Australian Supervillains

[Opal]

Australia would seem to be a great place for the big-scheme load-bearing mastermind Bond-villians and Dr Destroyer types who love having a huge base hidden out in the middle of nowhere.  It's a developed country so has skilled workers & resources you can divert, but is also large & relative to its population, so it has lots of nowhere to choose from... 

[death tribble]

We did a whole team of bird based Australian villains in Create Villain Team as well. They are not typical although The Pelican is a villainous Batman

[Tjack]

1 hour ago, Opal said:

Australia would seem to be a great place for the big-scheme load-bearing mastermind Bond-villians and Dr Destroyer types who love having a huge base hidden out in the middle of nowhere.  It's a developed country so has skilled workers & resources you can divert, but is also large & relative to its population, so it has lots of nowhere to choose from... (some less nowhere than others, there was probably a bidding war in the supervillain mastermind forums on the darkweb over who got to build their secret base under Ayer's Rock, for instance.)

  I think they have one of those.  His name is Rupert Murdock.    😛

[Lord Liaden]

For my own games I moved the headquarters of King Cobra and his COIL organization to Australia, for the dual reasons of it being outside the main focus of other supercrime orgs, so his group would have room to grow; and the continent's having a large number and variety of dangerous snakes and other reptiles he could experiment on. That gives Australia a little more distinct identity compared to the rest of the CU.

[Lorehunter]

Ok, read all five pages. What about a mind control villain that uses the droning of a didgeridoo. Walks into a bank, sits down and starts playing. People start taking the cash an dropping it at his/her feet. When police show up bystanders start acting as a human barricade. While the 2 groups deal with each other, villain gets up and walks away. Call him Walkabout cuz they go were ever they want.

 

[assault]

8 hours ago, steriaca said:

Has anyone ever think of creating an Australian supervillain without using any stereotypes associated with the country? In reality there wouldn't be a kangaroo or platypus or boomerang based villain from Australia but more like any other villain from other places on Earth.

 

Where's the fun in that?

 

The truth is that you can create all the Australian villains you want just by taking US villains and scribbling on them with a pencil.

 

In the Real World(tm), about 25% of all Australians were born in another country, and another 20% or so have at least one parent that was. These are the highest proportions for any country with a population over 10 million.

 

If we were to be "logical" then, this could be reflected in the supervillain population.

 

So where do the stereotypes fit in? Essentially, they are there to remind you that Australia is not Kansas, and that Kansas is Weird.

 

Embrace the Cliche!

[Lord Liaden]

Well, Kansas doesn't have crocodiles. Kansas does have tornadoes. I'm not sure either is preferable.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I mean, its fun to do themed stuff but its not like you look at the USA and think "I need a villain, I guess he's an eagle with lots of guns".  It doesn't need to be something stereotypical or strictly "Australian" to be  bad guy from there or you get Captain Boomerang :/

[assault]

5 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I mean, its fun to do themed stuff but its not like you look at the USA and think "I need a villain, I guess he's an eagle with lots of guns".  It doesn't need to be something stereotypical or strictly "Australian" to be  bad guy from there or you get Captain Boomerang 😕

 

Actually Captain Boomerang can be pretty cool. He was given an actual personality way back when in Suicide Squad.

 

As for US villains - since the US is the default for superheroic media, there are a lot of US cliches baked in. And that's when us dirty furriners aren't sending you up.

 

But yeah, as I mentioned above, reskinning US characters as Australian is mostly pretty easy. And boring.

[assault]

8 hours ago, Opal said:

Australia would seem to be a great place for the big-scheme load-bearing mastermind Bond-villians and Dr Destroyer types who love having a huge base hidden out in the middle of nowhere.  It's a developed country so has skilled workers & resources you can divert, but is also large & relative to its population, so it has lots of nowhere to choose from... (some less nowhere than others, there was probably a bidding war in the supervillain mastermind forums on the darkweb over who got to build their secret base under Ayer's Rock, for instance.)

 

I agree about the masterminds. I struggle a bit with creating local talent to compete with them. (Compare with the Canadian masterminds in Scott Bennie's Champions of the North.)

