. Second, they should have a file because Moonshadow gave the Praetorian Guardsmen one of his cards after they collected Charles. Third, Moonshadow should have a file because he was front and center during the Septos Invasion.
All of this means they should be viewing Moonshadow as dangerous on multiple levels. He can build a superteam on the fly, appears to have some connection to the Revenant (the Rainmaker Incident), willingly charges into alien invasions, has been off planet to visit Argos, and most importantly KEEPS INTERFERING IN ACADEMY BUSINESS.
What any of this means we can argue about for the next year. 😛
I think I’m just going to start reviewing the books over the next few days (which isn’t a bad/boring thing ;-)). There are a whole bunch of details to be sorted through.
– I pointed out how Positron MUST have off-the-charts computer-powered intellect and thus cannot not realize Tyler = Moon Shadow. But remember when Positron 2 had to take over the K-Square for Positron-Diana and had to interact with Cecil? He actually forgot his lab goggles on his head.
– We can try to figure out the nature of the Prefect’s link to the PS238 Positrons. We’ve had a demonstration of said link from when Positron 2 had to run off from the K-Square to Sam’s Swap Shop to free the trapped bullies. There’s an active link for them to directly communicate with each other which they can notice, maintain, and terminate. Perhaps the Prefect is simply listening in on them in a “passive” sense. Maybe he has some programs and subroutines to hide himself, but he can’t use the link “actively”, not merely in the sense of talking to the Positrons (which he won’t do) but in the sense of using one to directly and intentionally go through the Positrons’ files (open a channel, establish a connection, start accessing Positrons’ memories). Doing that would probably alert at least one of the Positrons in the sense of noticing an active file access NOT from any known Positron. So maybe the Prefect’s knowledge is actually more limited than we think?
– We can also consider the when and how of the Prefect’s assembly. Anything that happened before him going on-line would be stuff he shouldn’t know, unless the Positrons brought it up for discussion or review. The Headmaster/Durvin may be an advanced hi-tech “insta-school” machine, but I doubt the Prefect automatically came with the founding of Praetorian Academy.
– The Positrons should have recognized him as one of them by now, particularly since Herschel and Cranston know how Durvin became the Headmaster. If yes, I wonder if they’ve realized he may have been listening in on them and have developed countermeasures.
Ugh. I need sleep.
I would assume that he (the Prefect) is just intercepting transmissions and that would explain his lack of information (BTW You answered your own question).
And I would also assume that Positron 2 was a prototype and therefor has certain defects.
I’d say this is more likely proof of a case of an Unwitting Double Agent…the Prefect -thinks- he has secret access to the Positron network, but Positron is aware of it and has been hand-feeding him the information he receives. So in the end he’ll be all GOTCHA. “Oh, I’m afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive…” Nice twist for Evil to be the recipient of it.
Given Prefect’s appearance, I think he’s a previous attempt at building a new Positron. And we also (Now that I continue to think about it) know that PS238 doesn’t have anything Moonshadow related in Tyler’s file, else PA would have it from when they downloaded the mainframe.
Really, Aaron has done a very good job of replicating all the inconsistencies that the Big Two generate in their ‘verses.
Prairie Son, actually I think the Prefect’s appearance is based on Lt. Cmdr. Data from Star Trek: the Next Generation, in the same way PS238’s resident time traveler is a reference to Doctor Who. I don’t really think it’s a clue to *when* he was built in-universe; rather, its purpose is to suggest “android”.
(Speaking of android, the breakthrough sci(-fi) achievement that made Data a successful sentient artificial lifeform is his POSITRONIC brain. This itself is a tribute to Isaac Asimov and his robot stories as Asimov’s positronic brain is what made his sentient robots possible.)
Appearance/character design aside, if the Prefect was a previous attempt at a Positron, it implies:
1. Positron himself was not involved-
2. furthermore, he completely doesn’t know-
or else he would have recognized the Prefect right from the start.
It can, however, be argued that if Positron was aware of any such project perhaps the outside appearance of the Prefect was altered and so Positron doesn’t recognize him. We do know Positron isn’t the only sentient robot walking around; we have the roboticized/robotified(?) Dr. Irons, and the unnamed off-panel Revenant villain who didn’t set off Cecil’s meta-detection ability. So Positron meeting the Prefect, it’s reasonable for Positron to write off the Prefect as a fellow android whose existence is independent of his (although we readers know it’s not).
I wondered if the two have even seen each other- much less interacted- but I checked and they were both on the field during the soccer match but didn’t talk to each other. Are there any others?
As for “replicating all the inconsistencies that the Big Two generate in their ‘verses”, there’s a simpler explanation than that, which I apologize in advance for because I mean no offense to Aaron- but it’s possible that Aaron simply missed this detail and made a writing/editing error which we readers picked up. Can’t blame him because it seems he does EVERYTHING in making the comic as well as because it’s actually and already a HUGE universe he’s created.
Funny thing regarding “waysigns in ventilation shafts”. I played that old Game Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.
Interestingly the ventilation shaft walls did have waymarkers written onto them, but in curde handwritten colors. Presumably Cons were in them before, so they marked down ways for anyone that might follow (and/or for themself to navigate).
It made navigating there much easier and made totaly sense in context.
Positron and Prefect are also in the same room when the Argosian ship shows up, here:
http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/01072013/