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Transformatrix 4000 -- Comments and Suggestions

01 Aug 2006 13:47 #6422 by argonaut

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!

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01 Aug 2006 21:16 #6423 by yaracyrrah

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


Odd--I see!

;-).

--Y

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02 Aug 2006 10:17 #6428 by Woodclaw

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


There are 2 possible answers, according to my knowlwdges.

1) a reference to the L.o.T.O.S. (Language of Temporal Ordering Specifications) program language, that was used to create the iso standard.

2) a modification of tha word lotus, as a reference to the Odissey Ulysses meet a population called the Lotus-eaters. who eat rthe blossom of the lotus flower that makes them forget the past and believe that the present life is tha best possible.






Just one more thing I'm working on an entry for TF 4000, it will take me at least 4 or 5 days to complete, I think to place it just a moment before the end of the Supergirls' meeting. Can I or it's too late?

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02 Aug 2006 13:58 #6430 by argonaut
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.

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07 Aug 2006 09:57 #6452 by Spulo
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...

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07 Aug 2006 22:35 #6464 by Woodclaw
Well, I have posted my entry. I know that there isn't much action, sorry.

I'm also sorry for the bad English, but it isn't my mother language.

A few notes

1- the armors are an old idea of mine, they are projected to deal with extremly powerful superhumans on rampage taking advantege of the habit to understimate the enemy, and using experimental tecnologies to improve their effectiveness. They works in teams of three to six armors and attackusing group tactics. They look like the ones here.

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2- I have inserted several citations in my entry, try to catch them, if you can.

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07 Aug 2006 23:16 #6465 by Spulo
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...

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07 Aug 2006 23:23 #6466 by Woodclaw

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...


Well, the mayority of the characters here are newbies to their power, they have the right to make errors.

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09 Aug 2006 22:39 #6478 by Spulo
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... :)

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09 Aug 2006 23:32 #6479 by argonaut

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?

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10 Aug 2006 00:06 #6480 by Spulo
I did say 'might'... :)

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12 Aug 2006 00:06 #6504 by Spulo
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'...

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12 Aug 2006 15:55 #6505 by ultragirl

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.

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12 Aug 2006 16:49 #6506 by Spulo
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? :)

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12 Aug 2006 18:44 #6507 by ultragirl
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.

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12 Aug 2006 23:00 #6508 by Spulo
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...:)

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13 Aug 2006 01:34 #6510 by argonaut
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.

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13 Aug 2006 08:19 #6515 by Woodclaw

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.


I know that I'm the newest kid around here, but I agree with Argo.

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13 Aug 2006 11:26 #6516 by Spulo
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...

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14 Aug 2006 16:28 #6519 by argonaut
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.

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14 Aug 2006 18:48 #6523 by Spulo
Yeah, I tried to rank those in order of importance, but I think the only one that really needs to be dealt with now is the second one...

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16 Aug 2006 05:37 #6536 by yaracyrrah
Um. I know this is rude, but I'm young and uncouth: can I have a mulligan? I was hoping to have a chance to establish Laura's character before other people started writing her, because I came in with definite ideas. I tried to ask permission to "own" Laura--I only got the notion of joining the story at all when someone else spoke of certain characters as belonging to certain authors--but then I said "I don't mind other people writing Laura into scenes where appropriate," which I *meant* to mean minor dialogue and scene advancement rather than character development, but I didn't make that clear. And I'm sure I sound like a whiny control freak, but I'm not upset; it's just that my creative process is, um, ****ed-up: it *can't* handle "But she wouldn't do that!" errors, it just goes all to pieces and shuts down. So either I need a mulligan or I shouldn't have tried to join the story in the first place and I'll just bow out politely and y'all can handle Laura as you please. Sorry.

--Y

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16 Aug 2006 08:13 #6538 by Woodclaw
I have a little request too. In working on a two scenes right now, one about the Major and her daughter, the other about the Squire foundation. I prefere to place them beore the three months gap, so if you alla can wait I will be extremly grateful.

PS: I notice that none of you have even tried to guess the citations inside my entry. Are they too difficult or you don't want to try?

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16 Aug 2006 12:09 #6539 by Spulo
Sorry, it was just that as no-one had written anything for a week or so, I thought I would, and try to end the facility bit.

But if you had a plan for Laura, go for it, I don't mind. I've got that bit saved, so I can always rejig it a bit...

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17 Aug 2006 09:23 #6545 by yaracyrrah
No worries, Spulo; I just write too slowly :-). My post is up now; I hope I didn't break anything (except chronological order), or cause too much trouble for "Three Months Later". As for the retcon, we could just change the name of the character in Spulo's post and leave those plot points intact.

Charlene is just a extra; perhaps she's the Hooters waitress from Akron.

I'm going to be uncouth again and mention that one thing about Laura is that she tends to keep information to herself. Her unique power, for example: she knows what it is, and I'll show it as soon as I can fit it in, but it has to be strictly secret or it won't be able to cause trouble :-). (It's not a mental power; that was bad writing on my part, sorry.)

Now the good news: for those who like pictures, I've found a model for Laura . Laura wasn't always that buff, or quite that smokin', but a Transformatrix 4000 is a wonderful thing :-).

--Y

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