dump post: comics, RP characters
Tim Drake (the Talon analogue)
First impression: geek pale, compact. At 5'3" and about 135 pounds, it's clear that he doesn't have much in the way of body fat. It's all skin, bone, and muscle, but in such comparatively smaller proportion (to, say, Batman) that it's kind of freaky-looking -- not as exaggerated as it is in the comics, however. He hasn't really built up his upper body yet. His musculature more closely resembles a runner than a fighter or an acrobat.
He has three highly similar scars: right beneath his collar bones, low on his stomach beneath his navel, and on the upper portion of his right thigh. They're clean incisions about three inches long, slightly discolored. He also has some discernible discoloration behind his right ear, where the communicator implant has been placed beneath his skin. Training with Owlman ordinarily leaves him bruised and scraped in any number of places, particularly his ribs and forearms. Finally, he has a jagged, approximately one inch long scar on his adam's apple, which is only visible with close proximity and good lighting.
Everything about him, physically, is definitely Tim. Looking closer, however, there are Jason-marks, especially when he gets angry. Attitude, a tendency toward crudeness in language. He's kind of both terrifying and pathetic, sometimes barely a person at all, more a collection of impressions and belief and who he wants to be versus the methods he uses to become those people. Then sometimes real and hurting pretty badly and lost, someone trying who doesn't know whether to hold on or let go.
Mervin Madrox (DC/Marvel remix)
I think Merv is the nicest, most likable character I have, so I will talk about his faults some. It was a little tricky, because Bart and Jamie sort of compliment each other personality-wise -- where Bart is naive, Jamie's a detective, where Bart was raised in a video game simulation, Jamie has had all sorts of experiences at all sorts of things all over the world ...
Merv has no focus. This is probably best demonstrated by the way he occasionally pops up to give Ephyra some thoughtful gifts, then disappears for weeks. He wants to try everything, so he's not good at being decisive; usually he just makes however many duplicates as needed and tries all the options. He knows a great deal, but not how to use that knowledge in a meaningful way. And he's a crappy fighter, a borderline pacifist. He just doesn't like conflict, though he intellectually understands that what they do is important and necessary. He'll bend backwards to keep things friendly.
Balthazar & terrifying imagery
One of the inflections I go for when I play Balthazar is definitely Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman. I imagine he is all artificially good-looking when he is nekkid, tanned, POSSIBLY WAXED, um. Just, obnoxiously, generically attractive. Like somebody snagged a mannequin from the men's department and turned it human. Though right now, he's looking all starving eurotrash because he doesn't like human food. And, uh, yeah, he's got a peen, unlike Bartleby, but it's worth reemphasizing that underneath the human layer of skin he is all yucky gross slimy demon and I am SURE it is SAME DEAL for all parts of him. Coming at this from a Hellblazer point of view, he may even be contagious, so to speak -- he really can taint or defile areas or people, if they're not already protected with, uh. His ... demonic essence? That sounds like a horrible euphemism. MOVING ON.
Blake, HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE oh my uh. I went ahead and established he is, despite WHATEVER he says, a virgin. When he's with other people, at school or just around, he's not going to be as demanding and fussy as he might be one on one. He follows social convention. But otherwise that cat-like hissiness takes over, where people may only be close to him under very exact circumstances, and they should treat him a certain way... he's an attention whore. He got all huffy and sulky when Enfys started dating Garion for a variety of reasons -- ego and jealousy, but also a more simplistic BUT SHE'S NOT GOING TO PAY ATTENTION TO ME AS MUCH ANYMORE >:E you can see that he really courts attention from Enfys and John, and not necessarily a specific SORT of attention. The tie is a bit of that, it's LOOK AT ME THIS IS OBNOXIOUS. He's not very romantic, not unless he knows people are watching and that's what's expected of him. He thought the semi-antagonistic thing with Enfys was more fun just as it was, he doesn't like to do the boyfriend thing, and he really does like to fight/argue all the time. He initially started talking to John because he looked exactly like the kind of person his family would dislike. Blake also likes pressuring John to do stupid or horrible things.
