Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

[proditor]

From my other thread (proditor's workbench) it should be obvious that I'm putting together some teams for my Champions Games. I have my New Knights, Kriegsturm, and Soviet Super Soldiers, but now I want to honor our neighbor to the north. The team I'm looking is gelling into an Alpha Flight homage (of sorts). I have the minis picked out, and rough ideas on powers and paintjobs (FLAG SUITS!!!!), but I need names for the Team itself and each member. That's where I'm asking for help.

 

So here they are:

 

 

Oh right! Powers:

 

1) Sword that cuts through anything, some phasing, decent physicals.

2) Um...some sort of blaster.

3) Rough and tumble outdoorsy brawler type, possibly regenerating

4) Fire blaster

5) Speedster (About Mach 1 top speed)

6) Stretching. Yeah, I know, kinda obvious.

7) Brick battlesuit. Good movement, Superleap and Tunneling.

 

Okay, help me out.

[TheTemplar]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Still working on a few, but so far:

 

#3) Yukon... Klondike... Frontier... Wild Man... The Frontiersman (not sure if you're keen on "Man" Men or not.)

 

#4) Aurora.. Borealis.. Aurora Borealis (a bit long, but I'm not sure "Borealis" is a word by itself.)

 

#5) Iditarod

 

#7) Not sure if they're indigenous to Canada or not, but when I see that guy, I think "Antlion." - he kinda looks buggish, has the whole "exoskeleton" thing going for him, tunnels, etc. I know they're (relatively) common to the Pac NW, but I'm not sure about Canada.

[Edsel]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Here's a couple of ideas.

 

#1) The sword wielder from Quebec... Rapier.

#5) The speedster... Windego

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Hmm... have to give this some more thought, but a few possibilities that do come to mind:

 

5) Avro, after Canada's legendary prototype supersonic fighter, the Avro Arrow. Calling her The Arrow would have as much recognition here, if you'd prefer to avoid using an existing company's name.

 

7) Canadian Shield, major geological region south of Hudson's Bay, a rich mining area. Alternatively, Big Nickel, name of the largest nickel mine in the world, in the same region.

 

If you go with "Big Nickel," I'd recommend "Canadian Shield" as the team name. The only other one I can think of that would have the same sort of resonance to a Canadian would be The Guardians, because our national anthem states that "we stand on guard for thee" [i.e. Canada] three times. Repetitive, but emphatic.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

All right, here's another suggestion, for #1, especially if she has a harder-edged approach toward crimefighting: Mosaic. That would fit her sword (cuts things into pieces) and her phasing if she separates her component atoms. It also suits Canada, which idealizes itself as a "mosaic" country made up of distinct ethnic/linguistic/cultural groups, as opposed to the American "melting pot."

 

Also, for #2, his pose looks rather "mystical;" if you make him a mystic you could call him the Northern Magus, which is a nickname for former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

First, I want to apologize in advance for this to my Canadian friends.

 

 

 

 

 

you could call them the...

 

Eh? Team.

 

 

I am so ashamed

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

First, I want to apologize in advance for this to my Canadian friends.

 

 

 

 

 

you could call them the...

 

Eh? Team.

 

 

I am so ashamed

 

Your shame, as my old acting teacher used to say, "lacks credibility."

 

Okay, more seriously: for #3, I would suggest Roughrider. For a long time there were actually two separate (Canadian) major league football teams named the Roughriders. At the same time. We only have one now, though.

 

I've been struggling with your fire guy. To this point my best idea has been to make him nuclear powered and call him Candu, which is the name of Canada's patented nuclear reactor design. That strikes me as almost too cute, though. And as with "Avro," it's a corporate trademarked name.

[Enforcer84]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Wait, you wanted to name a guy after a condom and call it "More Seriously" ?

 

alright, I gotta stop.

 

I gotta back LL with Mosaic for the swordswoman. That is a cool name. It has a sense of style. No 'I go Stabby'.

 

The second guy does look mystical. I like the name Northwarden.

 

The scrapper may as well be called Logan. but since that's right out, perhaps (Insert Adjective here) wolf?

 

The Fire controller could be called Agni -sure it's another region of the world's fire deity but it works. Any Volcanoes in Canada? I am so not smart

 

I like Iditarod, but it's more of an endurance race right? Arrow is good.

 

Stretchy guys are difficult. Perhaps an obscure tire company name? Go for silly and call him Strange Brew?

 

I like Canadian Shield and Big Nickel for the brick, you could also name him after a Canadian warship.

