New week, new issue! This week’s discussion questions are ready! 
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W2
- Guy’s first appearance is a sequence of him attacking Jaime. Given that it’s later revealed that Guy was carrying around Ted’s old strategy book to give to Jaime, do you think he actually intended on taking him out in the beginning, or was it some sort of test?
Both maybe. Test to see if he’s good or not. It wasn’t he’d continue taking him out of not well we saw how that went.
- We’ve discussed last week that Jaime is a hero who fights with his heart. When Guy says he needs to “start thinking like Blue Beetle”, would you say that Jaime should become more like Ted, or that Jaime should redefine what being Blue Beetle means to him specifically?
Definitely redefine it to fit him but doesn’t mean he should ignore the previous ones. Find ways to ad there ways to better your in your own way of that makes sense.
- Jaime reflects a lot on how the other heroes won’t help him fight The Reach without hard evidence of their true intentions. Let’s say they did offer their help though — aside from Jaime, which three people would be on your dream roster to take on The Reach?
Swamp Thing Constantine Zatanna. Think it would be a cool magic vs tech battle.
- Despite his insistence on fighting first and thinking later, do you think Guy has become something of a good strategist in Ted’s absence?
Kind of but probably still a hit head. Like I said above probably adding some strategy to his hot headedness.
- What role do you think the Ultra Humanite plays in all this?
A pawn for the reach nothing more.
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Week 2
- Do we know that he had the book from the beginning? That first fight being a test makes sense, but given what a piece of work Guy is in this issue, I’d believe punching the new Blue Beetle was just his bad way of coping with Ted’s death.
- Every hero needs to find out what being a hero means to them personally.
- Elongated man, John Stewart, and Ms. Martian. You need a detective to gather actual evidnece, and Batman and Barry Allen have enough exposure thank you. It also makes sense to have a Green Lantern on the team, since they’re enemies of The Reach, and John is the only lantern (Other than Jessica who first appeared in 2014) whom I trust. Finally, Martians have so many varied and useful powers that they’re just a smart adition to any team.
- No
- Being just a “local contractor”, as they say, seems beneath them, but I can’t imagine what else The Reach would need them for.
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Issue 13 Questions and Response:
- Knowing The Reach’s true intentions, why do you suppose they bothered to meet Jaime at all, if they only want to collect data via violence before the takeover? Why not just start by testing him outright, like they did with the mob?
I think The Reach did not know yet if Jaime would be their ally because he is attached to a scarab, albeit a defective one. It seems that they wanted to introduce themselves and gauge the situation. - Do you think it’s a wise decision for Jaime to keep his family in the loop with everything that goes on in his hero life? Why or why not?
I think it is wise because his identity is not hidden. He tends to transform with the armor in front of everyone when it’s activated, so I don’t think he would be able to have a secret identity. For this reason, informing them of the full situation will allow them an opportunity to make informed decisions about keeping themselves safe. - At this point, do you think the scarab has some sentience of its own — i.e. when Jaime said it felt “nervous” about the mob — or that it’s playing off of Jaime’s own emotions a bit?
It definitely has some sentience on its own especially given that it can speak to Jaime in its native language. I think Jaime’s interpretation of “nervous” feelings may be misplaced, that is, he is perceiving something that he identifies as nervous but may actually be the scarab having some other sort of perception. - How do you figure Jaime was able to override the mobs’ scarabs? Do you think that each person’s individual conscience was somehow strong enough to overcome mind control with a simple pep talk, or that Jaime has some sort of other power that played a hand in their release here?
I think The Reach recalled the scarabs, they were not implanting in their hosts because the scarab implantation only works on one host per planet. It does seem that Jaime has influence over the scarabs generally though. Almost like his magic scarab will be able to talk to and persuade other scarabs. - It’s clear that Jaime’s strength lies with his heart. How do you think he’ll face The Reach this way? Do you think there’s any way to combat an invading alien army with nonviolence? I think Jaime’s strength is derived from his armor, but his heart results in the application of this strength being measured and nonlethal. The term ‘nonviolence’ is used fairly loosely. Maybe he will combat them without inflicting lethal violence, but I think the battle will be a violent affair otherwise. Peacemaker will certainly help, and we will see what other characters show up to prevent Earth from being taken over by The Reach.
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I agree with this bit specifically where his mom is involved too. We all saw how she put the fear of god into Guy Gardener 
, so I feel like she’d be the best point of contact for strategy and wisdom, tbh.
Interested in seeing how this will play out too, given the last panel of him in Issue 13.
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The last round of discussion questions are up! Let’s hear your thoughts!
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W3
- This issue opens with Jaime hitting us with the hard question: What would you do? In this case, what WOULD you do if you were in Jaime’s shoes — if you came upon this strange power and you knew Earth was in danger, but no one would listen to you?
I’d find a way to get them to listen. Get the proof or just let Batman or someone know. Even if they don’t believe me they may start to look into it and help. And if all fails. One versus an invasion fleet. Sounds like good odds 
.
- There’s a lot of comparison between Ted Kord’s Blue Beetle and Jaime Reyes’s Blue Beetle — which is, of course, expected from Jaime taking over the BB mantle. What do you suppose Ted would think of Jaime? Additionally, are there any particular bits of advice you think Ted would have wanted to give to Jaime specifically?
I’d think he’d be amazed by finally seeing the tech work. But be impressed by Jamie and proud to a good kid take the legacy. His advice I think would be to be himself. Just like he did. He wasn’t the strongest or most skilled. His tech was a bit goofier as was he but he didn’t hide it. He was himself flaws and strengths and used it all to be the hero he was.
- Judging from Hector and Nadia’s vastly different takes on who Ted Kord was as a person, do you think the tabloids besmirched his reputation following his death?
Yeah probably.
- Why do you think Livewire and Blue Beetle are connected in such a special way that even Superman can’t sense it?
The energy. Livewire’s energy based abilities connect with blue’s and Supes isn’t able to see that.
- Speaking of which, this incident with Livewire seems to be way more than a coincidence; especially considering that Jaime is having a hard time finding people to help him fight the Reach. Do you think Livewire could be some sort of “key” to their defeat?
Yeah. Maybe to drain there tech and help weaken there armada.
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Week 3
- If this happened to me in our world, I have NO IDEA how I’d cope. If I had access to more experienced superheroes with more authority, however, I’d seek out one of them. I, personally, would try to find the Flash or John Stewart.
- I don’t know much of anything about Ted Kord, but I think that Ted might advise Jaime to take some time to figure out the scarab before he tries any heroics. It would make for a less interesting story from our perspective, but it’s the most sensible advice anyone could give him.
- I think the “lame-stream media” may have lumped Ted in with the likes of Guy Gardner and Booster Gold.
- Literally no idea. Nothing I know about their origins or powers suggests a strong connection to me. I would honestly love to hear how this is explained from anyone who’s read further into the run.
- Again, I have no idea how they could be connected, but it would certainly be weird for the writer to set up this strong connection between them and never have them meet again.
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Honestly, same. Jaime’s already 20 steps ahead of where I’d be in his shoes. /shrug
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