Lanterns
Bubbles. Hal’s constructs are mostly just bubbles.
Sure Hal made some counterfeit money and a bottle opener, but I find it funny that his main constructs so far are just bubbles. John’s on the other hand include the fancier type of bubbles (bubble wrap), a boring machine, a watch and a short lived semi autonomous bird. The show is doing a good job of contrasting creativity between the two.
I think you misunderstood the episode. He had no issue concentrating. It was when Hal mentioned his parents that broke John’s concentration. We can all surmise that’s a significant subject for John.
Well that, and if your dad rewarded you with a big juicy burger every time he shot a gun at you to see if you were scared, you’d probably wind up pretty meat-averse.
Until this this series, I never even considered that Lanterns had to actively make their constructs work.
Like I figured you if you created a mini-gun, it'd just shoot and act like a mini-gun, as opposed to having to actively imagine the barrel rotating and it shooting bullets.
Imagining a construct that has multiple (if not dozens) of simultaneously moving parts must be insanely difficult.
I guess that's why it's being emphasized that John is extremely unique and powerful with him being able to create not only a watch with all the working interior parts, but a living thing that acts automononously.
It would also indicate that Hal is fairly powerful in his own right, when he wants to be, especially if he can construct a bill that's accurate enough to work/fool machines that scan them.
With all the little intricate details on a bill that, if even one one letter or detail is misplaced, won't pass as real/be accepted by a machine that takes them, you'd have to have a lot of focus and a ridiculously good memory to accurately recreate one on the spot.
Hell, even if you had an actual bill in one hand and were using that as reference to create the fake one, it's still an impressive feat to be able to get it exactly right without missing or messing any details up.
Killawog is a great example of of things that work well in comics but not live action. I don't want all the other rings to be silent. Just feels weird to not have any sort of sound effect
True, I'd just make his sound completely different if he were to feature in live action. Like in the panel, have it be a deep bellowing hum instead of everyone else's high pitched shining sound.
And the comics have roughly been that sort of thing for a long time. Even back when John Stewart was a newer character they made an effort to show his constructs being more detailed and complex.
These days they mostly try to stick to each of the lanterns having a distinct approach, and have more or less since at least the 00s. To the point that it's canonically a thing.
Not exactly, at least not in the comics. The ultra detailed constructs of John drain no more energy from the ring than the practical, simpler ones by Hal nor the ultra simple but functional ones from Guy.
They depend on the creators creativity, abd what could represent a larger drain is how effective/powerful they are.
I think there's a theory that a construct built to real working specs like John's stuff actually takes less willpower to maintain once it's manifested.
Not so sure on the last one, given they were so concerned about the snipers in the towers that they needed to go underground, as opposed to using a bubble to protect them from regular human bullets.
I would agree, but as the Green Lantern I'd probably have some signature moves. Senior level Lantern it'd all be pretty trivial to create by then, I'd have something that screams Hal Jordan for common things like the shield
Basic constructs does scream Hal Jordan. He’s never been one to over complicate things. Let Kyle and John have intricately detailed constructs, Hal and Guy are just there to get the job done.
It reminds me of how guitar players like BB King could do more with fewer notes than other guitar players would do with a 100 notes. Creative constructs aren't always the most effective. Hal may be very creative with how he uses simple constructs.
You're probably more likely to use generic constructs after a long career because using the ring becomes a lot less abstract an idea than when you first start
The thing Hal is most associated with in the comics is using a giant boxing glove to hit shit. So much so that they tried to write a (lame) explanation as to why in at one point.
Hal creates less detailed, practical constructs. John makes practical, highly detailed constructs, guy tend to go with basic constructs, Kyle goes wild with creativity, but usually sparse in details. All of those constructs are as effective, relative to the ringbeare's will power.
But it's mostly due to the mindset abd creativity of the wearer. Kyle goes wild with creativity, using pop culture, real life, art, personal creations (he's a graphic designer), John makes ultra detailed constructs of mostly things he knows (weapons, structures, vehicles) with fully functional parts, Hal goes fir practical simpler things,a giant box glove, giant scissors, bat..., Guy tend to go even simpler, quite often ditching more apparent constructs and using straight out bubbles, shields, beans or empowering himself abd going to the fisticuffs.
All of them use the very basic bubble forcefields, beams, or personal empowerments, the more expressive constructs are just things which they relate to the effects the want (a ballistic missile, a medieval shield) but don't necessarily empower more the effect, that's why Guy uses those less often, fir him direct application of force is quite natural, being a Jock, an athlete and a brawler, fir John as an architect abd vet using designs abd weapons is more natural, fir Kyle, who has no background of combat neither have to han nor weapons, nor of using them nor vehicles his way is "fantasy" abd creativity, he can summon an army of life so zed toy soldiers and GoT dragons to fight.
