Breaking Personality Stereotypes for the Archetypes

[Hermit]

Originally posted by OddHat

! With a special round of aplause for Jude (wo I hope was an ordained priest or at least a seminary student before gaining his powers) and Cutter!

 

Thanks... and I'm thinking Jude was indeed either a priest or a priest in training... perhaps his origin involves finding a cache of 'dark books' under the vatican or something. For the PCs, how I present the NPCs personalities will be more important than having their backgrounds down exactly.

[Hermit]

Originally posted by RevHooligan

These are all very well done! I like Jude and Destructmaster the best. Great names!

 

I like Informer's concept and story, but the name had primarily negative connotations. Whistleblowers tell on big institutions, informers tell on the little guy to the authorities.

 

Of course there's no white Canadian Reggae song called Whistleblower, so what do I know.

 

Hmmm, I guess I just thought "Informer" sounded more skulky/invisible... either that or I didn't think of Whistleblower

 

Glad you liked the "Destructmaster Z", I tried to think of what a 13 year old PA hero would call themselves and I figured that would be close.

[Hermit]

Thanks

 

Originally posted by McCoy

Hermit, thank you. Sounds like an interesting mix.

 

Welcome...

though, as you can probably tell I used a lot of the suggestions from others on this thread, so maybe I should be thanking all of you instead

[Klytus]

Wonderful writeups, Hermit. I may stea... er... borrow them myself

[Brandi]

Watchmen stuff: though it's strongly implied that yes, Hooded Justice is gay and fond of rough trade, the guy who pretended to be a supervillain so he could get beat up was called Captain Carnage. We never see him in the comic book because he died sometime back after Rorshach threw him down an elevator shaft.

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Klytus

Wonderful writeups, Hermit. I may stea... er... borrow them myself

 

Please, feel free. As I was telling another, I'm rather surprised (pleasantly) at how this thread took off.

[CourtFool]

No one expects the roman inquisition!

[Doug McCrae]

Cat girl scientist

[umbra]

How bout one character being a hermaphrodite? That would be different.... And I mean one that was born that way, not one that can shape shift back and forth. That might be perfect for the martial artist (i.e. his/her yin and yang is perfectly equal). Also you could have all sorts of disads, social, psych, and maybe be in love with someone who's totally weirded out by it.

[Supreme]

I think we could also stand to identify and break some other character stereotypes. There are a few things I've either never seen, or rarely seen in super-heroes.

• an Asian Brick (only one I can think of is the robo-sumo from Stormwatch)
  
• a female stretcher (not metamorph per se, but a female Plastic Man or Mr. Fantastic)
  
• a female brick who wasn't gorgeous
  
• a Jewish character who wasn't Israeli, Orthodox, or even Conservative (religiously)
  
• a devotee of an Eastern Religion who wasn't a martial artist or mystic
  
• a charismatic brick/team leader (ala Superman) who was black
  
• an alien who looks like an African American
  

Keep in mind that when I say "never seen" I don't read a lot of mainstream comics.

[VictorVonDoom]

Armored guy: see Big Guy series with sidekick (sidekick don't know Big guy is an exoskeleton with a human in it...) so powerarmored suit would be Big guy and a side kick

 

Gadgeteer: Mandarin : he needs his rings to face Ironman without he is nothing

[Klytus]

Originally posted by Supreme

[*]a female brick who wasn't gorgeous

That would be Ironthighs, a brick in my campaign. She's big, beefy, and not very pretty. She got picked on in school and was calle "Ironthighs". That was the name the press stuck her with when she went on her first rampage. She keeps trying to become known as Ironsides, it just never works that way. Everyone knows that calling her "Ironthighs" pisses her off and causes her to go Enraged (and thus fight less effectively) so the name never gets dropped. But as my players can tell you, she is tough. rPD 40, rED 35, all hardened, and STR 80 with double knockback doesn't suck - unless you're on the receiving end, of course.

[Brandi]

Originally posted by Supreme

[*]a female brick who wasn't gorgeous

 

There was a female Thing for a while. Keep in mind that female *characters* who aren't gorgeous are sort of uncommon in comics.

 

[*]a Jewish character who wasn't Israeli, Orthodox, or even Conservative (religiously)

 

Kitty Pride's Jewish, but I get the impression that her family, at their most devout, is Reform, and if anything they are probably as secular as my family, who are ostensibly Jewish but don't really bother with anything but Chanukah.

[Supreme]

Originally posted by Brandi

There was a female Thing for a while. Keep in mind that female *characters* who aren't gorgeous are sort of uncommon in comics.