[David Johnston]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

The Fire controller could be called Agni -sure it's another region of the world's fire deity but it works. Any Volcanoes in Canada? I am so not smart

 

I like Iditarod, but it's more of an endurance race right? Arrow is good.

 

Stretchy guys are difficult. Perhaps an obscure tire company name? Go for silly and call him Strange Brew?

 

I like Canadian Shield and Big Nickel for the brick, you could also name him after a Canadian warship.

 

Iditarod also has nothing to do with Canada. That's an Alaskan thing.

If you had a female stretcher you could call her "Stretchmark". I dunno. Maybe Black Gold? He's living petroleum? While Canada has volcanos, it doesn't have cool volcanos like Fuji or Mount Ranier. The last bout of glaciation smoothed over all of our volcanos making them rather stubby and unimpressive. On the other hand we do have quite a lot of citizens who are immigrants from India and it's not like Marvel's Thor lived in Norway. As for Canadian warships, almost all of them are named after Canadian place names. However there was the Protecteur...a refueling vessel with a nice generic name. Just French for Protector. Works. That's pretty utilitarian looking suit of armour after all.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Had another thought about the fire guy. If he can fly you could call him The Rocket. That was the tag given to Maurice Richard, one of the all-time greatest hockey players and a virtual folk hero in Quebec. Mind you, a superhero with that name probably wouldn't be from Quebec himself; any other Quebecois using Richard's nick would likely be considered sacrilege.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Wait' date=' you wanted to name a guy after a condom and call it "More Seriously" ? [/quote']

 

Pardon my ignorance - guess I don't get around much.

 

I'm sure Teddy Roosevelt would be flattered, though.

 

EDIT: OTOH maybe that would make it the perfect name for the stretchy guy.

[Tom McCarthy]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

I knew a fellow who had a beloved electrical blaster called Hydro Bill. In the province of Ontario, the electrical power company (at that time) was Ontario Hydro (short for Hydroelectric, I think).

 

Canadian Shield is a huge geographical region, but I've seen it used for team names and character names.

 

Some simple names, translated to French Canadian, work well. Monsier Puissance, for a brick, perhaps.

 

True North is also a common name for teams and heroes (it's from the national anthem). Canadian Guard works well ("we stand on guard for thee").

 

Grizzly bears and Kodiaks are great outdoors beasts. The Canadian lynx, badger and yes, wolverine, are also right up there for outdoors wild animals.

 

Liberator, Vindicator, Avenger, these are all common enough international concepts.

[Cardbord_Man]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

# 7) Blocker, Normal ID:NHL Goalie

[boomer]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

1) Sword that cuts through anything, some phasing, decent physicals.

Riposte....it's a French Fencing term......or Fleche (pronounced Flesh)

2) Um...some sort of blaster.

Northern Lights....he does look like a Mystic

3) Rough and tumble outdoorsy brawler type, possibly regenerating

The Crazy Canuck..... (cheesy I know) or possibly Yukon Jack or the Lumberjack (all images of burly Canadian He-man types...) or possibly Brawny...have him wear a red flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows..

4) Fire blaster

FlameThrower

5) Speedster (About Mach 1 top speed)

Blur

6) Stretching. Yeah, I know, kinda obvious.

Not sure on this one...maybe the French word for stretching.....

7) Brick battlesuit. Good movement, Superleap and Tunneling.

Not sure on this one......maybe Captain Canada or the Crimson Canadian....

[proditor]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Okay, Canadian Shield seems to be the group name since there is a decent amount of concensus on it.

 

Great suggestions so far guys! LL, as an aviation enthusiast, I'm stunned that I didn't remember Canada's Multi-mach uberinterceptor. Consider me chastized, and the young lady's name is now The Arrow.

 

I was thinking Number 2 did indeed look semi-mystical. I'm considering dropping the Northren part from Northren Magus. I sort of seeing as having a big enough ego that he doesn't need to define WHICH Magus, after all, he's the only one that matters.

 

Kodiak or Lynx seem like good names for the brawler, I guess it sort of depends on the strength level. Oh, and the figure looks like it could be a thin wiry guy, or a tough chica. Won't know for sure till it shows up on my doorstep. Well, with the dreads, translate chica into Jamaican I guess.

 

I'm grooving Big Nickel for the brick.

 

Oh, the stretchy "guy" is a figure called "Elasti-woman" in the superfigs catalog.

 

So that currently gives us:

CANADIAN SHIELD!!

1) Mosiac (That does have a darn nice ring to it)

2) The Magus

3) Kodiak or Lynx

4) Dude no one is happy naming

5) The Arrow

6) Dudette no one is happy naming

7) Big Nickel

 

I hope the figs show up soon (I ordered them from Old Glory already) as I'm getting jazzed about this concept.