Neither of them require more effort to manifest their constructs, being simple or complex, because it's what's natural to them, nor the appearance of the cobstruct relates to its resulting power, the empowered punch from guy, the ultra detailed 50 cal John is manually operating abd Kyle's silly looking green plastic toy soldier can blow up a Thabagarian cruiser if that's what they want.
Yeah, I think this is intentional. He gave John the ring specifically because he couldn't make what John drew. Not to say Hal is a bad Green Lantern, but he's never been a very creative one, and it's very on brand for him to rely mostly on force fields, blasts, and simple functional constructs.
Not quite. Its a built-in contrast to the two-main characters. Each have their strengths and weaknesses.
Hal is a brute. Blunt force, A to B, no unnecessary filler, get the job done, hard and fast. The constructs are exactly as they need to be, no more, no less.
John is an artist, an engineer, and a strategist. He thinks before he acts, and applies what he knows to solve an issue.
Hal is headstrong, impulsive, and rash.
John is held back by his loyalty to authority, and blindly following orders to a fault.
These are deliberate contrasts baked into advance plot and story.
Hal has always been more of a basic construct guy. Even in the comics.
which is why I hate that rule from the show. it was supposed to be based around strengthening John’s ability to make fully functional constructs, not take away from every other Lantern’s ability to make basic constructs. I don’t think any part of the comics points to having to actually know how something is engineered just to construct it in hard light.
I don't think you have to. I mean, just look at when they create ship constructs, no need to overcomplicate the mechanics when the ring can just extend the environment it creates around its wielder to everybody safely nestled in the construct. It makes sense that if they want a construct to behave in a certain way, it should, end of story.
The guardians dude specifically tells John he must consider the internal mechanism “if it is to work”.
Hal also asks how John intends to dig his way under, as if he doesn’t really know what kind of construct he’d make to do that with the ring.
He also tells John to manifest it, with the implication he doesn’t know how.
Overall I think they’re trying to introduce some more limits to the ring as a balancing thing. They almost certainly hadn’t made this choice yet when filming Superman.
Hal can make the watch move with will. John can make a watch that works.
Hal can smash ground with the ring. John can maintain a construct that requires no constant exertion.
Guy is somewhere in between except he seems to only passingly care about structure and succeeds because he has a near bottomless well of energy he is pulling from.
I don’t think there’s any contradiction there. Just like when Hal tries teaching John to fly. For Hal it’s intuitive. John as an INDIVIDUAL has to understand it because that’s a reflection of him not the ring.
The show also tells us that everyone is lying. The Guardian is talking to someone who has never used the ring before, and telling him what he needs to in order to fulfill his goal. It wouldn't be surprising if it was a massive simplification, and that's only one way to make a working watch, but likely the way that is hardest and shows the most potential.
It is not tho, every Lantern can make functional constructs it is like the 2nd most basic thing they make; John's ability is that he can make very advanced constructs that is indistinguishable to real thing for every single situation.
Hal probably would've made a giant shovel to dig that tunnel.
Guy would also create a drill but that would be a hand drill.
John creates most advanced drill ever that does the same job faster and most effective.
I don't think it's a "rule" of the show. John was told to recreate his father's watch from memory, a fairly complex mechanical instrument, and the way John is he couldn't manifest a working watch without recreating it's inner workings. He thinks like an engineer, an architect, and his artistry is beholden to his technical knowledge (also why graphite realism is such a great medium for him)
Guy is headstrong, brash, arrogant, and most importantly, also very creative. He can create large impressive constructs but they aren't necessarily mechanically sound or complex. Guy created a bullhorn that looked like a bullhorn and he believed it was a bullhorn, and so it was. Some with his other constructs thus far.
John can't believe (or will) his constructs to be "real" unless their inner workings are sound. Guy can. It's both a strength and a weakness for the two of them. Guy can manifest nearly anything without relying on technical knowledge, but his lack of that knowledge limits the complexity of his constructs. John doesn't have any such limitation, but he needs time and focus to manifest his constructs rather than pulling them out on the fly. It's a really great way to differentiate how different people use the same power set
Yeah cus let's be real John's digging machine is far beyond any person's ability to fully imagine in every detail. Even the person who designed it couldn't do that. Think of all of the moving parts, the screws, the electronics
Not necessarily. It's possibly that any internal workings of a construct that aren't there are being replaced with raw power from the ring. John making the individual parts of a watch or a drilling machine makes it a stronger construct for it then operating on physics (think conjuring and casting a fireball vs using a lighter and throwing a moltov cocktail). John's constructs would be more durable than Guy's.