 

Kitty Pride's Jewish, but I get the impression that her family, at their most devout, is Reform, and if anything they are probably as secular as my family, who are ostensibly Jewish but don't really bother with anything but Chanukah.

I remember both characters. I still think that single examples qualify as rare.

[Pegasus]

Originally posted by VictorVonDoom

Gadgeteer: Mandarin : he needs his rings to face Ironman without he is nothing

 

Actually, if I remember correctly, Mandarin is an incredible martial artist who is capable of splitting metal with his bare hands. I think he even cracked Iron Man's armor openhanded once. Not to mention, he has a strong financial and political powerbase as well.

 

Just being argumentative

[Doug McCrae]

Originally posted by Supreme

[*]a charismatic brick/team leader (ala Superman) who was black

Icon from early 90s publishers Milestone (I think that's the name). All their heroes were black. Icon was blatantly the black Superman.

[Hermit]

The Thing was revealed in the last year or so as being Jewish; I think. I could be mistaken.

[Brandi]

Originally posted by Supreme

I remember both characters. I still think that single examples qualify as rare.

 

True dat; I was just noting that they didn't happen, in those cases, to be non-existent.

 

And I have a sneaking suspicion that even if a Jewish character has the look of a Conservative or Orthodox Jew, such as wearing payess and a yarmulke, they may not actually seem to *behave* in keeping with the traditions...

[Oruncrest]

Originally posted by Doug McCrae

Icon from early 90s publishers Milestone (I think that's the name). All their heroes were black...

 

Not true. Kobalt was white, and the star of his own title. The Blood Syndicate was multiracial (mostly latino, with a couple of black guys, a Korean-American, a chinese ghost... they even had a token white guy) as were the Heroes (mostly black, with a Chinese speedster, a German brick, and I'm not sure what race Iota is) and the Shadow Cabinet (three 'sari, wrong number' Indians, at least 3 white folks, a Palestinian, an android, and I'm not sure what Twilight is.

Also, Brickhouse of the Blood Syndicate qualifies as a 'non-gorgeous' Brick, especially if Denys Cowan is drawing her, so does Monstress of the reboot LSH.

[McCoy]

Originally posted by Hermit

The Thing was revealed in the last year or so as being Jewish; I think. I could be mistaken.

 

Since Ben was in many ways Jack's alter ego, makes sense.

[Korvar]

Originally posted by Doug McCrae

Icon from early 90s publishers Milestone (I think that's the name). All their heroes were black. Icon was blatantly the black Superman.

 

Oruncrest's already mentioned many others, but Xombi (loved that comic) was Korean-American

 

I really loved those Milestone comics... Static, Icon, & Xombi especially.

[zornwil]

Re: Breaking Personality Stereotypes for the Archetypes

 

Okay, here's a shot -

 

Originally posted by Hermit

WARNING: Longwinded

 

I was thinking of constructing an NPC super team as possible rivals for some PCs, but I also wanted to make it fun for me. So I thought, what if I went with the classic archetypes, but deliberately broke the personality stereotypes often associated with them?

 

After about 30 minutes I realized it seemed there was very little under the sun that the writers of comicdom hadn't already at least tried. Still, here's what I've come up with so far.

 

Brick- This was one of the hardest because the 'strong guy' type is so darn common in comic books. You have brutish Bricks, ingenius Bricks, joking bricks, angsty bricks, and so on. I tried to find one personality trait that I didn't see much, and it was hard. However, I was thinking maybe a pacifist Brick? One who prefers not to fight until he must. Some might even confuse him (or her) for Timid.

 

Maybe a wealthy closet-gay sex addict who fronts as a hetero playboy who doesn't look strong and doesn't "act" strong.

 

Energy Projector- Most I've seen tend to match the 'energies' they project. Flame characters are 'hotheads', Ice characters are either chillingly aloof or at least keep their cool Sometimes you get a reversal just for contrast. This one really stumped me.

 

These come in so many shapes and sizes, like bricks, it's hard to get around a "stereotype" because there isn't much of that anymore. I'd try a slow-witted clumsy child-like bufoon who is well-intentioned.

 

 

Gadgetteer- I could be wrong, but I really don't think there are that many combat eager gadgeteers in the comic books. Well, at least not heroes. Sure, they get excited about science, but how many like to kick butt? The idea of a gadgeteer super hero with an attitude of "I can't wait to try out my new boom disk! uhm, on evil, of course." appeals to me.

 

This is good. Also, he could be very gregarious and back-slapping, always joking and never working. What he does comes naturally or - wait - maybe somebody else does it entirely! He actually doesn't make any gadgets, he just fronts for someone that does but puts on a convincing front.

