So what's going on with the Green Lanterns?

[The Cool Thatguy]

I haven't followed them in a long while, but I saw a few things on Scans Daily.

What happened to the other Corps, and why are the Lanterns working with the United Planets?

[Frontier]

Basically the United Planets have now taken control of the GLC and banned any GL's from officially being on Earth, so Hal and John are stuck on Earth without rings even if special circumstances ended up landing them still with power.

Sinestro is also cut off from his power and his Corps. We still haven't really established how that happened.

[Stanlos]

Why would the United Planets have the ability to cut the Rings off from the Central Battery? (Or whatever for the rest of the colors)

[Frontier]

Why would the United Planets have the ability to cut the Rings off from the Central Battery? (Or whatever for the rest of the colors)

I guess if they're running things, they have some control...

[Brian Adkins]

They're at home washing their tights! lol

[Photon Torme]

I just hope that someone is dreaming up even more colors and shades that can be their own Lantern Corps. That wouldn’t be stupid or further dilute the brand at all.

[ducklord]

I guess if they're running things, they have some control...

I would've loved to have been at *that* walkaround:

Guardian Boobaapa Re Bop: So those are the Sciencells. The cell on the far right may look empty, but we actually keep an entire sentient evil sector in there, so don't let Sinestro anywhere near it.
UP Representative from Daxam: No Sinestro near the Mad Sector, got it.
UP Representative from Tamaran: What are all those buildings for?
Guardian Shamma Lamma Dingdong: You know, we don't really know. There's only 36 of us, and only 7200 Green Lanterns -
UP Representative from Tharn: We're actually thinking of cutting that down to a few hundred.
Guardian SLD: Whatevs. We're out of here until the next back-to-basics revamp. Anyway, we really don't know what all those building are for. There's less that 5000 of us, but for some reason, Oa seems to accrued a Megalopolis's worth of giant empty buildings. Maybe you can turn 'em into affordable housing or something.
UP Representative from Imsk: And this must be the Central Power Battery.
Guardian Polly Wa Nacarcker: And *you* must be one of the smart ones. Yes, the giant green lantern is the Central Power Battery. The fifth or sixth one, actually - they've had a curious habit of blowing up a lot over the last 10 or so years, so you might want to watch out for that.
UP Rep from Bismoll: How does it work?
Guardian PWN: It powers the rings via a combination of unfathomably ancient super-science and willpower that your short-lived minds cannot hope to comprehend. Also, if it flickers, try unplugging it and plugging it back in. That usually works.
UP Rep from Thanagar: And how do we go about making new rings?
Guardian Bippeti Bo Pedido: You probably shouldn't try that.
UP Rep from Rann: Okay, but what about ring distribution?
Guardian BBP: Well, that's typically handled by the ring's AI-
UP Rep from Rann: We'd rather do that ourselves.
Guardian BBP: Oh, you want to chuck 10 billion years worth of accumulated AI learning, and start distributing the most powerful tools in the universe based on the ephemeral political desires of a cosmically insignificant organization that didn't even exist three years ago?
UP Rep from Rann: Err-
Guardian BBP: Relax, Sardork, I'm just yanking your chain. Just pull up the settings menu, and change the "Distribution" setting to "Manual." You'll have to go through about 15 warning pop-ups, but those are for wusses.
UP Rep from Khnudia: Anything else we should know?
Guardian PWN: Nah. Here're the keys, try not to think too hard about the whole "Center of the Universe" thing, and we'll be back in about, oh, two years to clean up the mess.
UP Reps: What?
Guardian PWN: You might wanna read that Book of Oa we showed you earlier. Toodles!

[The Cool Thatguy]

I would've loved to have been at *that* walkaround:

Guardian Boobaapa Re Bop: So those are the Sciencells. The cell on the far right may look empty, but we actually keep an entire sentient evil sector in there, so don't let Sinestro anywhere near it.
UP Representative from Daxam: No Sinestro near the Mad Sector, got it.
UP Representative from Tamaran: What are all those buildings for?
Guardian Shamma Lamma Dingdong: You know, we don't really know. There's only 36 of us, and only 7200 Green Lanterns -
UP Representative from Tharn: We're actually thinking of cutting that down to a few hundred.
Guardian SLD: Whatevs. We're out of here until the next back-to-basics revamp. Anyway, we really don't know what all those building are for. There's less that 5000 of us, but for some reason, Oa seems to accrued a Megalopolis's worth of giant empty buildings. Maybe you can turn 'em into affordable housing or something.
UP Representative from Imsk: And this must be the Central Power Battery.
Guardian Polly Wa Nacarcker: And *you* must be one of the smart ones. Yes, the giant green lantern is the Central Power Battery. The fifth or sixth one, actually - they've had a curious habit of blowing up a lot over the last 10 or so years, so you might want to watch out for that.
UP Rep from Bismoll: How does it work?
Guardian PWN: It powers the rings via a combination of unfathomably ancient super-science and willpower that your short-lived minds cannot hope to comprehend. Also, if it flickers, try unplugging it and plugging it back in. That usually works.
UP Rep from Thanagar: And how do we go about making new rings?
Guardian Bippeti Bo Pedido: You probably shouldn't try that.
UP Rep from Rann: Okay, but what about ring distribution?
Guardian BBP: Well, that's typically handled by the ring's AI-
UP Rep from Rann: We'd rather do that ourselves.
Guardian BBP: Oh, you want to chuck 10 billion years worth of accumulated AI learning, and start distributing the most powerful tools in the universe based on the ephemeral political desires of a cosmically insignificant organization that didn't even exist three years ago?
UP Rep from Rann: Err-
Guardian BBP: Relax, Sardork, I'm just yanking your chain. Just pull up the settings menu, and change the "Distribution" setting to "Manual." You'll have to go through about 15 warning pop-ups, but those are for wusses.
UP Rep from Khnudia: Anything else we should know?
Guardian PWN: Nah. Here're the keys, try not to think too hard about the whole "Center of the Universe" thing, and we'll be back in about, oh, two years to clean up the mess.
UP Reps: What?
Guardian PWN: You might wanna read that Book of Oa we showed you earlier. Toodles!

