Echo3Niner

OK, I'll play...  I'll "nitpick" back...  (This is not aimed directly at you Duke, others have said the same, you just happened to have brought it back up.)
 
I didn't only give an example of Jews and Nazis...  I gave several real world analogies; including Northern Ireland and Bosnia - both of which also go against your point.  There doesn't have to be anything obvious for one group to hate another; proven by human history, period.
 
I also don't think that all the points raised above are contradictory to each other...  I agree it was all contrived, and forced to fit a narrative, and was targeted to the sales demographic audience.  Um, these are comic books, not realistic autobiographies; and it's a business.  The whole point is to contrive a narrative, targeted to your audience, that will strike a nerve and sell comics; it just so happened that the idea of writing about a minority hated by the majority worked on many levels, as a parallel of many types of minorities, told over 60 years, changing with the times, as a means of exploring the plight of the situation, even as it changed and morphed with the times.
 
I am not trying to imply the concept is the perfect parable for minority suffering; only that it works - and that's born out by 60 years of high sales and success in many mediums.
 
The point I was making about history, is you cannot simply dismiss it as "unrealistic" just because it isn't obvious that Spidey isn't a Mutant, or that Jean Grey is one.  That is flawed logic, disproven by history.
 
So, if you want to pick it apart, you'll have to find a better angle than "mutants aren't obvious, so it doesn't make sense as an analogy, because all supers aren't hated".
 
As I stated above; by all means, there are ways to pick it apart - the "obvious" angle just isn't one of them.
 
Bottom line, it has been successful, in print, animation and live-action movies - so no matter how many holes you punch in it, debating that it shouldn't be successful, for this or the other reason, simply goes against reality.
 
The original question was, why does it work; ironically, I think the answers given about how it panders to the target audience is one of the reasons it does, even if it has to be stretched and forced to do so.

I find all these "how come other supers aren't painted with the same brush" questions interesting.
 
Let me pose a point about racism/hate that may help here:
 
So, because Marvel / Stan brought in the concept of mutants in 1963 and mutant hate sometime later (becoming a main focus of the titles in the '80s), and used Prof. X and Magneto as allegory for MLK and Malcom X; everyone has said "this doesn't make sense as an allegory for racism, because people can't tell the difference between Cyclops and Spiderman, just by looking at them."
 
So, the problem with this viewpoint, is that most people posting are from the era of the mutants as presented in the comics, and thus are thinking about racism in the context of modern times, where it is primarily ethnicity based, and thus is as simple for idiot racist as looking at the target of their hate; because it's as obvious as the target's skin color, hair, etc.  (Which is why they often can make mistakes, calling a Native American a slur for a Mexican, for instance.)
 
However, think about it in the context of the Civil War in the USA.  A political belief motivated war, having nothing to do with race, religion, or any outside, easily identifiable aspect.  It sometimes led to families hating and killing each other.
 
Between WWI and WWII period of Europe, and the Nazi hate for the Jewish.  It is often impossible to discern the difference between a Jewish person and non-Jew Caucasian of the same nation; especially when you start talking about Russian Jews (among others).  A point Magneto himself has made in both the comics and movies; yet ignored by this whole line of thought.
 
How about Northern Ireland?  Same people in every way, hating and killing each other simple because one was a Catholic and one was Protestant (among other reasons)?  
 
Want a more modern example?  How about the Genocide in Bosnia during the Bosnian War (92-95) - three different sub-cultures from the same area, same ethnicity, in some cases same families.
 
My point here is simple; just because it is not "obvious" that Spiderman is NOT a Mutant, and it is NOT obvious that Wolverine is NOT an altered human, but an altered Mutant, simply by looking at them, doesn't mean people still can't hate one, and not the other.
 
Hate and racism have never been isolated to "white vs. black (or brown)", until recent times.  Many times in history there has been hate against a sub-group with no possible way to simply "seeing" the difference; yet the human capacity to hate, and be aggressive toward any sub-group they wanted, has never been hampered by such simple things as having to be able to tell the difference in an obvious way.
 
So, I would challenge that looking at the "Mutant Problem" through glasses colored by today's ethnicity (color) based hate and not understanding the capacity of human nature to hate and somehow figure out who to hate, without it being obvious, is the true "cop-out".
 

That's why Americans created global warming, so the great lakes wouldn't freeze. 🥵

I find all these "how come other supers aren't painted with the same brush" questions interesting.
 
Let me pose a point about racism/hate that may help here:
 
So, because Marvel / Stan brought in the concept of mutants in 1963 and mutant hate sometime later (becoming a main focus of the titles in the '80s), and used Prof. X and Magneto as allegory for MLK and Malcom X; everyone has said "this doesn't make sense as an allegory for racism, because people can't tell the difference between Cyclops and Spiderman, just by looking at them."
 
So, the problem with this viewpoint, is that most people posting are from the era of the mutants as presented in the comics, and thus are thinking about racism in the context of modern times, where it is primarily ethnicity based, and thus is as simple for idiot racist as looking at the target of their hate; because it's as obvious as the target's skin color, hair, etc.  (Which is why they often can make mistakes, calling a Native American a slur for a Mexican, for instance.)
 
