for biology wet labs, but possibly applicable elsewhere:
there is a hierarchy, but not a harsh one. undergrads/hs interns < grad/phd students (in order of seniority, ie 1st year, 2nd year...) < postdocs < PI (principal investigator, the big boss). each higher "level" generally advises and mentors the level below them, with the PI directing and advising research for all lab members. the mentor/mentee relationship is very important, and "younger" lab members will often spend a lot of time just shadowing/assisting their mentors.
"publish or perish" is the system that funds labs and motivates ppl. for this reason, confidentiality is also important, and its not uncommon for researchers to pull long hours to graduate on time or get a paper out before someone else does.
labs are/should be collaborative environments! everyone knows what project everyone else is working on, and its very common for people to approach you asking for advice or protocols.
labs aren't just white! they're typically very colorful. neon tip boxes everywhere, multicolored tape, random post-its, memes, cutesy nerdy science merch. also cardboard. cardboard everywhere. also, usually people don't just work exclusively in the lab—they have normal offices too.
yes people wear lab coats. gloves are usually blue or black, and come in S/M/L.
almost every lab comes with a "hood," which is essentially a workspace connected to a big metal vacuum. the purpose of the hood is sterility—everything that goes in should be sprayed with ethanol (including hands!), and once you take something out, it's generally considered non-sterile and potentially contaminated. often connected/serves another purpose as a cell culture room. cells are usually stored in flasks laid on their side, and depending on the color of cell media used, usually range from yellow-ish clear to red.
it's generally bad practice to talk about in vivo stuff to non-scientists (pictures are 100% banned). DM me if you're curious and i'd be happy to give you more insight!
After...WAY longer than I intended (Blame my laziness) we are back with Part 2 of Post King Trinity, the series where I attempt to retool the controversial daughter of Wonder Woman Lizzie Prince for a hypothetical future run. In Part One we touched upon the character's new origins. However, what we're about to embark on is what pushed me into doing this series in the first place: because in this installment, we'll be giving Trinity new equipment and powers!
Before we dive in, a quick recap of Lizzie's abilities. From what we know, she has super strength and impressive hand to hand skills much like her mother. She also wields the 3 lassos of fate (Truth, Lies, and Death). Also, while I wouldn't consider it an ability, she can also speak multiple languages.
Now, while I DO like The Three Lassos of Fate as an idea, my very cynical brain can't help but feel it was Tom King's FIRST idea for Trinity. "Ooh! Wonder Woman's signature weapon is a lasso, so her daughter and newest successor should have MULTIPLE Lassos!" So for our soft reboot, The Lassos of Fate will serve as a future plot point for Trinity.
Lizzie's abilities are something I've thought a lot about for this series. How do we make her stand out amongst the rest of the heroes in the Wonder Family? And that's when inspiration struck. Since George Perez's reboot in 1987, Wonder Woman has leaned more heavily into Greek Mythology and overall mysticism, shedding a lot of the sci-fi elements William Moulton Marston introduced in his creation of the character. And one of my big goals with Trinity in this series is to use her as a vehicle to bring back more of the crazier Golden Age elements.
While most Wonder Woman characters will still rely on Swords and Sorcery, for lack of a better term, I want Lizzie to be something of a Magitech character. One of the best examples of this will be in her signature tool for the series that I'm calling The Wonder Charm. Using it, Lizzie takes the golden armor pieces of her costume and transforms them into weapons for combat (NGL, the inspiration for this stems mostly from my desire to make sense of the armor pieces of Trinity's costume). At first, the tool only has 2 modes: Shield mode, and Gauntlet. But as she gets older and more efficient with it, she gets more creative, creating tonfas, chakram, her personal masterpiece the star wand, and for desperate measures an arm canon (Think Samus Aran or the Mega Buster from Megaman).
The Wonder Charm is the W symbol on Lizzie's belt and it's a tool she uses arguably more than her lasso. It was something she created during her training on Themyscira with the help of Themyscira's best weaponsmith Io and for her it symbolizes her becoming her own hero. One inspired by not only by her mother and aunts, but the legacy of all amazons.
