The 2010 KBox "12 Ideas" Revivalfest!

[Anders]

I don't think a corporation going after the FF on those grounds is very likely. Politicians or NGOs would be more probable adversaries, I think - they've got more to win and less to lose from being the champion of the common man.

[michaelpaciocco]

Thanks for the input on this one guys. Kirk I appreciate your fears on Roxxon and Anders, that's a great pitch and addition I might tack on to my own thoughts (not that any of this would ever be, you know, published. Ever). And Jesse - nope, but I do have a thought on Hudson, and you'll see it in 30.

[Anders]

Glad I could help.

[jensaltmann]

What you might want to do is re-watch the first two RoboCop movies, and perhaps the TV show. From what the others say, I'm very much reminded of RoboCop's OCP.

[michaelpaciocco]

Good idea Jens.

[jessebaker]

Apr 4, 2010 3:52:45 GMT -8 jensaltmann said:

What you might want to do is re-watch the first two RoboCop movies, and perhaps the TV show. From what the others say, I'm very much reminded of RoboCop's OCP.

I'd toss in Robocop 3 into that mix then, since one of the main things that makes, IMHO, the third film work is the way they handled OCP in the third film.

OCP basically is going bankrupt and abandoning ALL semblence of being a good guy to the public, what with them using mercenaries to evict people from their houses and being more overt with their evil, due to their mismanagement making it no longer financially viable to pretend to be good and outright wiping out old Detroit to built their new metropolis is the only way they can survive.

Also, the angle of foreign investors coming into the picture and bringing with them their own evil angles to the mix, as far as exploiting OCP's corrupt off-the-books programs and the fact that one of the main ways that Robocop is able to bring down OCP is to publicly expose the company's many, many sins, which basically kills the stock price and finishes off destroying the company once and for all.

[jensaltmann]

Jesse, I specifically left RoboCop 3 out of the mix. Because while the first two movies successfully satirized the Evil Big Corporation subject, the third one went too far over the top. Actually, Michael might want to have a look at RoboCop 3 in order to see how not to do it.

[michaelpaciocco]

Because it's May somewhere right now and there was a lot of arguement on this one, so here we go



OK, Jesse (among others) despise Jimmy Hudson here, and that's understandable. But not just because he's an asshole.

He's a coward.

A HUGE coward.

Just looking through the character's history gives this away in droves. He ran immediately to the government to protect his work, when there were a number of other options, but he chose the one that theoretically put him at the least personal risk by effectively choosing to hide behind the government and become a snitch rather than trying to find another way.

And then there's Wolverine.

Whether or not you buy the theory that Hudson's honeymoon was chosen SPECIFICALLY so he could run into Wolverine (and let's face it, given the Department H/Weapon X connections, we can't discount that theory), what is the first thing Jimmy does when he encounters the clearly abused and mentally anguished feral man?

Turn him over to the government to make him their go-to wetworker, and to try and get him to be the leader of their public superteam. In at least some versions I read of the story (continuity is spotty on this from what I've seen), Hudson even refined his initial exosuit into the Guardian battlesuit so that Wolverine could use it.

What kind of a man does that? What kind of a man thinks "The nearly indestructible hand to hand combatant manhunter needs to be able to fly and shoot lasers?"

A guy who's ruled by fear, that's who. A guy who in both of his attempts to recapture Wolverine from the X-Men used sneak attacks as the first option.

So now, here we are, with Guardian and his merry band hiding in the Master's Catacombs that stretch the entire northern regions of Canada. Hiding and waiting for something, making plans, and preparations.

Not that James is really a part of that. Mostly this is the Heather's plan, but she needs James as a scientific consultant, although hiding in the catacombs and letting the rest of the world believe they were dead was his original plan. However, Heather has had enough of his manipulation and has assumed command of the team. They live on opposite sides of the compound right now....2000 miles apart (they have really good mass transit). He's got a small band that he works with, but only meets with Heather about once a month or so he can visit their daughter.

Oh, right...

Patricia MacNeil-Hudson was born just before the Collective came to town.

So here we are - Jimmy Hudson - disgraced, in hiding, and his marriage all but over, and facing down the biggest threat he can imagine, something that litterally makes gives him cold sweats every night. Everything about his history says he should run. But now he's got one thing left to lose - possibly the only thing left he can lose.