However, think about it in the context of the Civil War in the USA.  A political belief motivated war, having nothing to do with race, religion, or any outside, easily identifiable aspect.  It sometimes led to families hating and killing each other.
 
Between WWI and WWII period of Europe, and the Nazi hate for the Jewish.  It is often impossible to discern the difference between a Jewish person and non-Jew Caucasian of the same nation; especially when you start talking about Russian Jews (among others).  A point Magneto himself has made in both the comics and movies; yet ignored by this whole line of thought.
 
How about Northern Ireland?  Same people in every way, hating and killing each other simple because one was a Catholic and one was Protestant (among other reasons)?  
 
Want a more modern example?  How about the Genocide in Bosnia during the Bosnian War (92-95) - three different sub-cultures from the same area, same ethnicity, in some cases same families.
 
My point here is simple; just because it is not "obvious" that Spiderman is NOT a Mutant, and it is NOT obvious that Wolverine is NOT an altered human, but an altered Mutant, simply by looking at them, doesn't mean people still can't hate one, and not the other.
 
Hate and racism have never been isolated to "white vs. black (or brown)", until recent times.  Many times in history there has been hate against a sub-group with no possible way to simply "seeing" the difference; yet the human capacity to hate, and be aggressive toward any sub-group they wanted, has never been hampered by such simple things as having to be able to tell the difference in an obvious way.
 
So, I would challenge that looking at the "Mutant Problem" through glasses colored by today's ethnicity (color) based hate and not understanding the capacity of human nature to hate and somehow figure out who to hate, without it being obvious, is the true "cop-out".
 

I find all these "how come other supers aren't painted with the same brush" questions interesting.
 
Let me pose a point about racism/hate that may help here:
 
So, because Marvel / Stan brought in the concept of mutants in 1963 and mutant hate sometime later (becoming a main focus of the titles in the '80s), and used Prof. X and Magneto as allegory for MLK and Malcom X; everyone has said "this doesn't make sense as an allegory for racism, because people can't tell the difference between Cyclops and Spiderman, just by looking at them."
 
So, the problem with this viewpoint, is that most people posting are from the era of the mutants as presented in the comics, and thus are thinking about racism in the context of modern times, where it is primarily ethnicity based, and thus is as simple for idiot racist as looking at the target of their hate; because it's as obvious as the target's skin color, hair, etc.  (Which is why they often can make mistakes, calling a Native American a slur for a Mexican, for instance.)
 
However, think about it in the context of the Civil War in the USA.  A political belief motivated war, having nothing to do with race, religion, or any outside, easily identifiable aspect.  It sometimes led to families hating and killing each other.
 
Between WWI and WWII period of Europe, and the Nazi hate for the Jewish.  It is often impossible to discern the difference between a Jewish person and non-Jew Caucasian of the same nation; especially when you start talking about Russian Jews (among others).  A point Magneto himself has made in both the comics and movies; yet ignored by this whole line of thought.
 
How about Northern Ireland?  Same people in every way, hating and killing each other simple because one was a Catholic and one was Protestant (among other reasons)?  
 
Want a more modern example?  How about the Genocide in Bosnia during the Bosnian War (92-95) - three different sub-cultures from the same area, same ethnicity, in some cases same families.
 
My point here is simple; just because it is not "obvious" that Spiderman is NOT a Mutant, and it is NOT obvious that Wolverine is NOT an altered human, but an altered Mutant, simply by looking at them, doesn't mean people still can't hate one, and not the other.
 
Hate and racism have never been isolated to "white vs. black (or brown)", until recent times.  Many times in history there has been hate against a sub-group with no possible way to simply "seeing" the difference; yet the human capacity to hate, and be aggressive toward any sub-group they wanted, has never been hampered by such simple things as having to be able to tell the difference in an obvious way.
 
So, I would challenge that looking at the "Mutant Problem" through glasses colored by today's ethnicity (color) based hate and not understanding the capacity of human nature to hate and somehow figure out who to hate, without it being obvious, is the true "cop-out".
 

I find all these "how come other supers aren't painted with the same brush" questions interesting.
 
Let me pose a point about racism/hate that may help here:
 
So, because Marvel / Stan brought in the concept of mutants in 1963 and mutant hate sometime later (becoming a main focus of the titles in the '80s), and used Prof. X and Magneto as allegory for MLK and Malcom X; everyone has said "this doesn't make sense as an allegory for racism, because people can't tell the difference between Cyclops and Spiderman, just by looking at them."
 
So, the problem with this viewpoint, is that most people posting are from the era of the mutants as presented in the comics, and thus are thinking about racism in the context of modern times, where it is primarily ethnicity based, and thus is as simple for idiot racist as looking at the target of their hate; because it's as obvious as the target's skin color, hair, etc.  (Which is why they often can make mistakes, calling a Native American a slur for a Mexican, for instance.)
 
However, think about it in the context of the Civil War in the USA.  A political belief motivated war, having nothing to do with race, religion, or any outside, easily identifiable aspect.  It sometimes led to families hating and killing each other.
 
Between WWI and WWII period of Europe, and the Nazi hate for the Jewish.  It is often impossible to discern the difference between a Jewish person and non-Jew Caucasian of the same nation; especially when you start talking about Russian Jews (among others).  A point Magneto himself has made in both the comics and movies; yet ignored by this whole line of thought.
 