Relationship-wise, he's seriously a pain in the butt, and not like SURPRISE BUTTSECKS pain, just a fucking brat. He's not only demanding but somewhat domineering, makes lots of assumptions on behalf of the other person, pushy, fighty (verbally), a little controlling (as much as he can get away with). Right now, it's NOT that serious, because... it's not like they control their own time much yet or live alone. If they were older, it would be a lot scarier and really, really not awesome. At the same time, well: he's not, actually, a demon. He does have real feelings, empathy, and if you get him to admit that something he did was bastardy, he might even apologize. Blake is a drama queen and a bastard; Balthazar is an asshole sleazebag.
Wrong Robin, three variations on a theme
- Jason Todd as Red Hood
- Talon from the Crime Syndicate (now Crime Society) universe
- the second Wrath
Related, but not very much not Robin, would be TitansTomorrow!Tim.
When the worst aspects of a hero's personality are embodied in a flawed reflection, the internal turmoil is made obvious and literal. Their struggles have immediate, wide-reaching consequences. They canNOT ignore or repress the problem. And for people who don't usually think about this kind of thing, it's a wake up call, a forced confrontation. The "evil twin" plot device is old, but we love the hell out of it.
... okay, to be honest, Ultraman fucking cracks me up really badly, cause he's always like "shut up >:E arrrgh! haet u" and kermitflails all over the place (um, in a manly fashion, of... course). Owlman, on the other hand, fhdsjlkfhdsjfdhfkjafhdjkfheoihu dude, when I say "embodies the worst aspects" I don't mean like... oh noes, too violent, kills people! I mean like all of Bruce's emotional issues, minus the desire to protect people from them. I mean like the pedophile jokes and the whole secret deviant lifestyle thing. Aaaaaahhh the scan with the "I get one other thing from Jack Drake's death." -- "Oh?" -- "His son." and so on and so forth. They only touched lightly on the ickiness because that wasn't the point of the story, but it's there. I find it interesting (though not surprising) that Batman and Owlman were the two who refused to swap costumes. Superman is usually exasperated and disgusted by Ultraman, and obviously rejects him, yet somehow not as completely and watchfully as Batman and Owlman.
The real reason why Countdown is a fucking travesty is that they failed to do ANYTHING interesting with some very strong concepts (and then also had a bunch of weakass, cracktastic ones to boot). Jason Todd, resurrected ex-Boy Wonder, encounters Owlman, the Jokester, himself as Batman, and a Batman who took the more violent path after his death, as he had wanted his Bruce to do. Just those right there should've yielded some great moments. But Countdown is a weekly comic that follows the stories of 730875083257 people -- so it didn't. Even Red Robin didn't have to suck, if only the uniform hadn't been fucking hideous (and hid Jason's face in a completely shitass way, unlike the Red Hood helmet, which was actually somewhat ominous). When you don't have enough TIME devoted to each storyline, however, everything becomes about as well-characterized as an episode of Real World.
My replacement "teen supergroup" choices (seven):
- Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes)
- Traci 13
- Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
- Supergirl (Kara)
- Flash (Bart Allen)
- Miss Martian
- ????
For the seventh, I need a tank. Preferably male, for balance. No Tim, because Tim needs a goddamn vacation, and to re-learn how to fight girls (it's just SAD). I considered including Timothy Hunter in lieu of Traci, but then I remembered that Tim is sane, and would have nothing to do with such an endeavor even were there no Vertimbargo. I'm not completely sold on Supergirl, but I wanted at least two tanks, so she's one of them. I fucking hate Cassie, sorry. What could be cool is a Green Lantern, but uh, there aren't any teen ones, and I also hate Kyle. Batgirl for impossible martial arts feats, M'gann for telepathy and shapeshifting (she's not a bad tank herself), and let's just assume that if Bart is alive, she doesn't have an evil future self living in her head, okay?
I read that Dr. Occult will get a spotlight or something during the upcoming "LOL DCU'S HELL SUX" plotline. Yay, Dr. Occult! Boo, Neron and Satanus.