 

A nitpick: "Ayer's Rock" has been known as "Uluru" for decades. 

EDIT: Actually it's been called Uluru since forever. The change is only from the perspective of non-First Nations people.

[drunkonduty]

Just a note for the non-Australians.

 

I noticed one of the characters linked to in the "Create a Villain" is called The Abo.

 

Please do not use that word, it's a racist slur on the level of the N word.

 

While we're on it - Walkabout is also pretty bad. It's part of the "lazy blacks" myth.

 

Thanks.

[Ninja-Bear]

2 hours ago, assault said:

 

Where's the fun in that?

 

The truth is that you can create all the Australian villains you want just by taking US villains and scribbling on them with a pencil.

 

In the Real World(tm), about 25% of all Australians were born in another country, and another 20% or so have at least one parent that was. These are the highest proportions for any country with a population over 10 million.

 

If we were to be "logical" then, this could be reflected in the supervillain population.

 

So where do the stereotypes fit in? Essentially, they are there to remind you that Australia is not Kansas, and that Kansas is Weird.

 

Embrace the Cliche!

Can I super Rep you?

43 minutes ago, Christopher R Taylor said:

I mean, its fun to do themed stuff but its not like you look at the USA and think "I need a villain, I guess he's an eagle with lots of guns".  It doesn't need to be something stereotypical or strictly "Australian" to be  bad guy from there or you get Captain Boomerang 😕

Nah, he would just be a Cowboy. 😁

[Lorehunter]

31 minutes ago, drunkonduty said:

Just a note for the non-Australians.

 

I noticed one of the characters linked to in the "Create a Villain" is called The Abo.

 

Please do not use that word, it's a racist slur on the level of the N word.

 

While we're on it - Walkabout is also pretty bad. It's part of the "lazy blacks" myth.

 

Thanks.

Sorry about that. I was always of the opinion the it was a spiritual journey type thing Like a Vision Quest. Lexicon updated.

[drunkonduty]

No worries.

 

Until a couple of years ago I thought the same thing.

[Lord Liaden]

I was led to believe that decades ago from the film Walkabout.

 

Does this term not refer to that type of journey? Has it always been used pejoratively, or is that recent, or was it in the past?

[Opal]

5 hours ago, assault said:

Actually it's been called Uluru since forever. 

So does that have a translatable meaning or transliteration?  Or is it strictly a proper noun?  Mostly curiosity, but it could also help my memory (and it needs a lot of help)   

[assault]

A meaning? Probably. But just call it Uluru.

[assault]

Something that has occurred to me: VIPER considers Australia low priority and not really worth their attention.

 

At least that's what they say, and, after all, if you can't trust VIPER, who can you trust?

 

Well, nearly anyone really. There's probably something else going on. So what is it? Why doesn't VIPER have a stronger presence in Australia?

 

It could be a result of the local heroes. After all, if VIPER is just trying to get established, it's easier for them to be thwarted. If, as soon as anyone sees a pair of green pyjamas, everyone immediately descends on them, it's quite reasonable that they might have a bit of trouble getting established.

 

It could be a result of the "local talent". If you have a profitable racket going, the last thing you need is for a bunch of foreign lunatics to start muscling in. If they are too dangerous to mess with, you can always rat them out to the authorities and/or supers.

 

Or, there is the Starbucks option. You see, when Starbucks tried to establish itself in Australia, they set up a whole bunch of shops - most of which went broke. Apparently they underestimated the level of competition they would face. They still exist here, but mainly through concentrating on the tourist market. They have trouble competing with locally owned coffee shops (and chains) when it comes to selling coffee to Australians.

 

VIPER could face a similar problem. There could already be a hardcore high-tech organized crime scene in place, even if it isn't an organized syndicate.

 

That could indicate the presence of a local Mastermind villain - or just that ARGENT has been busy. Or both.

[steriaca]

 

3 hours ago, assault said:

That could indicate the presence of a local Mastermind villain - or just that ARGENT has been busy. Or both.

