Thinking Out Loud: Deaf Rattles

I'm old enough to remember a world were the internet was not ubiquitous; increasingly, I believe myself very lucky to hold those memories. Not because I believe that the internet is eroding culture, or killing intelligent discourse or invading privacy or facilitating the rise of neo-fascism (though it is totally doing a few of those things), but because I recall when asking "who would win in a fight" between two superheroes was an invitation to a fun discussion, not an argument. Years back, I read a Wizard magazine that did a tounge-in-cheek article of a theoretical fight between Raistlin (Dragonlance) and Elmisnter (Forgotten Realms). I really enjoyed this article, because, as well as breaking down the characters' abilities and past feats, the article provided examples of how each character could, in theory, win the fight. Years back, Marvel Comics did a big crossover between Dracula and Doctor Strange in which the two fought, with the climax in two different issues; in Tomb of Dracula, Dracula killed Strange, in Doctor Strange, Strange was triumphant. 

Now, there is an entire internet community and attached industry focused on which characters would win theoretical fights. When a friend got me onto this, I had a bit of fun with it at first, after all, that's part of the reason I love Superheroes; they're fun. Yes, I, more often than is probably reasonable, take superheroes and comics way more seriously than is probably mentally healthy, but I also constantly advocate the love of the sillier corners of the genre (I've been watching Adam West Batman on DVD and I love it!). For me, applying math and hard numbers to a theoretical fight between, say, Hulk and Doomsday, kind of sucks the joy out of what should be a fun romp with two big monsters beating the hell out of each other. No, I'm not just taking swings at Death Battle, though they are one of the bigger names, but also the YouTube "Vs" community, Reddit, forums and blogs that keep this trend going. There is a focus on hard numbers and statistics in nerd culture that is understandable, but still baffling to me when people try and apply it to narrative fiction. Hell, I have a degree in Literature and boiling stories and characters down to metrics is something that simply isn't necessary.
 

Again, I enjoy thinking about theoretical superhero crossovers, it's fun to imagine what happens when Atomic Robo and Tony Stark have to team-up against AIM, or Batman and The Phantom busting Singh Brotherhood rackets in Gotham, or Allen the Alien and Kilowog getting into a misunderstanding, or a million other things, but I just don't care about who would win in a fight because of how strong/fast/tough the math says they are. How strong is Spider-man? Stronger than a normal person, not as strong as Thor or Thing. How fast is Superman? As fast as he needs to be to save the day, but not so fast that there isn't any tension. How powerful is Goku? Not as powerful as the villain, yet, but he'll get there. The best part of superhero crossovers isn't who beats whom, but, instead, the misunderstanding, the fight and the reconciliation. The Avengers got it right, with the Thor/Hulk brawl and Cap breaking up a pissing match between Tony and Thor; no one needed to "win" those fights for us to enjoy them, they were fun and that was enough.

Superhero Media: Infestation 2

Hot on the "success" of Infestation, IDW launched the second part, Infestation 2, leaner, meaner and with more than a few changes. Rather than a single entity, like the Undermind, Infestation 2 pits its heroes against the entirety of the Cthulhu mythos, which makes for grander stories, but the overall effect is slightly weakened without a recurring villain like Brit to tie the narrative together. Infestation 2 features the Transformers, Dungeons and Dragons, TMNT, GI Joe and 30 Days of Night, most of which are better than the stories in Infestation, but without the kind of crossover promised, like Snake Eyes meeting Optimus Prime and Leonardo, it's still unfulfilling. Once again, the GI Joe story is the best one, with a cult uprising at a Cobra asylum for insane operatives. Crystal Ball (Cobra Old Ones Expert), Storm Shadow, a Cobra Psychologist and a cadre of lunatics have to survive a wave of hybrids to shut down the ritual and escape. I'd watch that film, even without a GI Joe framework and characters. 

The Transformers story takes place, not "now" or in the near future (like the 1986 film), but in 1887, with most of the Autobots and Decepticons in hiding, until Dunwhich is overrun by Deep Ones and corrupted Decepticons and Nikola Tesla has to awaken Optimus Prime to save the day. It's ridiculous nerd-bait, but the fun concept and diesel-punk transformer designs make it worth a look anyway. Nothing else in the anthology is really worth mentioning, though none of it is strictly bad, if you have the Omnibus Edition like I do, the whole Infestation/Infestation 2 does make for a good read and has plenty of inspiration for supers and horror games of all kinds. For me, the Infestation[s] are a nice additional antagonist for a campaign without having to buy additional miniatures, as I already own more than enough zombies and cultists to combine Infestation with Annihilation or to run it as its own series of games.