First impression: geek pale, compact. At 5'3" and about 135 pounds, it's clear that he doesn't have much in the way of body fat. It's all skin, bone, and muscle, but in such comparatively smaller proportion (to, say, Batman) that it's kind of freaky-looking -- not as exaggerated as it is in the comics, however. He hasn't really built up his upper body yet. His musculature more closely resembles a runner than a fighter or an acrobat.
He has three highly similar scars: right beneath his collar bones, low on his stomach beneath his navel, and on the upper portion of his right thigh. They're clean incisions about three inches long, slightly discolored. He also has some discernible discoloration behind his right ear, where the communicator implant has been placed beneath his skin. Training with Owlman ordinarily leaves him bruised and scraped in any number of places, particularly his ribs and forearms. Finally, he has a jagged, approximately one inch long scar on his adam's apple, which is only visible with close proximity and good lighting.
Everything about him, physically, is definitely Tim. Looking closer, however, there are Jason-marks, especially when he gets angry. Attitude, a tendency toward crudeness in language. He's kind of both terrifying and pathetic, sometimes barely a person at all, more a collection of impressions and belief and who he wants to be versus the methods he uses to become those people. Then sometimes real and hurting pretty badly and lost, someone trying who doesn't know whether to hold on or let go.
Mervin Madrox (DC/Marvel remix)
I think Merv is the nicest, most likable character I have, so I will talk about his faults some. It was a little tricky, because Bart and Jamie sort of compliment each other personality-wise -- where Bart is naive, Jamie's a detective, where Bart was raised in a video game simulation, Jamie has had all sorts of experiences at all sorts of things all over the world ...
Merv has no focus. This is probably best demonstrated by the way he occasionally pops up to give Ephyra some thoughtful gifts, then disappears for weeks. He wants to try everything, so he's not good at being decisive; usually he just makes however many duplicates as needed and tries all the options. He knows a great deal, but not how to use that knowledge in a meaningful way. And he's a crappy fighter, a borderline pacifist. He just doesn't like conflict, though he intellectually understands that what they do is important and necessary. He'll bend backwards to keep things friendly.
Balthazar & terrifying imagery
One of the inflections I go for when I play Balthazar is definitely Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman. I imagine he is all artificially good-looking when he is nekkid, tanned, POSSIBLY WAXED, um. Just, obnoxiously, generically attractive. Like somebody snagged a mannequin from the men's department and turned it human. Though right now, he's looking all starving eurotrash because he doesn't like human food. And, uh, yeah, he's got a peen, unlike Bartleby, but it's worth reemphasizing that underneath the human layer of skin he is all yucky gross slimy demon and I am SURE it is SAME DEAL for all parts of him. Coming at this from a Hellblazer point of view, he may even be contagious, so to speak -- he really can taint or defile areas or people, if they're not already protected with, uh. His ... demonic essence? That sounds like a horrible euphemism. MOVING ON.
Blake, HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE oh my uh. I went ahead and established he is, despite WHATEVER he says, a virgin. When he's with other people, at school or just around, he's not going to be as demanding and fussy as he might be one on one. He follows social convention. But otherwise that cat-like hissiness takes over, where people may only be close to him under very exact circumstances, and they should treat him a certain way... he's an attention whore. He got all huffy and sulky when Enfys started dating Garion for a variety of reasons -- ego and jealousy, but also a more simplistic BUT SHE'S NOT GOING TO PAY ATTENTION TO ME AS MUCH ANYMORE >:E you can see that he really courts attention from Enfys and John, and not necessarily a specific SORT of attention. The tie is a bit of that, it's LOOK AT ME THIS IS OBNOXIOUS. He's not very romantic, not unless he knows people are watching and that's what's expected of him. He thought the semi-antagonistic thing with Enfys was more fun just as it was, he doesn't like to do the boyfriend thing, and he really does like to fight/argue all the time. He initially started talking to John because he looked exactly like the kind of person his family would dislike. Blake also likes pressuring John to do stupid or horrible things.
