#post king trinity

[shamanofanimation]

"Rewriting" Trinity Part 3: WonderFamily

Remember when I said I wouldn't take a month for the next part? Neither do I! Welcome back everyone to Post King Trinity, the series that doubles as my prediction for how Tom King's Wonder Woman run will end as well as my ideas for what to do with the ever maligned Elizabeth Marston Prince when that time comes. In this installment, we’re honing in on what many fans would say is the biggest issue with the character of Trinity. An issue that I myself touched on in both the prologue and part one. That being her relationship (or lack thereof) with The WonderFamily.

The benefit of taking as long as I have in between parts is that, as of the writing of this post, We've finally had issues where Trinity's interacting with her mom and...there's nothing of real substance in their interactions? IDK, maybe I'm being a hater. Maybe it is a literacy problem, because I'm admittedly skimming through the issues, but every time Lizzie and Diana talked to each other in the big "Wonder War" arc I'm sitting there like...

Not helping things is that the dialogue for King's Diana is super wooden, especially when she's talking to Lizzie. Other than that, the only other interaction she's had with Diana was that one time she punched her for not participating in Bullets and Bracelets with her. As far as interactions with the rest of the WW cast goes: the majority of them have happened while she was a baby; and by the time she's an adult, the amazons are all wiped out in a bad future. Meaning the only interactions 19 year old Trinity has had with other Wonder Woman characters will be with the titular Wonder Woman and, thanks to time travel shenanigans from her solo mini, her dad Steve Trevor, thus perpetuating one of the main issues with Trinity in that so much of her character in story is male oriented...

But this is Post King Trinity! And if my predictions about the end of Tom King’s WW run are correct, Lizzie will prevent the Bad Future of the Wondercast and will either be completely wiped from existence, or just be a baby with a complete blank slate of a future timeline. In hope of the latter happening, here’s what I would handle Lizzie’s relationship with the Wonder Woman family!

Diana: My opinions here might be a touch controversial. King has TOLD us a decent bit about Lizzie's relationship with her mother. Diana's a strict, but loving and nurturing mother who can't always be there for her daughter due to her many responsibilities. And if I'm being completely honest? I dig their implied dynamic.

Despite the, to say the very least, questionable execution of the picture above along with everything leading up to and after it, I do love what King's going for here conceptually. Diana's been through A LOT since she began her mission in the world of man. If we're going by Greg Rucka's Year One (And I personally do), she was separated from her home with no way to return for a very long time. She's lost allies, friends, at one point people's very faith in her. She's watched her Amazon sisters die, the love of her life's died, Donna's died, her own mother's died...twice. And let's not forget all the world and multiverse ending events she's gone through.

Diana's ended up in the same position Hippolyta was in all those years ago: she's experienced firsthand the pain and danger of the world and she's HORRIFIED at the thought of her daughter going through the same experiences. That fear leads to Diana making the same mistake with Lizzie that Hippolyta made with her: she ends up stifling her and keeping her from reaching her fullest potential.

She pushed against the idea of Lizzie becoming a hero for years, and when she finally completed her training and proved herself worthy of the mantle Wonder Girl, Diana would still hover over her daughter. Tagging along on patrols when not necessary, jumping in front of attacks Lizzie could've definitely handled and when she or one of the other Wonder Girls couldn't do go with her on missions, she'd ask Jon and Damian to go with her.

Lizzie LOVES her mom and has nothing but respect for what she's accomplished as Wonder Woman. But a lot of her conflict with Diana as she grows older stems from the seeming lack of trust she has in her. She spends a lot of her time as Wonder Girl having to prove to Diana that she can handle herself just fine. By the time she's 19 and she's had a few big successes and victories under her belt, Diana learns to back off a bit and put more trust in her daughter's capabilities.

In summary, take all the stuff King's mostly implied with Diana and Lizzie and actually show it.

Cassie:

Art by @mollycoddle707

Lizzie's favorite. Bar none. Cassie's the older sister she always wanted. She's cool, strong, confident, and she led her own team? That's like, SUPER AWESOME! It's always fun when Cassie watches over her. They get to stay up and watch tv, they eat pizza and ice cream for dinner, and when there's a bad guy on the loose, Cassie lets her tag along and watch!

That last one is a point of contention for Diana when she finds out.

Cassie adores Lizzie and sees a lot of herself in the girl, which would explain why she spoils her so much and allows her to come along to watch her fight villains. At first it was just that, watching. But as time went on, Lizzie wanted to fight too. Cassie, being the responsible adult, told her no at first. But because she hated to see Lizzie so disappointed, she taught her a couple moves. How to throw a decent left hook, how to deliver a gnarly kick, how to dodge. Soon before you know it, Cass had her own sidekick in fighting crime.