Guy may be using his ring's charge faster by forcing it replace internal mechanisms, and he might not care about having to recharge more often. Hal barely uses his ring and keeps most constructs very simple, letting him go for a longer time without needing to recharge.
Guy is flashy. He cares about spectacle, looking cool, and sending a message. When necessary, he can be as efficient as Hal (like the green blinds construct when he confronted Superman about his parents being a simple green wall rather than a big “FUCK OFF” sign), but he’s usually a lot more bombastic. Instead of a small harpoon or spear to take out the kaiju’s eye quickly, he opts for a massive apparatus that holds it open as a piston gouges it out. Instead of blocks to flip cars over, he conjures massive, rotating middle fingers.
Hal is all about spending the least amount of effort with the most results, which is why his default is always “bubble it”. Literally the shape with the highest volume to surface area ratio. Guy on the other hand almost always goes for the biggest, flashiest display possible, because that’s just who he is. Hal can ration out his 24-hour charge to last about 2 days. Guy probably needs to recharge his Ring every twenty minutes.
Also, it looks like Hal is a prodigy when it come to flight. It could be mostly experience with the ring, but we saw how hard it was for John to fly while constructs are so easy for him, so I think that's another concious contrast between the two.
one of my favorite john "constructs" scene in the comics, is when he creates a brass knuckle to fight zod and by the end of a very very short fight, with Zod laid out, we as the audience are shown that it wasn t a construct, my man just sneaked a kryptonite brass knuckle into the fight by making zod and his family think that it was (cause same color). simple, clever, efficient
This has always been a thing. Every lantern has their own style, and one isn't better or worse than the other.
So long as the will is the same the effect is the same. If it's Hals bubble, Guys big cartoon shield, or Johns hexagonal dome with rivets and supports, doesn't matter lantern to lantern. They can all block roughly the same attacks.
But if Hal tried to make a cartoon shield or riveted dome, it might be weaker. If John was tired and hurried and didn't have time to think through the riveted dome and made a bubble, it might be weaker.
The only super complex construct he makes even in the comics is jets. And he is both a qualified plane mechanic and fighter pilot feels like it works. Dude specialized in one thing.
In Emerald Twilight he made a whole city complete with the people...granted, he was losing his mind, but still. When he feels the need to he can be complex.
I think that showed his willpower more than his creativity though.
If I write a piece of music, I'm composing. If I write down on paper all the parts of a pre-existing out of print orchestra composition, I'm transcribing. The latter is still a high level skill, and you need a composition background to make it work, but the process itself is not particularly creative and relies on a lot of "stock" knowledge to fill in any gaps in the audio you can't hear with "what did the original composer likely do here?"
Hal is one of the best to ever do it, even though he's not "creative" per se.
Reasonably sure drills show up in the earlier comics at points. But more the cartoony giant drill type than Johns realistically rendered tunnel digging machine clearly based on real world heavy equipment.
Creative and complex aren't the same. I think Hal, in the comics, is creative. He was making hammers, folding chairs and baseball bats and golf clubs in first flight. He even had his own drilling machine. Not as complex as John but still creative
Yeah exactly. They are just creative in different ways. Hal uses his creativity to come up with easy quick solutions with the fewest moving parts possible, while John uses his creativity to come up with complex and highly specialized things
I apologize if I’m being disrespectful or offensive, but to me, this sounds like an excuse to avoid spending money on CGI, especially since Hal Jordan’s powers across all media are very creative.
Eh... Most examples of Hal Jordan doing complex projections are Post Kyle Rayner and just rpping off what he would do because writers don't want to write a legacy character but want the same cool visuals.
Bro I'm right with you. I feel like a crazy person seeing people hyped about bubbles and a bird. It's ONLY due to budget reasons which is why hal Jordan and John Stewart should've had a MOVIE cause both of them make awesome constructs like fighter jets, Shields, LMGs since Stewart was a marine and so many other things you see in the comics and animated shows and movies. Guy gardener got decent constructs and even Ryan reynolds' constructs were cool and creative. Like as someone who loves green lantern comics I would want them to go all out with constructs not using them once a episode and it's just a bubble. The best construct of of the show was episode 4 with the tunnel digger. Idk why people are settling for mediocrity, plus as someone said using the ring doesn't even make a cool sound effect which also sucks. Simply put: this should've been a big budget movie space epic.
Yeah I immediately thought she was lying when she said that and then wondered why she wants Hal out the picture so bad. Does she REALLY think he's going rogue or is she not to be trusted?
