Transformatrix 4000 -- Comments and Suggestions

There's about 60 women in there, though - and we have a lot of characters already...

Might be good to get a few celebs in there though - Argo mentioned that Avril Lavigne, Jessica Alba, Jennie Finch and Summer Montabone are in there, so maybe they could be seen...

Lois just 'brainwashed' all those women into not misusing their powers - there's no guarantee that any of them would want to be superheroes, although an army of seventy women in Supergirl costumes...wow...

One idea for all those other women is that they become more interested in being superathletes rather than heroes - obsessed with pushing and pushing and pushing themselves as hard as they can. Maybe some could form a group designed to fight renegade superwomen...and surely the police and the army would want to get hold of as many of these people as possible...assuming that they go public.

Another little idea, and it only really would be a mention - an actress / singer / celeb's new powers propel her to fame, fortune and superstardom, and she takes to wearing a Supergirl costume full time whenever she's out in public or at events or whatever - she doesn't do anything heroic, she just wants a constant reminder to the people around her that she's better than them...

Denise would want some time to figure out what she's going to do with herself. That may mean time away from Earth. Superhero sounds great, but how many does one planet need? Then there is her family...

*diffidently pokes nose into discussion*

I'm a novice writer, not yet competent enough to write an independent story worth publishing; I think writing fragments in this format might be good practice for me. But... well, to be brief, because of the way I think and write I have a hard time writing other people's characters. I know there's a concern about too many characters, but would it be okay if I adopted one of the unknown 60 and started writing her into the story? (I've already composed, but not posted, a post giving her reaction to Lois's speech, to make sure I could.) Or would that be too much blurring of the boundary between "interactive story" and "shared universe"? I'm not talking about complete independence; I don't mind other people writing Laura into scenes where appropriate. I just need enough room to delve freely inside her head, because I write characters by immersion.

I won't be bothered if the group would rather keep this project more emphatically collaborative. I just thought I'd inquire.

--Y

I think we need an Editor-in Chief for this project, in charge of maintaining the "continuity" just like the folks at DC do. I think that Argo or Spulo should step up to the plate on this one.

I know there's a concern about too many characters, but would it be okay if I adopted one of the unknown 60 and started writing her into the story? (I've already composed, but not posted, a post giving her reaction to Lois's speech, to make sure I could.)

I think that would be great. It would move the story-line a little closer toward its conclusion, and give us a fresh point of view.

Spulo and I have been having a lot of fun batting the story back and forth, but anyone is free to butt in at any time. That's what makes the project collaborative.

Regarding "too many characters": On the one hand, we don't want to get to the point where we need a scorecard to follow the story. But on the other hand, I like the idea that any writer can add a new super-woman to the mix at any time. That permits a variety of personalities and motives.

I'm sure that many of us have toyed with the fantasy scenario "What if I could give my wife / fiancee / girlfriend / neighbor / coworker / classmate / etc super-powers?" or "What if such and such female celebrity were super-powerful?" Transformatrix 4000 invites us to put the fantasy into words and add it to the "saga."

Your distinction between an "interactive story" and a "shared universe" got me thinking -- maybe we could have a thread called "Tales of the T4000." The new thread would be for stories set in the "Transformatrix universe" but standing outside the current story-line.

Oh, and one more thing -- I didn't intend to suggest that the Lotos is a "brainwashing" machine in the sense that Spulo seemed to imply. It can make unsuspecting subjects more susceptible to the suggestions of a skillful manipulator like Dr. Klyburn, but it can't make them act in ways contrary to their personalities. It can't be used to reform Paris Hilton or turn Denise against her family. (I introduced it only because I felt that DeeAnn's question -- why haven't more of the quarantined super-women left the compound? -- was a plot point that needed to be addressed.)

By the way: Who knows why I used the name "Lotos" for the machine?

I think we need an Editor-in Chief for this project, in charge of maintaining the "continuity" just like the folks at DC do. I think that Argo or Spulo should step up to the plate on this one.

Great Caesar's ghost!

By the way: Who knows why I used the name "Lotos" for the machine?

Odd--I see!

.

--Y

2) is what I had in mind.

In Book IX of the Odyssey, Odysseus (Ulysses) and his crew stop at the island of lotos-eaters. Several of the sailors eat the plant and lose all desire to return home, preferring to remain on the island in contented passivity. I thought it would be an appropriate name for the machine, given its effect on the quarantined super-women.

Write your chapter! It's good to see some new writers joining in.

Super-Denise!

ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/supergirlcostu...y/photos/browse/54e9


Ultragirl mentioned what Denise might do after this part of the story. It strikes me that she'd probably be one of the few people to not try to hide what's happened to her - if there's a car crash or whatever and she can help, she will. No superhero costume, no disguise. Just her helping out where she can.

Also, given how much she loves her family, I figure that at some point, she somehow acquires two Transformatrixs - one for each of her daughters. Not to be used now, obviously, but as a surprise 16/18/21st birthday pressie...