I've read almost all of HP Lovecraft's published works, and whilst I'm not a huge fan, his ability to evoke the otherworldly, the uncanny and a sense of unknowable horror is unmatched. It's no wonder that his style and mythos have endured and become a major fixture of popular culture. Of course, having such powerful beings as the great old ones leads some writers to wanting to see this power flexed; hence many derivative stories being more action-focused. As I've mentioned a number of times, a certain subset of supers fans are more interested in seeing the fights than the characters, so that superheroes fighting mythos monsters is a pretty expected result. Sometimes, this works really well, like Hellboy or Atomic Robo, but there are far too many poor attempts that leave me mostly disappointed. For me, the best Old Ones in comics are the ones that were there before we knew what they were, Starro, Galactus and Stardust the Super Wizard, for example. What's the point of a mountain-sized monstrosity when Superman can still throw it into space, after all?

Miniatures Finished: Catwoman, Deadman, Freddy and Devil Dinosaur

Got a few things off the desk in the past week: 

 Deadman, Freddy Kruger, Catwoman and Devil Dinosaur. All Clix except for Devil, who is a D&D Miniature. 

 Detail on Devil Dino. It was really fun to paint a big mini from scratch. 

 Close-up of two dead men, one hero and one villain. 

 Catwoman. A bit plain to paint, so her goggles actually have 5 colours on them!

Miniatures Finished: A bit of everything

Plenty of new heroes and villains off the painting que this week: 

 More bugs for the Annihilation wave. All D&D miniatures. 

 The complete wave. Thirty six minis in total. So far... 

 It comes, and there is no escape... 

 Good morning angels! Silk Specter II, Marvel Girl and Witchblade, ready for action. 

 Booster Gold and Skeets. 

 Hawkeye and Roserade; Pokemon Trainer Taupe having found a Shiny Stone.

Getting Started in Supers - Part 1

SuperSystem 4th Edition is on its way! The Kickstarter is live (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/222965736/supersystem-4th-edition-super-miniature-battles?ref=live) and a mere $6USD will get you the rulebook. Pretty cool huh? 
To celebrate, I thought I'd take a look at just how easy it is to get a team together for this fantastic game. To that end, I pulled out 5 miniatures from my collection (almost at random) that I purchased for games other than Supersystem and I'm throwing together some quick fluff for them to be a team. 
Turns out that it's a villain team, not sure what that says about my minis collection... 

Introducing: Crocomanagator, Kaptain Killa, Hug-Bot, Splashback and The Baron. 

 

Kaptain Killa (Classic 40K Ork Freebooter): A vicious alien pirate from a distant galaxy, KK was shipwrecked on Earth when a team of nosy "Superheroes" prevented him from stealing the Millennium Dome. To exact his revenge on humanity, KK gathered other criminals to aid him in his campaign to destroy every monument and landmark on the face of the planet.

Splashback (D&D Water Elemental): Few people realise that, sometimes, water just goes bad. Not merely stagnant, but occasionally, downright evil. Splashback evaporated into a bad cloud and shortly thereafter started its rain of terror. Despite its hatred of all "solids", Splashback is forced to work with them, because it needs an occasional topping up with a hose. 

The Baron (Eureka Pirate): Born on the Bayou, this former Accountant turned to crime the day he discovered that he could keep the money he stole if he ran a church. A Google search on Voodoo later, the Baron was born. The Baron has no powers to speak of, but is excellent with money, especially hiding it from the Government. 

Hug-Bot (Horrorclix Carnage Bot): Hug-Bot was designed only to love. Programmed by a lonely scientist, Hug-Bot was intended to provide companionship for geeks who couldn't talk to women. Fortunately for Hug-Bot, there was a flaw in its program and it started a killing rampage. Nothing makes Hug-Bot happier than killing, so it got a job as hired muscle for Supervillains; nothing's better than getting paid to do what you love. 

Crocomanagator (Hordes Gatorman): Crocomanagator was hired by The Baron to be his personal bodyguard and dependent (for tax reasons). He is relied upon to do most of the actual crime, which suits him fine. No one is too sure where Crocomanagator came from, but his Facebook profile lists "Twin Peaks" as his hometown and "Sicily, Alaska" as his place of birth. Guess he likes TV. 

There you go, Villain Team origins from random minis in 30mins. Hopefully this may tempt a couple more people into Supersystem. Although I'm pretty sure most of my followers play it already.