Or, it can indicate that Australia doesn't have anything they truly want. Bodies for their criminal army? Not enough big white cities to recruit from. And while VIPER isn't exactly predijust and will accept all colors as agents, the Supreme Serpent dame well is.

 

Also, what is over there? How is the hi-tech situation that they can rob? Deposits of gold and diamonds to steal? Dreamtime access? While VIPER has some magic, not enough of them are calling for experimentation on that phenomena.

 

But...Australia is big enough to hide important nests doing things which they don't want many superheros, or "Crocodile" Dunde to stumble across (let alone "Crocodile" Bruce Lee, if you know what I mean).

[Christopher R Taylor]

Quote

Until a couple of years ago I thought the same thing.

 

How did a concept that everyone around the entire world knew as a spiritual journey suddenly turn into a racial slur??

[Lorehunter]

I can guess. It seems that some people didn't understand what it meant and began using it as a slur for people who were often late or not around much. As more people used the slur version and aimed it at indigenous people it lost its original meaning and became the corrupted version in use today. 😥 Sad really.

 

But that is just a guess based on a cursory internet search and old sociology courses plus personal experience.

[Opal]

7 hours ago, assault said:

A meaning? Probably. 

 

It's OK to admit you don't know.  I was curious, and since you seemed to feel strongly about it, I thought I'd ask.

 

Google has this to say:

 

Quote

It does not have any specific meaning, although it may have some connection to the Yankunytjatjara words for ‘crying’ and ‘shadows’.

from this site

https://traveloutbackaustralia.com/ulurus-aboriginal-name.html/

which has a lot more to say, for anyone else interested

 

At a glance, it also  looks like Google says:

Quote

Uluru is an inselberg, meaning "island mountain". ... An inselberg is a prominent isolated residual knob or hill that rises abruptly from and is surrounded by ...

But that's clearly the transliteration of inselberg.  None the less, the above site feels the need to debunk that, as well.

 

 

...so, any other, perhaps less controversial, but still visually striking, landmarks that supervillains might be desecrating to build their bases under?

 

[assault]

22 minutes ago, Opal said:

 

It's OK to admit you don't know.  I was curious, and since you seemed to feel strongly about it, I thought I'd ask.

 

 

It's actually a case of "I don't care" rather than "I don't know".

[assault]

4 hours ago, steriaca said:

 

Or, it can indicate that Australia doesn't have anything they truly want. Bodies for their criminal army? Not enough big white cities to recruit from. And while VIPER isn't exactly predijust and will accept all colors as agents, the Supreme Serpent dame well is.

 

Also, what is over there? How is the hi-tech situation that they can rob? Deposits of gold and diamonds to steal? Dreamtime access? While VIPER has some magic, not enough of them are calling for experimentation on that phenomena.

 

I'm not really sure what you are saying here.

 

The issue, I think, is the canonical statement makes no particular sense. It doesn't have to, but it also doesn't stand up to any particular scrutiny.

 

The canonical statement translates to "we're not interested in the recruits, advanced technology and stealable wealth" of the 14th largest economy in the world (comparable to Spain).

 

This is, of course, daft, but a logical consequence of the design choices of the official Champions Universe, which wobbles between "nothing happens in Australia" and "actually quite a bit happens in Australia".

 

I think it works better if we subvert things a bit and assume VIPER is saving face by dismissing Australia as  unimportant. It also allows us to insert characters and organizations into the vacuum VIPER has left.

 

The whole point of this thread is to enable the creation of such characters and organizations, whether or not it is in the official CU or not. (Actually, implicitly not, before I started jabbering on about VIPER.)

[Opal]

4 hours ago, steriaca said:

 

Or, it can indicate that Australia doesn't have anything they truly want. Bodies for their criminal army? Not enough big white cities to recruit from. And while VIPER isn't exactly predijust and will accept all colors as agents, the Supreme Serpent dame well is.

Or maybe they just don't care.

 

Seriously though, Australia does have something VIPER should be interested, considering their theme:  140 species of snakes, 100 of them venomous.   That's a lot of grist for the COIL mill.