Relationship-wise, he's seriously a pain in the butt, and not like SURPRISE BUTTSECKS pain, just a fucking brat. He's not only demanding but somewhat domineering, makes lots of assumptions on behalf of the other person, pushy, fighty (verbally), a little controlling (as much as he can get away with). Right now, it's NOT that serious, because... it's not like they control their own time much yet or live alone. If they were older, it would be a lot scarier and really, really not awesome. At the same time, well: he's not, actually, a demon. He does have real feelings, empathy, and if you get him to admit that something he did was bastardy, he might even apologize. Blake is a drama queen and a bastard; Balthazar is an asshole sleazebag.
Wrong Robin, three variations on a theme
- Jason Todd as Red Hood
- Talon from the Crime Syndicate (now Crime Society) universe
- the second Wrath
Related, but not very much not Robin, would be TitansTomorrow!Tim.
When the worst aspects of a hero's personality are embodied in a flawed reflection, the internal turmoil is made obvious and literal. Their struggles have immediate, wide-reaching consequences. They canNOT ignore or repress the problem. And for people who don't usually think about this kind of thing, it's a wake up call, a forced confrontation. The "evil twin" plot device is old, but we love the hell out of it.
... okay, to be honest, Ultraman fucking cracks me up really badly, cause he's always like "shut up >:E arrrgh! haet u" and kermitflails all over the place (um, in a manly fashion, of... course). Owlman, on the other hand, fhdsjlkfhdsjfdhfkjafhdjkfheoihu dude, when I say "embodies the worst aspects" I don't mean like... oh noes, too violent, kills people! I mean like all of Bruce's emotional issues, minus the desire to protect people from them. I mean like the pedophile jokes and the whole secret deviant lifestyle thing. Aaaaaahhh the scan with the "I get one other thing from Jack Drake's death." -- "Oh?" -- "His son." and so on and so forth. They only touched lightly on the ickiness because that wasn't the point of the story, but it's there. I find it interesting (though not surprising) that Batman and Owlman were the two who refused to swap costumes. Superman is usually exasperated and disgusted by Ultraman, and obviously rejects him, yet somehow not as completely and watchfully as Batman and Owlman.
The real reason why Countdown is a fucking travesty is that they failed to do ANYTHING interesting with some very strong concepts (and then also had a bunch of weakass, cracktastic ones to boot). Jason Todd, resurrected ex-Boy Wonder, encounters Owlman, the Jokester, himself as Batman, and a Batman who took the more violent path after his death, as he had wanted his Bruce to do. Just those right there should've yielded some great moments. But Countdown is a weekly comic that follows the stories of 730875083257 people -- so it didn't. Even Red Robin didn't have to suck, if only the uniform hadn't been fucking hideous (and hid Jason's face in a completely shitass way, unlike the Red Hood helmet, which was actually somewhat ominous). When you don't have enough TIME devoted to each storyline, however, everything becomes about as well-characterized as an episode of Real World.
My replacement "teen supergroup" choices (seven):
- Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes)
- Traci 13
- Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
- Supergirl (Kara)
- Flash (Bart Allen)
- Miss Martian
- ????
For the seventh, I need a tank. Preferably male, for balance. No Tim, because Tim needs a goddamn vacation, and to re-learn how to fight girls (it's just SAD). I considered including Timothy Hunter in lieu of Traci, but then I remembered that Tim is sane, and would have nothing to do with such an endeavor even were there no Vertimbargo. I'm not completely sold on Supergirl, but I wanted at least two tanks, so she's one of them. I fucking hate Cassie, sorry. What could be cool is a Green Lantern, but uh, there aren't any teen ones, and I also hate Kyle. Batgirl for impossible martial arts feats, M'gann for telepathy and shapeshifting (she's not a bad tank herself), and let's just assume that if Bart is alive, she doesn't have an evil future self living in her head, okay?
I read that Dr. Occult will get a spotlight or something during the upcoming "LOL DCU'S HELL SUX" plotline. Yay, Dr. Occult! Boo, Neron and Satanus.