How about Northern Ireland?  Same people in every way, hating and killing each other simple because one was a Catholic and one was Protestant (among other reasons)?  
 
Want a more modern example?  How about the Genocide in Bosnia during the Bosnian War (92-95) - three different sub-cultures from the same area, same ethnicity, in some cases same families.
 
My point here is simple; just because it is not "obvious" that Spiderman is NOT a Mutant, and it is NOT obvious that Wolverine is NOT an altered human, but an altered Mutant, simply by looking at them, doesn't mean people still can't hate one, and not the other.
 
Hate and racism have never been isolated to "white vs. black (or brown)", until recent times.  Many times in history there has been hate against a sub-group with no possible way to simply "seeing" the difference; yet the human capacity to hate, and be aggressive toward any sub-group they wanted, has never been hampered by such simple things as having to be able to tell the difference in an obvious way.
 
So, I would challenge that looking at the "Mutant Problem" through glasses colored by today's ethnicity (color) based hate and not understanding the capacity of human nature to hate and somehow figure out who to hate, without it being obvious, is the true "cop-out".
 

Have to disagree here. Hatred and spite need no more basis than envy, fear, projection, and/or someone exploiting those emotions for their own gain. It's been that way throughout history. Jewish global conspiracies and poisoned vaccines are just another variation on witches and baby-eating Christians. Someone starts a rumor, it spreads and amplifies and mutates, until there's something outrageous that everyone has heard and believes because it's so repeated. And the explanation doesn't have to be legitimate science, it can have a pseudo-scientific veneer that sounds plausible enough to fool the gullible. Like Jews building space lasers, or vaccines making someone "magnetic." These things aren't subject to reason -- as has been illustrated lately, trying to counter irrational belief by pointing out rational facts carries no weight.
 
To the man on the street, it's not that there's a difference, as that there's believed to be a difference. Aliens can be (and have been) a target of paranoia, but Superman for example is just one person, who happens to look and act like America's dominant ethno-cultural group (at least dominant until recently). Spider-Man is not the best example either, as he's been the target of distrust and fear for much of his career. But neither of them are breeding more of their own kind, at least not obviously. And it taking many generations until mutants become the dominant species? Again, you're trying to counter emotion with reason.

Often the very fact that "they" are superficially the same as "us" is part of what frightens people. It fed the Cold War paranoia about Communists; they're hiding among us right now, and we can't even tell. It was what made the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers such a powerful metaphor for the era -- the invaders are taking over our minds, so the people you knew aren't the same people any more. And for the mutant analogy, you never know if your friends, your own family, will be revealed to be one of them.
 
(BTW America, we Canadians look like you, sound like you, and have infiltrated all aspects of your society. Watch your backs.)

I find all these "how come other supers aren't painted with the same brush" questions interesting.
 
Let me pose a point about racism/hate that may help here:
 
So, because Marvel / Stan brought in the concept of mutants in 1963 and mutant hate sometime later (becoming a main focus of the titles in the '80s), and used Prof. X and Magneto as allegory for MLK and Malcom X; everyone has said "this doesn't make sense as an allegory for racism, because people can't tell the difference between Cyclops and Spiderman, just by looking at them."
 
So, the problem with this viewpoint, is that most people posting are from the era of the mutants as presented in the comics, and thus are thinking about racism in the context of modern times, where it is primarily ethnicity based, and thus is as simple for idiot racist as looking at the target of their hate; because it's as obvious as the target's skin color, hair, etc.  (Which is why they often can make mistakes, calling a Native American a slur for a Mexican, for instance.)
 
However, think about it in the context of the Civil War in the USA.  A political belief motivated war, having nothing to do with race, religion, or any outside, easily identifiable aspect.  It sometimes led to families hating and killing each other.
 
Between WWI and WWII period of Europe, and the Nazi hate for the Jewish.  It is often impossible to discern the difference between a Jewish person and non-Jew Caucasian of the same nation; especially when you start talking about Russian Jews (among others).  A point Magneto himself has made in both the comics and movies; yet ignored by this whole line of thought.
 
How about Northern Ireland?  Same people in every way, hating and killing each other simple because one was a Catholic and one was Protestant (among other reasons)?  
 
Want a more modern example?  How about the Genocide in Bosnia during the Bosnian War (92-95) - three different sub-cultures from the same area, same ethnicity, in some cases same families.
 
My point here is simple; just because it is not "obvious" that Spiderman is NOT a Mutant, and it is NOT obvious that Wolverine is NOT an altered human, but an altered Mutant, simply by looking at them, doesn't mean people still can't hate one, and not the other.
 
Hate and racism have never been isolated to "white vs. black (or brown)", until recent times.  Many times in history there has been hate against a sub-group with no possible way to simply "seeing" the difference; yet the human capacity to hate, and be aggressive toward any sub-group they wanted, has never been hampered by such simple things as having to be able to tell the difference in an obvious way.
 
So, I would challenge that looking at the "Mutant Problem" through glasses colored by today's ethnicity (color) based hate and not understanding the capacity of human nature to hate and somehow figure out who to hate, without it being obvious, is the true "cop-out".
 