 

 

Martial Artist- Are there many blue collar Martial Artists? Average joes who aren't into zen? I guess Dirty Infighters would be that sort. Maybe I'm missing some options here.

 

I'd pick a stoner slacker who gets very confused much of the time. Or flip this one with the gadgeteer above, make the gadgeteer a stoner slacker and the martial artist a cheesy fake whose martial arts powers aren't really martial arts at all or if they are, then they are dumb luck.

 

 

Mentalists- Arrogant Mentalists, reluctant mentalists, pedantic and so on, we see a lot of options in the comics. I'm trying to find a mentalist personality I haven't seen much. I don't recall the "Party Animal" type. I guess that mental discipline works against you for your social life?

 

That's another great one, I'd go for that. Maybe add that the mentalist is actually very gullible and lacks his own willpower on day-to-day matters (as opposed to combat).

 

Metamorphs- I've seen it in villainous metamorphs, but I haven't seen too many ruthlessly efficient no nonsense super hero metamorphs. In the recent "Name the Hero" contest, I found out more than one person entering a stretching sort made their submission deliberately not zany. Mind you, Reed Richards is not a 'fun guy' but he's not exactly ruthlessly pragmatic either.

 

Wasn't that guy whose body was all sorts of different chemical parts very pragmatic and efficient? I'm not sure. Anyway, another thing could be a reluctant metamorph, I haven't seen much of those. This one hates to stand out and never uses his powers except in necessary situations (even in Hero ID). He is trying to find a way to fix his form - even though there's nothing wrong with him, his morph abilities are entirely healthy and not hurting him in any way (other than his perception of social standing or some mental block).

 

 

Mystics- It's all been done. Prove me wrong.

 

Maybe an animal, literally, with a mental grasp between that of the normal animal of their class and human, such that they are well sub-human. They don't understand human situations well and require direction. Sort of like a familiar but instead this is the heroic star and the hero team struggles to keep the animal on the right path.

 

 

Patriot- Has anyone made a Patriot who challenges his or her own government regularly? Participating in rallies and such? I had a concept called "Defiant" that did just that. I think it was fairly original, but I could be wrong. Mind you, given the Avatar part of Patriots, anything COULD be done really.

 

Maybe somebody who lacks confidence and is chronically depressed, but still does their patriotic duty? I don't recall seeing any quite like that. But I'm not that well-read in regular super-hero comics.

 

 

Powered Armor- Scientific minds, and playboys often seem to be the norm. I've seen soldiers placed in suits. I don't recall many rebels here either though. After all, to get a power suit you normally have to either be part of the establishment (Wealthy member able to dictate agenda) or given suit BY the establishment ("You will be testing the..." ) . This allows for visionaries with their own agendas, or soldiers doing their duty, but the rebel seems often missing. I guess most 'rogue' Powered Armor types become default villains as likely the gear isn't legally theirs.

 

 

The rogue type is a good choice. Or could be some poor person who is extremely confused - say someone with something similar to Alzheimer's. They think the powered armor is their workfare job and they tend to it as such. As they fight crime, they keep asking for money "for doing my workfare." Yes, you can remind them, but they'll forget. Very confused, very poor. You could match up the suit such that it has all sorts of capabilities - maybe a VPP - but the person cannot operate it predictably. They could still be very useful in combat as they always hit the "attack" button (labeled as such) to attack, but they don't understand or keep forgetting the many nuances of that button, that if you push up you get a firebolt and push down you get an ice volley. So they do use attacks but sometimes not the best or sometimes something overly effective.

 

Speedster- Barry Allen was dedicated, a serious scientists; Wally West has been portrayed as a fun loving youth, later Womanizer, before settling down a bit more seriously. Quicksilver is usually cranky (The man wants his cheeseburger-today!). Are there any mellow laid back speedsters? The sort who take their time? I don't recall many, probably because in the comics we WANT to see a speedster zip around. I maybe missing one though.

 

Weaponmaster- Honorbound Swordsmen, Rough edged archers, joking heroes who fling theme weapons ("Pick a card, any card"). The only Weaponmaster I don't have spring to mind instantly is "The Reluctant Weaponmaster". Normally, mastery of a weapon is sought. These folks WANT to use their weapon well. So a reluctant one might require some finagling on the background. On second thought, I suppose Travis Morgan, D.C.'s Warlord might have qualified, but its not like I remember he and that hungry blade teaming up with the JLA much.

 

Maybe a bipolar schizophrenic?

 

 

..........

Any other thoughts guys and gals?