 

Thanks again everyone, and keep throwing out ideas!

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Well, I do have another suggestion for the fire guy, which is fairly topical to Canada and might spark an origin story.

 

Right now the hottest economy in Canada is in the province of Alberta, fueled by its abundant oil reserves. Oil wells sometimes catch fire of course, and there are firefighters who specialize in the very dangerous, and lucrative, field of well extinguishing.

 

The most famous of these was the late "Red" Adair, who was given the nickname Hellfighter. His life inspired a film starring John Wayne, The Hellfighters. (You can read more about Red Adair here.)

[DEFCON Clown]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

For a team name how about, "The Puck-Slapping Syrup Suckers"?

 

[Cancer]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Another possibility for a Canadian combat type, appealing only to that history, would be Vimy Ridge.

 

One of your energy blasters could come from the Kootenay area (I'm thinking Radium Hot Springs specifically), taking the name Radium or Kootenay in that way.

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Hellfighter. Definitely.

 

For your elasti-girl I think you might be better off with a name related to her shtick, that is, whatever it is that sets her apart from other generic stretchy people.

 

Personally I would make her with "water" powers and the ability to instantly freeze her fists for extra pummeling damage (and maybe other parts of herself for a Force Field with a DEX roll) and call her Ice Floe (or maybe just Floe)

 

________________________________________________________

"Beam me up Scottie" - Captain Kirk, famous Canadian

[radioKAOS]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

1) Sword that cuts through anything, some phasing, decent physicals.

I like Mosaic, good choice. When I think cutting and phasing I think something like 'Northwind' or perhaps whatever the Inuit word for that is...

 

2) Um...some sort of blaster.

Shaman, Chinook,

 

4) Fire blaster

Chinook? PrairieFire, Flashpoint

[Hermit]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

Stretching Character names I've used in the past

Snap-Back

Longarm

Twist

Rebound

Twine

Tension

 

But you may think these all suck

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

I've been thinking about the stretching hero. Right now proditor is divided between "Kodiak" and "Lynx" for his brawler character. What would you say to using Kodiak for him, and naming the stretcher Lynx, as a deliberate pun on "links" as in a chain?

[Murrkon5]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

You might take any of the suggestions that feel "marginal" and run them thru a English-French translator. If the resulting word rolls off the tongue easily enough (unless you have bilingual players, pronounciation isn't too important), you have a fresh-sounding Quebecois character.

 

My favourite Canadian brick name is from the western prairie: Haymaker.

 

On a side note, this is great fun but why-oh-why do any teams not based in the US of A have such ethnic/national labels? In "retaliation", my world's GM character American team had: Eagle, Johnny Reb, Greenback, Da Wise Guy and the Big Apple

[radioKAOS]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

On a side note, this is great fun but why-oh-why do any teams not based in the US of A have such ethnic/national labels? In "retaliation", my world's GM character American team had: Eagle, Johnny Reb, Greenback, Da Wise Guy and the Big Apple

 

lol, yes, this is so true.

 

I think it's because the USA is generally the 'real world'/'centre of the universe' in most Supers games. Therefore, in order to give some identity to characters of other nations, we automatically look for something that represents the 'secondary' country.

[swbaxter]

Re: Help Requested: Name my Canadian team and it's members

 

On a side note' date=' this is great fun but why-oh-why do any teams not based in the US of A have such ethnic/national labels? In "retaliation", my world's GM character American team had: Eagle, Johnny Reb, Greenback, Da Wise Guy and the Big Apple[/quote']

 

The "Crooks!" supplement for Mutants and Masterminds (1E) included a timeline of superhero activity in the Meta-4 universe. In the 1970s, a US team called the Statesmen was formed, made up of 50 supers - one from each state. Presumably most were members only for PR reasons, there was a core group of 10 who did most of the heavy lifting. Some of the names given are:

 

Trinity (New Mexico) - nuclear powered triplicate hero, eventually turned into a supervillain named Singularity.

 

Skyscraper Joe (New York) - simian intellectual.

 

Kittyhawk (North Carolina) - aviatrix detective.

 

Calamity Jane Doe (South Dakota) - danger-loving sharpshooter.

 

Bigfoot (Washington) - man-beast.

 

St. Elmo (Massachusetts) - lightning-casting religious psychotic, who also turned villain.

 

Hotrod, the Jersey Devil, Bunyan, Babe, the Conneticut Yankee - no powers or state given, some of 'em seem obvious. Might be fun to come up with a full list.