I actually have a thread on a campaign I've been running, that is "Cosmic powered" - 1500 point characters: 
 
The high-level stuff starts about halfway down 1st page.
 
There is a 6th Ed version of The Hulk, in my game called 'Zerk - who is  2000 points.
 
We haven't had much issue running this level of game, even though they have crazy high (~40d6) attacks - BUT, and this is the point; I have mature, adult players, who have been roleplaying for the better part of 30+ years, and are really in it for the story - so they're not trying to min/max the system - just make good, well rounded characters, that fit their ideals for the characters they want to play.
 
If you read though it, hope it helps.

"Holy resurrection Bat Man!"
 
Yes, after 7+ years, we're about to resurrect this campaign world!
 
Making new characters tomorrow!

From the journal of Master Gunz – American Hero
 
The year is 2030 and Earth has changed, everything has changed.
 
On December 21st, 2012 – when the Mesoamerican’s long count calendar ended, the solar system that Earth is in, passed through an area of the Milkyway galaxy which the Mesoamericans called “The Void”; an area of the Milkyway galaxy which looks like a rift, as it is devoid of many stars.  A place very important in their mythology and a place located in the plane of the galaxy.  The Mesoamerican’s put much mythological/religious significance to this event.  We now know, that there was real, scientific significance as well.
 
It had personal significance for me too, cause that’s the day I joined the US Marine Corps; I had just graduated from Boot Camp.
 
There was a bunch of crazies back just prior to 2012 that made a bunch of money talking about how the world was going to end, cause the Long Count calendar ended on that day.  Bunch of idiots.  It didn’t of course; the calendar is based on a 25,695 year processional cycle of the equinoxes through the galaxy.  This procession is broken into segments of the processional cycle, lasting just over 5100 years.  We are now in the 1st segment after a full cycle of the 25,695 years.  This is why the long count ended, because we started over on 12/22/2012.
 
But, at the end of the day, none of that really matters; what matters is what it was tracking, which is where we sit in the Milkyway.  Why?  Well, because it turns out, our little corner (solar system) of the galaxy oscillates across the galactic plane.  So, why’s that so important, I hear you asking.  Well I’m here to tell ‘ya, it’s about the most important thing we’ve ever discovered.
 
So, turns out there is a radiation that exists on one side of the galactic plane, that isn’t present on the other side.  A simple fluke of galactic geography and some event which took place in our galactic past?  Could be.  It’s been around 17 years since we crossed over and were exposed, so our scientist are still trying to figure it all out; in between figuring out what the Hell happened to those of us susceptible to this radiation, and dealing with the arrival of the aliens…  So cut ‘em a little slack, I suppose.
 
So, this radiation has many uses.  Most people are not affected by it directly.  Only like .0001% of the earth’s population is susceptible to the effects of this radiation on their genes.  So, in 2012, when we crossed the galactic plane, that was about 700,000 people on the planet earth.
 
Today we call it Sudden Unexplained Radioactive Genetic Expression, or SURGE.  .0001% of the human population of Earth have a gene, which when exposed to this radiation, expresses some sort of random mutation.  Many people have small effects, some don’t ever even notice; lucky bastards.
 
Some of us, well, some of our “random mutations” can cause Hell on Earth.
 
So think about that.  700,000 random people; in every clime and place, every culture, every socio-economic level, suddenly had powers that our ancestors called Gods.
 
Oh, did I forget to mention that?  Yeah, this happened before.  As I said, we oscillate across this plane, so using our current calendar, between 8239 and 3114 BCE we were on this side of the plane, and they had .0001% (of a much lower) population express these SURGE powers.  Turns out that’s where much of our mythology, folklore, stories and many of our religious beliefs came from…  But today, we don’t have those same quaint ideas; instead, we have Superheroes.  Of course, if you have Superheroes, it stands to reason that you also have Supervillains…
 
So, think about it again, back in 2012; .0001% of the two-bit punks, street thugs, gangbangers, organized criminals, serial killers, white-collar criminals, corporate criminals, and international criminals got juiced.  But that wasn’t the worst of it.  That was reserved for the crazy extremist of all stripes.  From Jihadist Terrorists to White-power Aryan Nation wackos, to the anti-governmental nutbirds.
 
What about that Head Hunter from Papua New Guinea, or that newly found Amazonian tribe?  Doesn't matter to you much when they stayed where they were; but, what if the Head Hunter can fly over here to hunt now?  What if the Amazonian tribesmen wasn't very well liked, and mistreated by his people, and now can run 4000 mph?
 
But, there were some of us on the other side of those tracks; local cops, Feds, and us in the military; well, .0001% of us changed too.
 
There have been a bunch who just decided not to get involved, I’d say the majority.  Might have been a good idea, if you could do it.  Cause some nations hunt us SURGE’ers down and burn us at the stake.  Other’s, they want to use us, however they can.  And many of them, want us in a lab.
 
