Legion of Superheroes
After watching Smallville's take on the Legion of Superheroes (overall, good, supplemented by Batshit Crazy Cholie Sullivan), I recalled an idea I had - how I'd envision the legion by making each character very archetypical at their core. Some ideas I had:
Lightning Lad - Garth Ranzz - THE GOOD OL'BOY - The LoSH animated series made me realize that Garth is from a farming world - combined with his usual gung-ho attitude, I realized he'd be the futuristic equivalent of a Good Ol' Boy. He's not from a massive cultural center, so he's not exactly Mr. cultured, but he does have a lot of practacal knowledge (farming takes brains even without futuristic tech), he doesn't let things stop him, and he's used to sticking with his friends. His flaws would be that he DOESNT always realize his limits (when you can do first aid thanks to mom, or fix a solar collector with hovercar parts, but you've never been beyond your homeworld, you kind of get a big head), and at times he's uncultured and flaunts it - he doesn't NEED some fancy-pants ivory tower Coulon to tell HIM what to do to fix that weather control array . . . until it blows up in his face.
Cosmic Boy - Rokk Krin - THE TEAM CAPTAIN - Rokk's always been a sports figure turned superhero, I'd play that up. Rokk is the Jock who was always more than a Jock - the guy whom sports brought out the best in and used it as a leg up in the world and off his limited options on a mining-oriented planet.. With natural leadership and organization, and some ambition, ROkk would be the guy who may not always have the plan, but he could get people to do it. He'd at times get so into the "game" he'd miss the human side of things, and he'd have trouble dealing with "non-team players." For some reason, I see him as vaguely Canadian in accent.
Saturn Girl - Irma Aldreen - THE SMART GIRL - There's always one - Hermionie, Sakura, Velma. Raised on a planet of telepaths (with heavy knowledge exchange), trained from birth to use her powers, and having access to information just by opening her mind, Irma is smart. Real smart - and headed for a career in the science police and a hell of a future as a detective until she becomes a superhero. However she's got both the brains keeping her distant from people AND her powers. She's frightfully good at applying both, but wishes to be treated more like a person. Add in her bravery, and at times she feels she's more one of the gang than a person - or a woman.
Braniac 5 - Querl Dox - THE VICTORIAN SCIENTIST - "Brainy" always ends up some kind of mad scientist type, and that gets boring - and I figure if he's from a super-smart planet they'd have time to develop social skills as well. My Brainy 5 comes across as a kind of victorian scientist - broad, cultured, brilliant, even charming - as long as you acknowledge he's your complete intellectual superior. When you don't he gets very snippy and annoyed, and at times outright racist. He's very much an idealist, but his sense of proper order gets violated a lot - and that's when his Mad Scientist side comes out (or when he gets obsessed). To the universe he's heroic and brilliant, but his teammates clash with him due to his attitude and ego. He does, however, have a strong sense of ethics because a society of super-scientists doesnt live long without one - its just sometimes you want to punch him.
Phantom Girl - Tyna Wazzo - THE GHOST BRIDE - She comes from an alternate world, she passes through things - I'd wante do make Phantom girl more creepy. In this case I'd make her look more like a classic "White Hair Ghost" of Chinese/Japanese legend, her white hair floating in other-dimenisonal winds, with a touch of Grey alien - but still attractive. Tyna is adjusting to being in another dimension, and concerned about how her mother's job and relationships (since her mother usually is in a political positioN) can affect her - and worry someday she'll have to go home to her world.
Ultra Boy - Jo Nah - THE LOVEABLE BIKER - This is easy - guy from a rough-and-tumble world of gangs? He'd be sort of a super-powered Fonzie mixed with a less angsty James Dean. He'd be the tough, but heart-of-gold guy who sticks by friends, is good in a fight, and doesnt say die or cower out. Of course you know he's a sweetheart underneath, but no one wants to blow his act.
Bouncing Boy - Chuck Taine - THE GAMING BUDDY - Sure chuck is smart, and he's good at what he does (architecture and engineering), and that of course lets him use his powers. But Chuck also likes applying that mind to fun! Chuck is the guy who likes video and action games, building stuff for fun, etc. Its fun to hang out with him and he always has Some Cool New thing. I'd give him an interest in retro stuff as well, ala the Animated Series.