Speaking of Io, the Wonder Charm isn't the only thing she helps Lizzie in developing. Over time they develop a hoverbike that Lizzie would come to call The Wonder Cruiser. If you want a visual as to what it'd look like, look up the mystic racers from Power Rangers Mystic Force as they're very much the inspiration for it.
And her final and arguably most important tool is her lasso. During her training, Lizzie, by complete accident, winds up on Mount Olympus. There, she meets her grandmother Hippolyta. They have a nice long conversation that ends with Hippolyta not only voicing gratitude in seeing her granddaughter again, but much like her daughter Diana, she gifts Lizzie with what she would call The Lasso of Wonder (Look, if Batman can get away with putting the word Bat in front of everything, I can have Lizzie have three "Wonder" tools!)
I'll be completely honest, I haven't settled on a color for Lizzie's lasso. I like the idea of it being light purple when not in use but then going ultraviolet when it is. Unfortunately, the color clashes with her outfit. If you have an idea, let me know. More importantly is how it's used. The Lasso of Wonder is fueled by Lizzie's own mental power. Unlike Diana's lasso, that compel people to tell the truth, Lizzie uses her lasso to link her mind with whoever she uses it on. Also, when wrapped around herself, Lizzie can use The Lasso of wonder to give herself a boost in power (This idea is rooted in a golden age concept...also this video was another inspiration for the idea). As time goes on and she becomes more proficient, she's able to imitate her mother's ability with her lasso and use it to teleport to other places.
But one of her favorite uses of her lasso is to use it in tandem with her wonder charm for fun combinations. For example, when used with The Gauntlet mode, Lizzie creates an enormous grappling hook to swing people to safety. When the Wonder Charm develops a blade mode, she uses her lasso and channels her inner Scorpion. Basically with the 2 tools, you have an RPG protag in Lizzie.
As you can see, I have a lot of thoughts on how Trinity uses her powers as a hero. I could keep going but I feel here is as good a stopping point as any, so let's call it here. Thank you all so much for reading, check out the first part if you liked this one, and hopefully, it won't take me over a month to bring you all the next part of Post King Trinity. Till next time, have a good one.
Welcome all to Part One of Post-King Trinity: My AU/reimagined pitch of Elizabeth "Lizzie" Marston Prince, AKA Trinity after the end of the very maligned Tom King run. I've been somewhat wracking my brain on where to start with this divisive character and I realized the best place would be with her origins and background. So let's do a quick recount of what we know of young Trinity and from there, see what we keep and what to change.
Here's what we know of Trinity so far:
Following the death of Steve Trevor, Lizzie was molded from clay by her mother Diana and given life by her grandmother Hippolyta .
Her birth also involved using pieces of Diana and Steve's souls.
Her mother frequently left her in the care of The Supersons who were basically her co-parents.
She has no idea who her father is.
The Amazons are all dead in her future.
It's also a safe assumption that she spent time training on Themyscira given she also went through the Bullets and Bracelets test Diana did.
As stated in the prologue, the big issue with Trinity is so much of her story is centered around men. Her motivation in the first issue of her brand new solo is trying to find her dad. Now I don't mind Lizzie being curious about Steve, I especially don't mind her hanging out and going on adventures with Jon and Damian, but at the end of the day the core of Wonder Woman should about women.
So with that in mind, here's what we're keeping for Lizzie's new origin:
Steve's still dead. Sorry Steve fans, I DO like the character, but at the same time, I won't cry foul over him dying the same way I would Lois Lane dying in a Superman book.
Diana does still leave Lizzie in the hands of babysitters. In my AU, she's not only busy with Justice League stuff, but she's resumed duties as Ambassador of Themyscira and all the responsibilities that entails. She does bring Lizzie along whenever she can, but she can't ALWAYS bring her.
But the bigger more important reason for this is that Diana was raised by the women of Themyscira, I think a wonderful mirror to that would be for Lizzie to be raised by a community of women from the world of man whose lives were impacted by Diana.
Donna and Cassie are obvious picks for this, and they do play a part in raising Lizzie, but I'd also use this as an opportunity to bring back WW supporting characters that haven't been seen in forever. For example, in her first back-up story in a series I'm calling: "The Life and times of Lizzie Prince," we see her in Boston being taken care of by an elderly Julia Kapatelis and a fully reformed Vanessa. We know in future stories Lizzie's fluid in Greek language, we could easily say her Nana Julie was the person who got her interested in that along with Greek history.