So, from early 2013 through 2015, the human race had to recalibrate.  It wasn’t easy.  There were about 20 SURGE’ers in the US Marine Corps with me, we’ve lost almost half.  But midway through 2015, everything changed again.  Cause that’s when the alien residents of HAT-P-11B decided to open a Lorentzian Stable Transversable (LST) or Morris-Thorne Wormhole (MTW) using powerful engines that use this new (to us) radiation as the Exotic Matter to hold the wormhole open and stable.
 
Suddenly, right in the middle of all our chaos about SURGE, we found out we weren’t alone in the galaxy.  And the neighbors had stopped by for coffee and cake.  Since then, we’ve had another neighbor stop by too.  Lucky for us, both neighbors have been fairly friendly.  Cause at that time, we’d have had some major issues dealing with them if they weren’t.
 
So, after 15 years of getting used to the new neighborhood, things were going much better.  We’d all settled down about SURGE, and our visitors.  Our science and technology sectors have been going nuts figuring out what it all means; from the new radiation (known as “Z-rad” by the media), to the MTW’s the aliens use to move about our galaxy, and what the extent of us SURGE’ers abilities might be.
 
Now it’s 2030, and you had to know it; at some point the bad neighbors would show up, and the neighborhood would go to Hell.  This year, we finally noticed that some of the changes we’ve been experiencing for the last several years, on Earth and our friendly neighborhood alien’s planets too, aren’t due to Z-rad or anything random, they were early deployment of resources to help soften us up, cause this year, the Empress showed up…  And all bets are off now.

Yeah, I'm just glossing over the "normal" 400 point'ish characters, as they really can't hamper the PCs too much.  I basically stop to roll dice when it's a bad guy I've built, or it's a mob of "normal" super-bad-guys.  If the PCs doing something silly, I'll roll that out.
 
It's been working fine; I've got mature players, who are in it for the story, so they don't need to play out stomping some henchmen.
 
I haven't decided how I'm going to play out the "war" against the Empress completely - likely, I'm going to focus on some specific battles, "turning points" in the war and story tell the rest...  We'll see.

In our 7th exciting episode -->
 
The heroes discussed plans with Col. Rage and the Peacekeepers.  Col. Rage described Project Citadel, and how UNTIL was working with various groups to prepare for the coming invasion.
 
The heroes decided to start by speaking to the Milky Way's Core Lord (who they saw in the memories of the bands, as he created them).  They flew to the center of the Milky Way and encountered Laktarian (in my gameworld, Laktarian looks like a baby Buddha).  As wielders of the bands, Laktarian did speak to them; however, he also explained that he would not help them, as invasions by conquerors were not something he troubled himself with.  He explained that the bands were created, to be wielded by heroes, and that if he ever needed aid to protect the very integrity of the Milky Way, he would call on them.
 
He did offer that there were many ways to tip the balance, and that the heroes should go to Somewhere to find more information.  Capt. Force realized that "somewhere" was an actual place, so asked where it was; Laktarian put the place into their brains.  After some more discussion, the heroes left to find Somewhere.
 
When the heroes arrived at the coordinates, they found the head of an ancient android, the size of a small moon (akin to Nowhere in the MCU).  They landed and were astonished at the plethora of alien species walking around...  Acting like tourist and walking around in awe, they also saw some aliens in uniform; eventually seeing what appeared to be a human.  They approached and asked his name (they both have Universal Translator) - he introduced himself as Bin-Dar'in, a Marshal in the Inter-Galactic Quasar Corps (the IGQC; my analogy to the Star Guard - are cross between the Nova Corp and Judges from Judge Dredd).  He also shocked them when he explained that he was a human from earth, from 500 years ago!  When the heroes started peppering him with questions, he offered to buy them a drink at a bar.  The heroes sat and spoke with him for some time, learning about his history, the IGQC and the larger galactic community.
 
Eventually the heroes explained that they were trying to make contact with rebel forces aligned against the Empress, so they could learn intel from them.  Bin-Dar'in explained that all three major factions (The Exrandal’rian Revolt, The L’sandron Army, and The Ta!ra Freedom Fighters) all had agents in Somewhere.  The heroes asked about each, and he explained what he knew, which was only the basics.  Capt. Force felt that the L'sandron's sounded like a good place to start, and Bin-Dar'in explained that a Pawn Shop owner up the way, was a good place to start.
 
The heroes went and spoke to Mandron, the owner of the Pawn Shop.  After some discussion, and Solar taking offense at his surprise that she was an Earthling, he eventually offered to reach out to the L'sandrons, and that they should stay at a hotel a couple levels up, and they would contact the heroes, if they chose to.
 
The heroes went to a money exchanger - who explained that Narrai money could be exchanged for 1000 to 1 in galactic credits, Earth dollars were almost worthless, and he might exchange them for 10,000 to 1, as Earth was not part of the galactic community, and thus their money was of little value...  Capt. Force went into an alley, gathered some trash, and used his band to transmute it into Narrai dollars - with that they went back in and exchanged it for 1000 galactic credits.
 
They then went to the hotel and got a couple rooms - they also ate at the hotel restaurant; after Solar called Bin Dar'in and asked what she should eat (since she had no idea).  The scene played out with their food was pretty entertaining in itself...
 