Element Lad - Jan Arrah - THE ORIENTAL MYSTIC - Element Lad doesnt get enough characterization, he usually ends up mystical and vaguely gay. My take is that if your people could naturally transmute elements, your culture would be very curious as it'd be one without want - but with every person being born a living weapon. Jan's culture is thus a mixture of hang loose (no reason to get worked up and do something dumb) with strict rules (to prevent dumbness), and would probably be a strange Taoist/Confucian/Zen mix. Jan would be a natural philosopher, and glad to help people, but he'd occasioanlly confuse others as only a person raised to be a philosopher since birth could - hanging loose mostly, but having moments of severe moral boundaries and even criticism. Ironically Jan would get along with Branianc 5, since Braniac would feel his culture was very fascinating because of the challenges it faced - even if they were of course all less smart than his people.
Matter-Eater-Lad - Tenzil Kem - THE CLASS CLOWN - I love Tenzil. Honestly. And this one isn't hard - he's a naturally charismatic guy from a stuck-up society (I'd go with the fact Bismolian culture is regulated because anyone can eat ANYTHING, thus making it a stuck-up mirror-image of the Tromians). He's got a ridiculous power that is at times insanely useful - and he knows it. SO Tenzil is funny and fun - but it also conceals the fact he's very very insightful. He GETS how funny everything is, and frankly, he doesn't take HIMSELF seriously either - which annoys only the serious. Tenzil has figured out how to get through life, but also his insightfulness gives him a lot of compassion - he doesn't block out how he feels or others feel (but he may cover it up with humor).
TIMBERWOLF - Brin Londo - THE BEAST OF NATURE - I get tired of the "Oh I'm a beast/animal" plotlines for characters with animal powers, though that is a bit of the character. So my take on Brill would be that his genetic modifications at the hands of his father were both for survival physically but also mentally - a creature of instinct over ego. Thus Brill is caught in a mix of paradoxes - a human brain tied to animal instincts, his emotions more intense yet more pleasurable, his senses in overdrive, painfully yet delightfully aware. Each moment is intense for him. He seeks a balance between his various elements - but also wrestles with the question of what the experiment made him into. Maybe there IS something superior to his strange human-beast fusion mind and body . . .
Lightning Lad - Garth Ranzz - THE GOOD OL'BOY - The LoSH animated series made me realize that Garth is from a farming world - combined with his usual gung-ho attitude, I realized he'd be the futuristic equivalent of a Good Ol' Boy. He's not from a massive cultural center, so he's not exactly Mr. cultured, but he does have a lot of practacal knowledge (farming takes brains even without futuristic tech), he doesn't let things stop him, and he's used to sticking with his friends. His flaws would be that he DOESNT always realize his limits (when you can do first aid thanks to mom, or fix a solar collector with hovercar parts, but you've never been beyond your homeworld, you kind of get a big head), and at times he's uncultured and flaunts it - he doesn't NEED some fancy-pants ivory tower Coulon to tell HIM what to do to fix that weather control array . . . until it blows up in his face.
Cosmic Boy - Rokk Krin - THE TEAM CAPTAIN - Rokk's always been a sports figure turned superhero, I'd play that up. Rokk is the Jock who was always more than a Jock - the guy whom sports brought out the best in and used it as a leg up in the world and off his limited options on a mining-oriented planet.. With natural leadership and organization, and some ambition, ROkk would be the guy who may not always have the plan, but he could get people to do it. He'd at times get so into the "game" he'd miss the human side of things, and he'd have trouble dealing with "non-team players." For some reason, I see him as vaguely Canadian in accent.
Saturn Girl - Irma Aldreen - THE SMART GIRL - There's always one - Hermionie, Sakura, Velma. Raised on a planet of telepaths (with heavy knowledge exchange), trained from birth to use her powers, and having access to information just by opening her mind, Irma is smart. Real smart - and headed for a career in the science police and a hell of a future as a detective until she becomes a superhero. However she's got both the brains keeping her distant from people AND her powers. She's frightfully good at applying both, but wishes to be treated more like a person. Add in her bravery, and at times she feels she's more one of the gang than a person - or a woman.