Could I just say...I don't really feel comfortable with the heroines using (or threatening to use) their powers to hurt people...

It's happened before, and it just doesn't feel right. For a baddy character like Paris Hilton, yeah, fine...but the main characters should be above using force on non super-powered characters...

Just a thought...

Found another possible model for Jill Henderson...

www.cathynordyke.com/images/gallery/cathy_nordyke9.htm

Take away the muscle and give her glasses, she might look a bit schoolteachery...

Found another possible model for Jill Henderson...

www.cathynordyke.com/images/gallery/cathy_nordyke9.htm

Take away the muscle and give her glasses, she might look a bit schoolteachery...

:shock: What school did you go to?

I did say 'might'...

A thought - maybe our main characters could start to discover that they each have a unique power that the other superwomen don't have.

Jill already has one (telekenesis) so maybe the others could, though I don't know what, but it might help to set them apart from 'the 60 or so others'...

A thought - maybe our main characters could start to discover that they each have a unique power that the other superwomen don't have.

Jill already has one (telekenesis) so maybe the others could, though I don't know what, but it might help to set them apart from 'the 60 or so others'...

I was kinda leaning that way with Denise's strength. Some one else could be faster. Someone else could actually lack one of the main stay powers, like flight. Strenght and invulnerability kind of go hand in hand, but not necessarily superspeed. That kind of thing.

I thought Denise or DeeAnn for increased strength...although, thinking about it, would it make much sense? If these women are supposedly all much much much stronger than Superman (who can push planets around without much difficulty) then how can you realistically make one of them even stronger than that? How would we measure it?

How can you realistically make any of them stronger than human? It's fantasy/sci-fi. That's how. Which brings me to my next point. Why bother measuring it? Also, as I mentioned, some could lack that kind of strength in favor of other powers. I actually don't see the need to have ALL of them be as strong, or stronger, than Superman. In hind sight, I gave her x-ray without thinking. I was going to strip her of any vision, or hearing powers. I probably still could. She would be all physical and flight and nothing else.

You could take this as far as some of them gaining only one power. Imagine being the one girl who is invulnerable, but has no other powers.

My thinking was that all these women had all Superman's powers, at a much higher level that he does, because as I think Argo mentioned, somehow his powers are being drained as more superwomen emerge.

The only reason I suggest giving the main characters unique abilities is to justify why we're following these women rather than others, and also to bring them together as a sort of team.

It's important to remember that as yet the origins of the Transformatrix are still unknown...and presumably it's either future or alien technology. Someone from outside is wanting these women changed for some reason, so it would make sense for them to have a range of powers...

Of course, those are just my thoughts, and I don't want it to seem like I'm taking over here...

Consistency might become a problem -- writers would have to remember which superwoman possesses what powers.

I've been going on the presumption that every "transformee" eventually manifests the full range of Kryptonian super-powers ... but that they emerge at different rates in different subjects. Denise, for example, wasn't able to fly until she was breaking out of the Stronghold, and didn't manifest heat-vision until she and her companions were attacking the compound. (Of course, she may have had those powers from the beginning, but didn't know she had them until she needed to use them.) And a subject's size and physical condition probably affect the extent of her powers. (Spulo established that DeeAnn is stronger than Paris Hilton, post-transformation, because she was stronger pre-transformation.)

Do the "transformees" have to join together as a team? Personally, I'd like to see a variety in the ways they choose to live their lives. (Which is what I'm going for in my "Three Months Later" chapter.) Some might become full-time super-heroines; others would try to balance super-heroics with the routines of their everyday lives (with varying degrees of success); some might become renegades of one kind or another, but probably more would use their powers for fun and personal advantage without crossing into outright sociopathy.

Now that I've completed "Damsels and Dragons" (which was supposed to be an entry for Workshop 2.5 until it got too long), I've begun working in earnest on the "Three Months Later" chapter. I'll post it when the current story-line reaches closure.

I guess 'team' was the wrong word. I didn't particularly mean as superheroes, just as friends. They're pretty much that now anyway, so it doesn't really matter...

There are a few loose ends still to tie up this side of the 'Three Months Later' gap...

- Kara undergoing the Transformatrix.
- Bobby 'fessing up to Jill.
- Klyburn presumably fixing the deactivated Transformatrix and using it on herself.
- Lana. She's not particularly important, but...well, she could be...
- Superman's researching the UGF site with Chloe Sullivan.

There must be a few other things too...

I think those points can be addressed in the "three months later" arc. Writers who want to pick them up can do so through flashbacks, or they can let the readers fill in the gaps. For example, I'm writing a "three months later" scene involving a super-powered Janet Klyburn. Do I need to show her dropping by STAR Labs, re-activating the T4000, using it to give herself super-powers, etc? Ditto for the other characters you mention.

As I see it, closing down the secret compound is all that's needed to bring the current story-line to a satisfactory conclusion. Let's leave those other plot threads for the next one.