After a couple days of them milling about, using the IGN (Inter-Galactic Network) computers in their rooms to read and learn about much of the galaxies history and various aliens, including the Empress; they were eventually contacted by the L'sandrons.  They went to meet, and after some discussion, offered to help the L'sandrons with their efforts, in exchange for intel and learning about how they fight the Empress.
 
As a test, the L'sandrons offered that if the heroes would transport a shipment of arms to the L'sandrons, they would have the chance to speak to one of their cell leaders.  Capt. Force used his band to shrink the huge shipping contained down, so it could be put in his pocket, and they flew to the coordinates, with Solar making them invisible.  Meeting with the cell leader, the heroes accompanied them on several raids and assisted them in a couple battles, in order to see what the inner workings of fighting the Empress entailed.  They also collected samples of D-Soldier armor and weapons, along with a computer and communications equipment from the Empress' Legion, and teleported it back to Project Citadel for study (especially by Silvercloud, as he could use it to make effective weapons against it).
 
After basically conducting a successful reconnaissance; the heroes returned to earth, with ideas and thoughts on how they would use this information to begin to counter the Empress' invasion plans.
 
And that, is where this exciting episode ended!
 

In our 6th exiting episode -->
 
Our heroes (including The Aqua Man NPC) spend the beginning of the game, with Wuxing - training and learning how to control and use the bands.  The result to symbolize their training is that they spend some of their points and purchase CSLs for using the bands.
 
The PCs then approach the UN through Col. Rage and the Peacekeepers.  After much discussion, they eventually get a "Red Notice" (warrant) from the UN for the capture and arrest of Khan Manas II.
 
They work with the UN's intelligence agencies to learn what they can about the Khan and Kyrgyzstan.  What they learn is that Khan Manas II has a powerful team of henchmen; The Forty (based on Kyrgyzstan history), The Leaders of the Orda (which means Horde) of Manas:
Led by Battle Steel - his most decorated soldier, who the Khan has bestowed a suit of very powerful Z-rad powered battle armor. The Knight of Chains - a Z-rad powered individual with armor that provides great defense, and animated chains that surround his forearms, which can be used for various attacks and defenses Crag - a Z-rad mutated mountain of a man, who is incredibly resistant to damage and hyper strong - but, he is a well-trained warrior (martial-brick) Baba Yaga - the most powerful Witch on Earth - able to wield very powerful Z-rad powered "magic"  
The PCs decide that a surprise frontal assault on his palace is the simplest approach.  So, they fly down from orbit at max speed and land at the palace front door.
 
As they begin beating the Khan's normal henchmen, they are initially confronted by Crag, and battle him.  The battle raged for a while, as Crag is hard to damage; eventually, Solar used her VPP to gate Crag to a desert in China.
 
The PCs then entered a large room, with two sweeping stairs around half the parameter (the big fight scene from Matrix 2, with the Merovingian's henchmen).  Suddenly they were assaulted from an unseen assailant, who was attacking them with magic.  Eventually, Solar turned the air into a blue gaseous substance with her band, allowing the PCs to "see" Baba Yaga, even though she was invisible.  With a single strike, Capt. Force knocked her unconscious (injuring her as well).
 
At which point the Knight of Chains and Battle Steel entered through the upper double doors and began to battle the heroes.  This battle raged for some time, but both were eventually defeated as well.
 
Finally, the heroes entered a large super tech room, with Khan Manas II sitting behind a desk.  He was supremely confident...  Capt. Force scanned the Kahn and learned that his suit was actually a containment suit, and that he was a being of pure Z-rad energy.
 
The heroes started to approach, and Khan Manas II tapped an icon on his desk - at which point two huge nullifiers dropped from the ceiling and drained the heroes of several hundred points of Z-rad.  Both heroes were severely crippled, with only Solar having a small portion of her VPP still at her disposal.  However, both bands were only at about half their power.
 
Solar used her air band to hit both nullifiers with a powerful blast of air, destroying them.
 
Capt. Force used his band and began transforming the Khan's containment suit into lead, in order to trap him in his suit.  It took two phases, but he was able to do so and eventually the Khan was trapped!
 
The heroes used the Khan's own defenses to hold off the Orda of Manas, while their Z-rad powers returned; then simply turned invisible and flew away with the captured Khan.  They even saw Crag returning (via great leap) as they were leaving...  Eventually turning the Khan over to the UN.
 
While they were in the Khan's systems, they learned that he learned about the Empress from his moles in the UN.  He eventually contacted a Herold for the Empress, who gave him a frequency to communicate with her.  He had agreed to be her Vassal, ruling Earth; in exchange, he would work against earth's defenses, sabotaging the earth's chances to resist her.
 
The heroes then decided that their next move would be to investigate the rebel forces that are against the Empress.
 
And that is where our last exciting episode ended!
 

Man!  That means I can't use my favorite Predator line from Jesse, after he offers everyone in the chopper some chew; without some Snowflake getting their feelings hurt.  Oh well, I can still use "I ain't got time to bleed..."  or "If it bleeds, we can kill it..."
 
I am a registered Independent, with serious Libertarian leanings - but, that usually means "socially liberal", at least to me...
 
Looking forward to the rest.
 

It explains a lot! My write-up of Superman comes at 800 points!!!
 
I am only at Episode three but...
 
Colonel Dick Rage... hilarious...
 
