Episode 83: Ways and Means
Takes place 24 January 2012.
Short version
Paul meets a Controller-empowered man hunting pirates in the Sector, and helps him kill their leader, who was using a suit of armour based on the Anti-Monitor.
Longer version
Paul and Lantern Xor encounter a man empowered by another Controller as a living weapon, Effigy, who was sent to attack pirates but not trained in investigation, arrest procedures, or even how best to use his powers. Since piracy is an actual problem in the Sector, albeit not large, the Lanterns set out to help bring the local pirate group down.
It turns out that the pirates are working to retrieve the abandoned and heavily trapped fleet of Devlos Ungol the Traitor, long thought dead, who wore an experimental armor suit that made him nigh-invulnerable and could destroy stars. Paul finds him still alive, and kills him with Effigy's help. His armor turns out to have been made by studying and copying a fragment of the Anti-Monitor's armor, which greatly alarms the Maltusians when they find out. Several Maltusian factions gather to destroy all traces of the armor, lest it provide the Anti-Monitor with an anchor to return to the universe.
The title possibly refers to the alternative approach taken by Controllers who didn't want to rely on the Orange Central Power Battery, and the different approach to fighting piracy that Effigy attempted vs what Paul recommended to him.
- Alternate Universe: The episode ends with a segment from Anti-Green Lantern Paul, on Earth-13. After nearly a hundred days of being tortured and killed by his ring and resurrected by Nyssa al-Ghul, he develops enough Heroic Willpower to defy the ring's orders and forge his own path, working with the Justice League.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Paul offers to try this on Amon Sur as an alternative to imprisoning him, but Amon turns it down.
- Culture Clash: Lantern Stewart is perturbed that Lantern Xor has to ask whether or not it's appropriate to consume people's souls and turn them into orange constructs, or brand them and make them obey, during their investigation.Stewart: I was a soldier before I was a Lantern. I didn’t need to be told not to brainwash people.
Xor: I could apply the rules of my people. I do not think you would like them. - Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Most of the Maltusians are skeptical, then surprised and disturbed, by Paul's ability to damage Devlos Ungol's Anti-Monitor-based armor with the orange light.
- Extreme Omnivore: As an expensive area attack, Paul is able to use the orange light to consume pretty much anything around him - magic, metal, energy, horrors from beyond the universe, you name it. Even the Maltusians are surprised and impressed by how potent it is.Paul: FEED ME!
- Honor Before Reason: Lantern Xor values his honor above all else, although Paul is helping him not to discard reason entirely.
- Large Ham: Devlos Ungol's recorded message for the local Green Lantern."Green Lantern. I had wondered what I would have to do to elicit a response from you. And if you're too cowardly to face me yourself, then I will make this ship your tomb. Shields are now at full combat power and my entire fleet has been notified! Your destruction is inevitable, and all you hold dear will follow soon after! The natural state of the universe is bloody slaughter! All else is deceit and madness!"
- Nuclear Option: When Devlos Ungol announces himself, Paul immediately fires singularity weapons at him. They don't work.
- Otaku: Canis Minor thinks about everything in terms of art. Piracy? Should be destroyed because it's too mundane to produce any artwork. Murder? Fine, so long as it's inspired.Paul: Canis, would you be so good as to open a boom tube to Ungara?
Canis: Do they have art galleries? - Right Behind Me: Black Manta tells L-3 that he's concerned about his recent jobs attracting the attention of the Justice League, or worse, Grayven. The Renegade is, of course, L-8, and has to mute his monitor to hide his laughter.
- Shout-Out: The Renegade quotes Keyser Söze when explaining to Black Manta what his goal was when he took down the Light.Renegade: The greatest trick the devil ever pulled…
Black Manta: Was convincing the world he didn't exist. - Sliding Scale of Villain Threat: The Anti-Monitor is a Multiversal threat. Devlos Ungol's knock-off of his armour is enough to be at least Stellar, and probably Galactic given enough time.
- Take a Third Option: In an effort to help Lantern Xor think laterally, Paul presents a hypothetical scenario where he can take one thing out of a burning house that contains everything he values.Paul: Why [take out] the armour.. and not the fire?
- Takes One to Kill One: Effigy throws Devlos Ungol into the force field surrounding the Anti-Monitor's armor fragment in order to temporarily disable his shield (which was based on that force field).