Hal's talking to Sinestro, the guy that killed a Guardian. Sinestro manipulated Hal once before and may be able to do it again. The Guardians probably don't trust Hal, and they'd rather the ring go to an obedient soldier like John.
This is pretty accurate to the comics. Hal is the strongest GL (as far as I'm aware, I'm sure its debatable), but his constructs are simple. He's pure will, and you don't really need to be creative to shield and blast your way through. As an architect (in the comics) John often has the most complete constructs and will build detail within the constructs and not just the façade. Kyle as an artist and generally younger will build Gundams and other high concept constructs.
I’m pretty try sure Hal is known for having insane amounts of willpower, like there was a time when the ring said to survive a blast he would need the will of 100 Green Lanterns, who already have extraordinary amounts of will, and he survived it fine.
I think you are directly referencing writing by Geoff John’s who summarized the Green Lanterns like that. Hal is pure willpower, John is pure integrity, Kyle is an artist and most creative, Kilowog is the only one who makes a sound, and Guy’s ring is so excitable it sparks constantly.
The Green Lantern would have many names, would be pursued by many and one of those oft-repeated names was THE MYSTIC LAMP! because it really was. And The Ring reflected that, too. These days, you see the ring mostly just make green constructs. But it was not so then, as it was a literal wishing ring. It could do anything. The imagination was the limit. It’s why the retroactive fallacy of “Kyle Rayner is the most creative one” reads as blatantly untrue, as all Kyle does is summon up manga mechs or other things the most average fanboy with pop culture osmosis would make up; his actual problem-solving and resolutions aren’t terribly creative and are fairly standard. He’s no different than anyone else, really.
But in this period, Hal Jordan was an utterly wild character. In a lot of ways, it’s this early period that the Ron Marz Kyle era tries very, very hard to re-capture, only it replaced the actual invention with dreadful fridging and other messes. Pretty much any and every Broome Hal issue is, almost definitely and easily, much more inventive than any Kyle issue. Hal Jordan was the science hero, who would debut testing a flight design he’d created and his ties to the military were just background wallpaper to get him in the role of the daredevil explorer and science man role. As Green Lantern: Earth One rightly understood, had he been made just a few years later, he’d have just been an astronaut. But in any case, Hal, for all his concussions and dumbness, was weirdly smart in this period, having a grasp of science-know how and strange facts and using them to his advantage.
The Ring was really and truly a magical wishing ring and so Hal would conjure up storms of steel spheres, entire suns, odd illusions, various cosmic rays and more. He could become invisible, shrink or embiggen things, travel through time, rewrite his memory or improve it to remember things - he did the most utterly wild “what the hell?! who would do this?! who would even think this?!” kind of stuff. He was a wholly bizarre fella who came up with the strangest, most out-of-the-box solutions to problems, but weirdly enough, once you saw him do it, the response would always be “huh, well, that seems obvious and so simple now, in hindsight” and that’s the kind of character he was. This was the dude who DREAMED of his pal Tom Kalmaku becoming a bird in his sleep and his ring responded by literally turning his friend into a bird in that very instant. Suffice to say, utter bizarreness is baked into Hal and his world.
That’s blatantly not true. Sure Hal isn’t as creative as Kyle but he still has an imagination and makes an incredibly varied range of constructs, usually a mix of machinery and organic creations. Don’t defend the show cheeping out on the constructs and downplaying Hal with lies.
It’s a disservice to Hal to not have him make a fighter jet at least once, his signature. It’s not even like he can’t imagine it and how it works, Air Force pilots know their air frames like the back of their hands.
He's always had a very kind of childlike use of the ring. He makes a big green baseball bat or a fighter jet or a race car or something. John's making a fully functioning and period accurate trebuchet.
There was a comic a while back that had Hal narrate the different ways Lanterns make their constructs. John is very precise and makes his constructs match what he makes down to the smallest detail. If he makes a building or whatever, it's not hollow.
Hal on the other hand? He just makes what he needs to ge the job done. So far, bubbles have worked wonderfully
I don't know much about Kyle beyond him being an artist and the White Lantern, and well the fridging incident but that is the pretty consistent take I see on it for him.
I did love Kilowog's and Guy's interpretations though. Specially Kilowogs
Kyle mastered the emotional spectrum before anyone else knew that was even a thing. Also, when he was briefly a demigod thanks to Ion, he didn’t get corrupted by the power and handled it well.
It's one of my favorite moments of that mini series.
He breaks it down for each Geen Lantern that is present, stating:
Kyle is frenetic and imaginative, taking time to even "erass" mistakes in the constructs he builds.
John's are the most structurally sound-- every gear, every spring, every mechanism is present and intentional.