At this point I get the feeling she has a fairly powerful or at least versatile VPP
 
🤣 

Clearly! I have yet to read how the heroes defeated him. I assume they are not built on 2,000 points (or are they? I may have missed that). Sounds like a lot of fun so far.

I was about to say just that.
 
I am catching up but good write-up so far.
 
 
Holey Moley!! This guy is seriously overpowered!!!
 

"Good" and "evil" are simply a group of societal norms subconsciously agreed upon by a society of people, and reinforced by additional behavior (including laws and enforcement, etc.).
 
So, most bad guys in real life, rationalize their negative behavior.  Even most mentally ill serial killers, rationalize their behavior.  Hitler, rationalized his behavior.
 
I am not saying any of them were right, or should be "understood" or sympathized with in any way; only that it is VERY HARD to actually find an example of a "villain" from real life, who actually saw themselves/their behavior as "Evil".
 
So, to me, when I see "Utterly Evil" as a complication; I read it as a being who is the polar opposite; they literally cannot conceive of being "good" - so they're every action is "Evil", and they cannot hide it (at least not for long).
 
As a complication for the character, there needs to be some ramifications - some consequence - so for me, I read it like their behavior is so bad, and they enjoy it so much, they cannot hide it and everyone, even the "normal" bad guys or mentally ill, see them for what they are - and that is so alien to the human mind, that they would likely either seek to destroy them or flee them (fight or flight).
 
The Cenobites from Clive Barker (Hellraiser) and the Horror's from Earthdawn (TTRPG) are examples of beings who know they are Evil, and actually feed off the anguish they cause others - and in both cases are completely alien to the human mind.
 

In our fifth exciting episode -->
 
The heroes traveled back to Earth and collected the imprisoned Europaite Drone, and asking Golden Girl to join them again.  By this point, Silvercloud had built a powered armor suit capable of sustaining her in space.
 
The team traveled to Europa and returned the drone, though Capt. Force was disappointed, as the Europaites didn't really seem to care (again their alien culture being difficult for a Narrai {or Earthling} to comprehend).  Golden Girl was successful in at least getting the Europaites to understand the concept of 'cooperation' a little better; though, they made it clear if everyone would just open their minds and join the collective consciousness of the Europaites, everyone would 'cooperate' so much more efficiently.
 
While they were busy speaking to the Europaites, an alien they've never seen before, with 6 eyes, dressed in purple and black, with a staff, that has a ball of energy at the top, lands next to them all.  He releases a bag on his belt, and throws it at Capt. Force's feet; the bag contained the mummified heads of Kings {with crowns} who had turned down his liege.
 
"I am Garras Dron, Herold of Tyrannon the Conqueror - I am here to broker peace and offer you salvation." he announced.
 
Unfortunately the Europaites immediately attempted to command him mentally; with the striking of his staff on the ice, black tendrils lashed out and disintegrated the Europaite warriors that were present...
 
Solar put the Herold in a spherical force field and Capt. Force explains that the Europaites didn't mean it as an offense, and the heroes successfully stop the situation from escalating.
 
The heroes and Garras Dron spoke for a while; with Garras explaining the offer: the heroes of this sector of space would fight the Empress, and when she thinks she won, and eventually shows up in person, they would ambush her and kill her, liberating this sector!  They would of course then become one of Tyrannon's controlled sectors - but, they would be free of the Empress' yoke!  What a great offer!
 
The heroes didn't see it as such a great offer...  Though, they did good to keep that close to their vest, and not show their hand.
 
During the conversation, the Herold explained that "Already, the Tyrant of Earth makes plans to be the Vassal of the Empress and rule Earth, and a ruling House of Lyrissi barter with the "Air band" to assume complete and maintain control of the Lyrissi system with the Empress.  So, he explained, they were already losing...
 
The heroes convince the Herold they will consider his offer, and he extends them a communicator to contact him.  The Herold leaves, and Solar follows him (as she is much faster) - he eventually arrives at a huge amassed fleet, with a flagship larger than Earth - she takes that as her queue to return....
 
The heroes return to Earth and speak to Col. Rage; they learn the reference to the House of Lyrissi, is the House of Pan Tuo - which is one of the ruling houses of Lyrissi - they have not made public that they have the Air Band, but in the pit of vipers that is Lyrissi, many know.  The house assumes (having no idea who they are messing with), that they will be able to use the band to barter with the Empress, and retain control of Lyrissi…

"The Tyrant of Earth" - is Khan Manas II, of Kyrgyzstan (based on an alternate history I created).  Basically a cross between Vladimir Putin and Dr. Doom.  He is a petty dictator, who politically out maneuvered all his opponents by 2011 and took over Kyrgyzstan (which became independent in 1991), then solidified his rulership.  (Though no one knows it, he wears what appears and is assumed to be powered battle armor, but is in fact, a containment suit, because his Z-rad powers are so uncontrollable.)
 
The heroes provided specs to Silvercloud and asked him to make containment suits for a few of the Europaites, so they could come to Earth for a summit with the sector's governments, to try to start building the political bridges needed to unite the sector against the Empress.  They also told Col. Rage to "do his thing" to start interfering with Khan Manas II attempts to communicate with the Empress.
 