When Diana finds out about Lizzie's vigilante actions, Cassie is quick to remind Wondy that it was her who argued for Cassie to be allowed to be a superhero to her mother Helena. In the time before an agreement is made for Lizzie to train on Themyscira, Cassie's the one always arguing for her to go through with it.

When Lizzie completes her training on Paradise Island, she goes to Cassie and challenges her for the right to the Wonder Girl mantle. Both out of respect for her as her first mentor, but also as the longest tenured Wonder Girl (And totally not because Yara didn't even call herself Wonder Girl half the time and Lizzie refuses to acknowledge her as such).

Donna: Donna's the happy medium between Diana and Cassie, fully understanding both of their viewpoints when it comes to Lizzie superheroing. Like Cassie, she trained and was in life or death situations from a young age, but she also understands Diana's fears given she lost her own children (I know the WW fandom hates a lot of Byrne's writing choices for Donna, but if we're still operating on the "Everything is canon" mentality, we may as well make SOMETHING out of those writing choices).

She's the one whose able to sit Lizzie down and calmly explain to her why her older sister is so against her living the life of a hero, along with the dangers that come with it. While initially leaning more towards not training her, she does occasionally bring Lizzie to the new and improved Titans Academy and let her participate in exercises and get acquainted with some of the students. When the discussion finally came, she was the deciding voice in the decision to allow Lizzie to go to Themyscira for training.

Her patience and maturity is something Lizzie admires greatly and she confides a lot in Donna whenever she's feeling frustrated and doesn't want to talk to her mom or Cassie.

Artemis: Hoo Boy, Lizzie and Artemis. To make it short: Artemis is the Piccolo to Lizzie's Gohan. Their first meeting was when Lizzie was a little vigilante running around in Gateway when she bumped into Artemis. The Young Girl was already intimidated by Artemis's stature and presence alone. Then, she saw Artemis fight, and it was unlike anything she'd witness. She'd seen her mom and aunts fight and no matter how devastating or powerful a blow, there was always a sense of grace to how they fought. Artemis however? Pure, raw intensity that fascinated as much as it frightened her.

When Lizzie finally makes the trip to Themyscira for training, Artemis is the one who trains her in the ways of combat (Much like her role as Diana's combat teacher in the 2009 animated movie). Needless to say, it's a very rough experience at first for both of them. Artemis gets a lot of flack for her rather harsh approach, especially from Diana, who personally confronts her when she hears the news, but she holds firm.

"I won't coddle her princess. If she wants to be a warrior, then I will train her to be one,"

It's a bit of a journey for the both of them. But Lizzie's guts and determination, along with her improvement in her training, eventually do win over Artemis, and the two begin to bond. Lizzie learns of Artemis's time as Wonder Woman, and her respect for the redhead only grew. While doing her best to hide it, it's plain as day to everyone that Artemis grew soft spot for Lizzie, and, other than Diana, no one was prouder of Lizzie on her final days of training than Artemis.

Artemis's no nonsense attitude and bluntness is something Lizzie grows to really appreciate as she grows older and more experienced as a hero, as she's someone who Lizzie can count on to tell her things without any sugarcoating.

Yara: Not gonna lie, I almost didn't include Yara in this because the more I learn of her of her botched lore and how disrespectful it is to Brazilian culture, the less inclined I feel to use her. But since DC insists on keeping her around, I'll make this part short: These two butt heads. A lot. Very childish and very first idea on my part, I admit. But I find idea of the two newest additions to the WW mythos getting along with everyone BUT each other very funny. Plus, if written well, a teenager beefing with 30+ year old adult is a good well of comedy.

Nubia: The Queen of The Amazons is the catalyst for Lizzie's return to Themyscira. When visiting Diana for particular Amazonian business I can't think of at the moment, Nubia is very excited to see young Lizzie, who she hadn't seen since she was a baby! After finishing her business, she has a conversation with Diana about Lizzie spending time in Themyscira.

"You wanted her to connect with the world her father was born in, and I respected that. But Diana, don't you think it's time for her to reconnect with the world her mother was born in? For her to reconnect with her sisters?"

When Lizzie touches down on Paradise Island, Nubia and the Amazons are more than eager to show her the lay of the land, and teach her as much of the history and lessons of Amazonian culture as the girl can stomach (And she's eager to learn it all!)

And after all this time everyone, Part 3 of Post King Trinity is finally complete! Thank DC Comics for this one because their latest bout of Tomfoolery and lack of new Wonder Woman animated series gave me the kick in the ass to get this one done.

Thanks once again to @mollycoddle707 for letting me use her art of Lizzie and Cassie together!

Catch you guys in the next part!

[shamanofanimation]

"Rewriting" Trinity Part One: Origins

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!

[shamanofanimation]

“Rewriting” Trinity Prologue

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.

[shamanofanimation]

"Rewriting" Trinity Part Two: Powers & Equipment

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.