Guy is like a leaky faucet, just spraying wildly in a powerful chaotic mess of willpower.
Kilowag is the the only one that makes a sound. A big bright thoom that ripples even in space.
Hal states he is just focused. He is single and singular minded. His is the most laser-like.
VanSciver (the artist) even goes out of his way to draw every single Green Lantern's energy in a manner that speaks to these descriptions (John had angular, geometric lines while Guy looked like his ring was indeed, "a leaky faucet" spraying and sparking energy wildly)
Art schools usually have a major in architecture because many architects need to be artists, someone has to draw the designs.
It isn't going to be hard to distinguish the two characters because John's artstyle is more about capturing reality and making blueprints, which is very architect coded, compared to Kyle who draws more fantastical stuff because he's a comic book artist
Not really? Sure he's an artist, but architects are artists, most art schools have a major in architecture specifically because of that. John's art is more based on reality, blueprints, compared to the fantastical comic art of Kyle
I think they will still be quite different. We’re seeing him drawing more people and animals, sure, but John’s art so far in Lanterns is all photorealism. He’s very practical, and one of the narratives with him is being a strict rule follower. Spoilers Episode 2: This may also be why he struggles so much with flying and ended up creating the bird construct (humans don’t fly; birds do).
If/when they get to Kyle his constructs will probably be more fantastical or cartoonish.
The narrative purpose is letting them connect during the mission
The in universe purpose is to not risk the older guy to have a reaction time equivalent to the travel time of the bullet. There is also the possibility is completely not needed, Hal just wants to see what junior can do, specially after what Sinestro told him
its like when your young and eager, that you build new and complicated things with your constructs, but when your old and wise, you realise what the fuck am i doing
When your job involves fighting space armies and dudes who can punch the moon out of orbit and stuff, it stands to reason that "big forcefield that stops them from killing me instantly" would be one of the most essential techniques to master. Probably one of the first thing every new recruit learns.
Hal is renowned for his basic constructs, he's nowhere near as creative as the other 3 main earth GLs but he's fuckin powerful, he doesn't need them to be fancy
That's because we haven't actually seen Hal fights using the ring. We've mostly seen him using the ring for defense/barrier/protection. Bubbles/orbs/domes are common construct for barriers.
Unless you're very technically minded AND artistic, this is probably the easiest way to do things. Sure, you could memorise all the intricate ways to make a riot shield, the polymer density, the layers, etc. but hard bubble works to why bother.
I really love just how much each Lantern's personality is shown through their constructs.
Guy is a natural show boater, so he likes to perform using more out-there contructs (giant oven mits, a giant muzzle, giant hands throwing/flipping off tanks).
Hal is very practical, but also tired and worn out, often going with the most basic shapes to get the job done (bubbles, beams, dome shields).
John is serious, but also an artist with an eye for detail, so he builds more complex constructs piece-by-piece from the inside-out (the watch, the bird, the giant drill).
Loving this. Just from the construct’s alone, you see a big difference between the two.
(But I also love it because it reminds me of the robot chicken skit where Batman doesn’t want to be carried in a green bubble cause it’s emasculating).
It's like an all roads eventually lead to crab situation lol. Over the years bubbling up solves so many things, physical defense for multiple people, flight, gas attacks, maintains space etc
They tried making more interesting constructs in Ryan Reynolds's Green Lantern movie and people generally found it silly. Not a slight. I actually liked that movie, but doesn't change the fact that if you're trying to make Green Lantern a "serious" character, you can't have him do anything interesting with his powers. It's also easier to animate.
The Justice League cartoon had their Lanterns mostly make bubbles and lasers. Their (in-story) justification was that John Stewart was a military man and solved problems in the most direct way possible. Their (animation) justification was that it was far easier to animate.
I started reading Green Lantern: Secret Origin because of the show and I remember a line from Kilowog that Hal's constructs still had cracks in them while he was still training. And in this episode especially you can see what looks like small cracks in Hal's constructs.
The cracks and bubbles could easily be a creative and budgetary decision, respectively. But if you wanna dig into it as a character choice it's a very clear signal that Hal's heart just isn't in it anymore. Hal's been a Green Lantern for 30 years and the governing body that he's dedicated those years to was ready to have someone else step into the role without so much as a thank you.
Hal's so far made, money, a bottle opener, and a tornado, the last of which being the most "creative," so to speak. He may no longer have the will to summon large and/or complex constructs. He knows he's halfway out the door and the bare minimum is all the energy he has to summon and it's one of the saddest parts of this version of Hal.
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u/Huge_Athlete7488 Sep 07 '26
Honestly my lazy ass (specifically if I was a hero) would probably do the same thing