Braniac 5 - Querl Dox - THE VICTORIAN SCIENTIST - "Brainy" always ends up some kind of mad scientist type, and that gets boring - and I figure if he's from a super-smart planet they'd have time to develop social skills as well. My Brainy 5 comes across as a kind of victorian scientist - broad, cultured, brilliant, even charming - as long as you acknowledge he's your complete intellectual superior. When you don't he gets very snippy and annoyed, and at times outright racist. He's very much an idealist, but his sense of proper order gets violated a lot - and that's when his Mad Scientist side comes out (or when he gets obsessed). To the universe he's heroic and brilliant, but his teammates clash with him due to his attitude and ego. He does, however, have a strong sense of ethics because a society of super-scientists doesnt live long without one - its just sometimes you want to punch him.
Phantom Girl - Tyna Wazzo - THE GHOST BRIDE - She comes from an alternate world, she passes through things - I'd wante do make Phantom girl more creepy. In this case I'd make her look more like a classic "White Hair Ghost" of Chinese/Japanese legend, her white hair floating in other-dimenisonal winds, with a touch of Grey alien - but still attractive. Tyna is adjusting to being in another dimension, and concerned about how her mother's job and relationships (since her mother usually is in a political positioN) can affect her - and worry someday she'll have to go home to her world.
Ultra Boy - Jo Nah - THE LOVEABLE BIKER - This is easy - guy from a rough-and-tumble world of gangs? He'd be sort of a super-powered Fonzie mixed with a less angsty James Dean. He'd be the tough, but heart-of-gold guy who sticks by friends, is good in a fight, and doesnt say die or cower out. Of course you know he's a sweetheart underneath, but no one wants to blow his act.
Bouncing Boy - Chuck Taine - THE GAMING BUDDY - Sure chuck is smart, and he's good at what he does (architecture and engineering), and that of course lets him use his powers. But Chuck also likes applying that mind to fun! Chuck is the guy who likes video and action games, building stuff for fun, etc. Its fun to hang out with him and he always has Some Cool New thing. I'd give him an interest in retro stuff as well, ala the Animated Series.
Element Lad - Jan Arrah - THE ORIENTAL MYSTIC - Element Lad doesnt get enough characterization, he usually ends up mystical and vaguely gay. My take is that if your people could naturally transmute elements, your culture would be very curious as it'd be one without want - but with every person being born a living weapon. Jan's culture is thus a mixture of hang loose (no reason to get worked up and do something dumb) with strict rules (to prevent dumbness), and would probably be a strange Taoist/Confucian/Zen mix. Jan would be a natural philosopher, and glad to help people, but he'd occasioanlly confuse others as only a person raised to be a philosopher since birth could - hanging loose mostly, but having moments of severe moral boundaries and even criticism. Ironically Jan would get along with Branianc 5, since Braniac would feel his culture was very fascinating because of the challenges it faced - even if they were of course all less smart than his people.
Matter-Eater-Lad - Tenzil Kem - THE CLASS CLOWN - I love Tenzil. Honestly. And this one isn't hard - he's a naturally charismatic guy from a stuck-up society (I'd go with the fact Bismolian culture is regulated because anyone can eat ANYTHING, thus making it a stuck-up mirror-image of the Tromians). He's got a ridiculous power that is at times insanely useful - and he knows it. SO Tenzil is funny and fun - but it also conceals the fact he's very very insightful. He GETS how funny everything is, and frankly, he doesn't take HIMSELF seriously either - which annoys only the serious. Tenzil has figured out how to get through life, but also his insightfulness gives him a lot of compassion - he doesn't block out how he feels or others feel (but he may cover it up with humor).
TIMBERWOLF - Brin Londo - THE BEAST OF NATURE - I get tired of the "Oh I'm a beast/animal" plotlines for characters with animal powers, though that is a bit of the character. So my take on Brill would be that his genetic modifications at the hands of his father were both for survival physically but also mentally - a creature of instinct over ego. Thus Brill is caught in a mix of paradoxes - a human brain tied to animal instincts, his emotions more intense yet more pleasurable, his senses in overdrive, painfully yet delightfully aware. Each moment is intense for him. He seeks a balance between his various elements - but also wrestles with the question of what the experiment made him into. Maybe there IS something superior to his strange human-beast fusion mind and body . . .