Yeah, pretty much.

I imagine that making them employed by the United Planets is supposed to give them some legitimacy, but I don't see that going well.

But then, I imagine you can only have the Guardians go insane so many times before the GLs look like idiots for listening to them too...

[j9ac9k]

I'm pretty sure DC doesn't even like the idea of the GLC as a centralized organization with good intent. They'd rather focus on heroic, righteous individuals who stand apart from any kind of organization.

[Frontier]

I'm pretty sure DC doesn't even like the idea of the GLC as a centralized organization with good intent. They'd rather focus on heroic, righteous individuals who stand apart from any kind of organization.

Yeah, when have GL's not been bucking authority ?

[j9ac9k]

Yeah, when have GL's not been bucking authority ?

Pre O'Neil? But even post O'Neil there was a feeling (I think) that Hal could "fix the system from within" when he challenged the Guardians. He would offer them insight to help make them better.

But for whatever reason (I won't go into my thoughts since that'll get political) the Guardians became more and more irredeemable, where they essentially need to be destroyed for our heroes to be seen as heroes.

[StarSpangledMan]

It's difficult because I do like the idea of the Guardians being benevolent, higher beings to such a degree that no one would ever think to, nor have any cause to question them and their motives. There is faith placed in them and the cosmic Dharma that they and every Green Lantern serves - to do right by everyone and everything; protect the vulnerable from bullies; defend creativity, imagination and dignity; do unto others as they would be done and step up when it's time to kick ass on behalf of those values. But this level of faith place in great powers and institutions doesn't seem to gel for some, though it doesn't help that writers keep portraying the Guardians as anything but benign... and often the GLC act as little more than upholders of the status quo when superheroes should be breaking the status quo, always striving to achieve a better tomorrow.

Maybe it's time for a proper shake-up, nothing half-assed like we've seen time and time again but a proper Annihilation/Emerald Twilight style revamp. Maybe it's time for the Guardians to join that cosmic Dharma and aid their Green Lantern agents across some ethereal threshold in a more subtle and sporadic manner. Maybe this is the beginning of the end of the GLC as we know it because, if I'm not mistaken, the Corps doesn't exist in the Legion's time. Nothing is done with the Corps anyway besides shows of force or getting blown up for dramatic effect in a combination of the Worf Effect and Conservation of Ninjitsu. Perhaps it is time for the Corps to experience it's final "Great Jedi Purge" to become a small, if not disconnected, group of lone, wandering cosmic knights; make each GL feel special and powerful, members of a dated but venerable selection of space rangers whose heroic deeds and championship of the oppressed are welcome to some and rebuffed by others but are nonetheless legendary among the spaceways.

[Frontier]

It's difficult because I do like the idea of the Guardians being benevolent, higher beings to such a degree that no one would ever think to, nor have any cause to question them and their motives. There is faith placed in them and the cosmic Dharma that they and every Green Lantern serves - to do right by everyone and everything; protect the vulnerable from bullies; defend creativity, imagination and dignity; do unto others as they would be done and step up when it's time to kick ass on behalf of those values. But this level of faith place in great powers and institutions doesn't seem to gel for some, though it doesn't help that writers keep portraying the Guardians as anything but benign... and often the GLC act as little more than upholders of the status quo when superheroes should be breaking the status quo, always striving to achieve a better tomorrow.

Maybe it's time for a proper shake-up, nothing half-assed like we've seen time and time again but a proper Annihilation/Emerald Twilight style revamp. Maybe it's time for the Guardians to join that cosmic Dharma and aid their Green Lantern agents across some ethereal threshold in a more subtle and sporadic manner. Maybe this is the beginning of the end of the GLC as we know it because, if I'm not mistaken, the Corps doesn't exist in the Legion's time. Nothing is done with the Corps anyway besides shows of force or getting blown up for dramatic effect in a combination of the Worf Effect and Conservation of Ninjitsu. Perhaps it is time for the Corps to experience it's final "Great Jedi Purge" to become a small, if not disconnected, group of lone, wandering cosmic knights; make each GL feel special and powerful, members of a dated but venerable selection of space rangers whose heroic deeds and championship of the oppressed are welcome to some and rebuffed by others but are nonetheless legendary among the spaceways.

I don't want to purge the Corps. because there's so many characters I love in it .

[Zero Hunter]

I hate the whole concept of the United Planets being set in the modern day so much. Lazy ass Bendis. I can't wait for that whole thing to be retconned away like every other garbage idea he had at DC.

[StarSpangledMan]

I don't want to purge the Corps. because there's so many characters I love in it .

They can stay! But I think a lot of Corpsmen need definitive endings if writers aren't interested in using these characters anymore rather than having them exist nebulously.