So now, the man who's always found a way to run, has to make a stand.

[paulpogue]

Superhero worlds are incredibly freaky, scary places to live. Metropolis, Gotham, Star City – they all have their occasional apocalypse, right? Sure, Superduperman or whoever saves the day in the end, but let’s face it, as an ordinary civilian standing in the path of gods, you’re just collateral damage waiting to happen. You can move to the countryside, but it’ll still get you eventually next time a Crisis hits and cavemen overrun the world.

But Dayton is different. The metas and the magicks alike stay the hell away from there. Black Alice’s very presence is a great big neon “Do Not Remove This Tag Under Penalty of Law” sign that even aliens passing through recognize on some primal level. Alice lives here. Keep the hell off her lawn. Hell, BATMAN stays away.

This stuff filters down, you know. Word spreads among the ordinary people, the civilians, the background casualties waiting to happen. And eventually, people realize that the one quiet place in the world is Dayton, Ohio. No matter how Infinite the Crisis or the Warlike the Supermen, casualties and mayhem just seem to pass over Dayton with minimal property damage. Want life to be nice, quiet, orderly? Here you go. YEARS have passed since anyone got so much as a scratch from a superfight. Added bonus? Not many drug dealers, either. Nobody knows why it’s safe, but they know it is. And so they come.

Black Alice didn’t expect that. She foresaw the groupies and wannabes, and has no qualms about banishing them to Siberia. Didn’t take too many such stunts before people got the hint. Now maybe one or two wannabe punks a year drop in, and she casually exiles them before breakfast. Stay off the grass.

But the anti-wannabes? People who wanted exactly what she wanted and came to Dayton to embrace it, even if they didn’t know what or why? THAT caught her off guard. Quiet. Orderly. She could respect that, and gave them their space.

But people like that tend to take order a little too far. They don’t like anyone out of place. And when people like that get an ounce of power, pale goth kids in black are always the first ones they go after.

[michaelpaciocco]

Nice idea Paul, but I got to ask about how she deals with one of those "all reality is collapsing" problems?

[paulpogue]

Counts on Supes and Bats and the Tights Brigade to solve it, and after that -- mindwipes for everyone!

Seriously, though, in most cases -- say, your average Sinestro War -- she just uses whatever power it takes to keep skirmishes from bothering her. When it gets all Crisis-y, the rules go out the door. One of my future entries takes a closer look at the Day Evil Won.

[michaelpaciocco]

This could not be avoided.



So, Daken - unrepetant murderer, sadist, psycho, and son of Wolverine, current wearer of the Brown and Orange suit (my fave Wolverine costume, if for no other reason than the Wolverine stories I care about were when he wore that costume) is on the run from everyone - Steve Rogers and the newly assembled Avengers, SHIELD, and Wolverine.

So where better to run to than Canada? The land of his father, the place where he still has friends that he can't reach.

And imagine his surprise when finds them - ones that are alive and well that should not be. People that his father doesn't know are still alive and are hiding from the rest of the world.

What a wonderful opportunity this is for Daken. He gets to hide out from Rogers, SHIELD, etc, amongst his father's friends, and then, maybe when he's ready and everything is in place, he can get revenge on Logan by revealing that his friends are alive just in time to kill them.

At least, that's what he's thinking. Then again, maybe living among friends of his fathers - friends who don't know about Daken's history (they've been focusing on this big picture threat and not so much watching the Civil War/Dark Reign stuff - Canadians try to avoid American drama unless it's an election year). So he'll get to hear a whole other side to Logan's history - one that isn't as entirely positive given the Alpha/X-men animosity, but one that's not entirely negative either.

And then there's the fact that these...Canadians are just so damn nice, and welcoming - they welcomed his father, and they welcomed him like he was their long-lost friend.

What's wrong with these people?

And what will Daken really do when the time comes?

[Mario Di Giacomo]

FYI, I plan on re-writing my Aquaman ideas for my blog. But in the year since I read this, I've come up with some better ideas (for one, I'm losing the Artie Jr. angle)

[michaelpaciocco]

Good hunting - what's funny is that mine work even better now that Alpha Flight is you know, not dead anymore.

[Mario Di Giacomo]

And, done:

The Aquaman Predicament: A Geek's Solution