In another story she's in Gateway City with Helena Sandsmark as she's asking a million questions about the objects Granny Lena found in her latest expedition.
In another back up, where she's 13 and in her wonder girl days, she's back in Boston saving a woman named Rachel. As a token of gratitude, Rachel treats her to a meal at a local spot "Greene Eats," There she has a conversation with the owner (and Rachel's mother) Hoppy and is recounted the tales of Hoppy and Diana working at Taco Whiz, and how Diana helped her in getting her money to put her daughter through school.
With each new story, Lizzie is not only forming bonds with other women, but even without directly interacting with her, she's learning about the type of hero and person her mother is and giving her an ideal to strive towards while on her own hero's journey. You can still do The World's Finest stories with Jon and Damian (Again, I LIKE those backups). But outside of her debut in WW #800, those should be like the 10th or 11th idea you have, saved for the 2nd year of stories with the character after you've gotten her firmly established.
And if you HAVE to tell a story where Lizzie's sad about her dad, not only do you have Diana there to tell old stories of their relationship, you can also have Trinity visit her Auntie Tracy. Remember when Steve Trevor had a sister in The New 52? Because I DEFINITELY did before I started doing some research for this project.
Let's have Lizzie bond with her dad's side of the family by having her meet her Aunt and cousins. Taking a page out of King's book, we can even retcon in that Steve grew up in a family of really strong women and much like Lizzie, he was inspired by said women he grew up around.
What about the Amazons and Themycira, you may ask? Lizzie's still born on Themyscira and lived there for the first six months of her life, to which she has little to no memory of. But, after that time period, Diana does move her to the world of man so she can meet her aunt Tracy and for her to connect with the world her father grew up in.
For years she heard stories from Diana, Donna, and Cassie (and Yara whenever she felt like it). She was recounted legends Julia heard about the Amazons that Diana would confirm. During her "vigilante" days, she had a run in with Artemis that foreshadowed experiences yet to come. But she herself doesn't set foot on Paradise Island until she's 10 in an arc I'm calling "Summer in Paradise". As celebration for graduating elementary school (And because she found out her daughter was superheroing behind her back) Diana finally takes Lizzie to Themyscira to reconnect with her side of the family and receive proper Amazonian training over the course of her Summer Vacation.
The results of said training I'll get into in Part 2 where we cover her new powers and abilities! Hope to see you then!
Unpopular opinion: I like Lizzie Marston Prince. I've enjoyed all the backup stories in King's Wonder Woman, I think her dynamic with Jon and Damian is cute, and I'm actually looking forward to the solo comic coming out in June.
HOWEVER.
I do understand a lot of the fandom's grief with her. The fact that she's getting a solo over long standing characters like Donna or Cassie is rough, especially for fans of those two. She DOES feel more like a Super Sons supporting character than an actual Wonder Woman character. On top of that, the only time we've seen her actually talk to her mother, she punched her in the face and basically called her a wuss.
With her solo revolving around time travel, and current events going on in Wonder Woman that I don't want to spoil, there's a possibility that Trinity will be wiped from existence by the end of King's run. And I'm one of probably 8 people hoping that isn't the case. IMO, Lizzie isn't the unsalvageable character that some make her out to be (She's a lot easier to fix than Yara Flor at least). And if her character is going the direction I believe it is, then there's an opportunity to start from scratch with her, and fix this issues some may have with her.
So welcome all to what I'm calling "Post King Trinity", a silly little thought exercise where I rewrite certain aspects and pitch new directions and stories for Elizabeth "Lizzie" Marston Prince. How long this will go for? Who knows, but I hope you'll all join me for the ride.
Man comics can be exhausting to make, and then halfway through it you feel like scrapping it because you're not sure if the end result will be worth the effort, and you wonder if it's OoC because you're not a writer, but you push through anyway because you've already sunk too much time into it not to see it through to the end.
Anyway, Dawn might not be an "All Star", but I wish she had a chance to interact with the original cast anyway.
Transparents under the cut to do with as you please.
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