They also had Solar use her Detect (from her VPP) to find any surviving Lemurians; which she did on several Pacific Islands (Tasmania, Samoa, among others).  They also asked Col. Rage to find the most powerful Lemurian.
 
They then decided they needed to 'procure' the "Air band", to secure it.  Using Capt. Force's contacts in the Narrai government, they met a contact, Zypherian of the Lyrissi on a secluded mining asteroid base.  Capt. Force asked Solar to use her Detect Power (from her VPP) to find the band; she did, on Lyrissi 3 (there are 3 habitable planets in the Lyrissi system).  Zypherian offered a way to sneak them into the compound, but no further assistance - the heroes agreed.
 
The next day, a House Pan Vox shipping container had arrived and Zypherian explained that the shipment would get them into the estate.  The heroes climbed aboard and they were indeed deposited next to the estate.  Solar used various enhances senses from her VPP to locate two very strong Z-rad sources; she then used Clairsentience from her VPP to view both.
 
In the first they found one of the android Herold's of the Empress in a negotiation with the House Pan Tuo leadership.  In the other, they found the band.  Continuing to use Clairsentience, they reconnoitered and determined the best way to the vault.
 
Capt. Force used the "Earth band" (remember, basically a 500 point VPP for any matter that is solid) to shrink himself very small, so he could ride/hide in Solar's pocket.  She then used her VPP to inviso them both from just about any and all detection types, and they carefully flew to the point of entry of the vault.  Capt. Force used his band to simply create a hole in the middle of the stone door, and knowing it would set off alarms, Solar flew in circles around the room until she had reached her maximum flight speed, then simply grabbed the band and they flew out of the estate.  The Lyrissi on the grounds attempted to give chase, but could not perceive them (as she still had her inviso going), and the Herold attempted to give chase as well, but Solar was far too fast for him to catch her, once she could engage her FTL flight - and they successfully escaped.
 
Arriving back on Earth, having discussed it; with her own VPP generated mental defense, and Golden Girl helping as well, Solar put the "Air band" on, and did not go insane...
 
They then spoke to Col. Rage about the Lemurians; he said he had found one, but he was gonna be difficult.  His name was Arthur Curry (The Aqua Man) - but, (just like the scene from Justice League), he wanted nothing to do with joining a group, or fighting a war...
 
With that, the heroes decided to have a "memory movie" - they called together The Peacekeepers, Col. Rage, and the ambassadors (including 3 Europaites in containment suits); Golden Girl convinced Capt. Force to give The Aqua Man another shot, feeling if he saw the threat, he would join.  So, they included him as well.  Once they had everyone together, they used mental projection and showed everyone the memories of the bands, the first battle with the Empress, the scenes from the Eurupaites Oracles of her preparations, the fight with Outrider and his ships, and finally the scene of the other cosmic conqueror that Solar had seen.  It was finally enough to get everyone to understand what they were up against.
 
Capt. Force then asked Wuxing how he would fight in space, and he smiled, simply turning his body into pure photons...  They asked The Aqua Man how he would, and Wuxing explained that he could use the power of the band to encapsulate himself in a water bubble and propel that through space.
 
The heroes decided, now that they had a team, they needed to train, and since Wuxing was the only one who had trained and prepared to wield the band, he should teach them.
 
They also decided they would have to deal with Khan Manas II...
 
And that is where this exciting episode ended!
 

I have no one to add.
 
I just want to thank everyone who contributed to this for starting me down a wikipedia rabbit hole that took _days_ to get out of.
 
Thanks.
 
Heaps.
 
 

 

Now I'm picturing a scenario in which utterly evil beings are invading, but one of them is mentally ill or really twisted by it's life experiences, and starts helping the humans, and doing good, but is unable to face that so rationalized it as evil.  " I'm not saving you, I'm using you as part of a plot against my enemies..."
 
...I think Spike may have gone through a phase like that on Buffy...

"Good" and "evil" are simply a group of societal norms subconsciously agreed upon by a society of people, and reinforced by additional behavior (including laws and enforcement, etc.).
 
So, most bad guys in real life, rationalize their negative behavior.  Even most mentally ill serial killers, rationalize their behavior.  Hitler, rationalized his behavior.
 
I am not saying any of them were right, or should be "understood" or sympathized with in any way; only that it is VERY HARD to actually find an example of a "villain" from real life, who actually saw themselves/their behavior as "Evil".
 
So, to me, when I see "Utterly Evil" as a complication; I read it as a being who is the polar opposite; they literally cannot conceive of being "good" - so they're every action is "Evil", and they cannot hide it (at least not for long).
 
As a complication for the character, there needs to be some ramifications - some consequence - so for me, I read it like their behavior is so bad, and they enjoy it so much, they cannot hide it and everyone, even the "normal" bad guys or mentally ill, see them for what they are - and that is so alien to the human mind, that they would likely either seek to destroy them or flee them (fight or flight).
 
The Cenobites from Clive Barker (Hellraiser) and the Horror's from Earthdawn (TTRPG) are examples of beings who know they are Evil, and actually feed off the anguish they cause others - and in both cases are completely alien to the human mind.
 

Makes me wish I was still playing.