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Lex Sedet In Vertice: A Supervillain in the DCU CK2 quest
- Thread starter King crimson
- Start date
- Superhero
He isn't particularly devoted no but there's also absolutely nothing to indicate that he's disloyal or that he has any reason to betray us for the League
I genuinely think that people are inflating how important it is that the person we send be absolutely loyal, we have no reason to believe Ra's will betray us and Talia has made it very clear that she wants this to be alliance with trust in both sides
As for the no moral quandaries and high Intrigue Edward certainly has none of the former and is only slightly worse at the latter than Mercy, who keep in mind is at her most effective as a subordinate to somebody else not when left in charge of a thing
I just don't understand why people think this is worth losing one of our most valuable hero units for a prolonged period of time rather than one we don't have any real use for and I maintain the right to say "I told you so" every time a situation where she'd have been useful comes up
Sirrocco
Pedantic
Why do we need it to be someone we can absolutely trust? Like... seriously?
What is the role of this character?
- Go insert in our ally's organization, and mostly work for them.
- Serve as a conduit to us, and reflect our intent (with reasonable accuracy) when asked for feedback on what we'd think of things.
- Keep an eye on what's going on, and let us know if there's something going on behind our back that we'd want to know about.
- Have them inclined to act a bit more honestly because they might get caught otherwise.
- Represent us reasonably well, provide appropriate respect to Ra's, and don't offend them.
They also have the following costs/risks associated.
- Ra's and his people have an opportunity to turn them (perhaps fully, perhaps only mildly suborning them), if they are not sufficiently loyal. This rather damages our chances of spotting things if they start pulling shenaningans
- If they are sufficiently loyal, and Ra's decides to pull shenanigans anyway, they may be put in a situation where they are captured or something. I would say "killed" except that we've been flat-out told that that simply won't happen if there's any ay to justify anything else.
- They won't be available for doing other things with.
- If they are unhappy about being sent, or about having to deal with those people, it will damage their morale
- If they find the stuff that Ra's gets up to morally unacceptable, it will seriously damage their morale.
Side note: this is one of the things that I really don't like about "Hero characters basically never die ever" - it severely drops the risk of putting people we actually care about in legitimately dangerous situation. It lets us do things like lean into Roxxy's "when in risk of my life" trait without ever really having her in risk of her life... and so forth. It deforms the world. Well, that and the fact that it makes it functionally impossible to quietly arrange for the death of Lois Lane.
/***********/
So... what's the Mercy breakdown?
Upsides:
+ She's Super-loyal. No suborning here.
+ She's highly competent. If they try to capture/kill her, they might actually fail.
+ She's highly competent, and will excel at the job. While she's there, we're going to be pretty well-inf
+ She's highly competent and our right-hand woman. This is a gesture of profound respect to Ra's. Mercy arguably means more to us than Talia does to him.
+ She's morally flexible in all the right ways, and won't be offended at the stuff Ra's gets up to.
Downsides:
- She's our right-hand woman. Ra's... has that mild sexism thing going on. He may nit actually recognize how much of a gesture of respect she is.
- She's super-loyal and highly competent. Having her not available for taking actions is going to sting a bit. If Ra's does turn on us, then having her get captured or crippled or whatever is going to sting more.
- She's personally important to Lex in a way that almost no one else really is. (Mercy. Cassandra. Maybe Pamela. Queen Bee hopes to get there some day. That's pretty much it.) That's going to make both of those hurt more. If Mercy is gone, who's he going to rant to? Lady Vic? I don't know if this is likely to have any in-game effects, but I feel like we ought not ignore it.
- She's heading into an organization that's... fundamentally sexist, and probably wont' recognize how awesome she is. She's likely going to get more disrespect than she deserves (not from Ra's, but possibly from others). Right now, Talia is trying to get as far away from her dad as she can. There's a reason for that. Again, I don't know that it's going to have any crunch effects, but I can't imagine that she'll be enjoying her time with that organization.
- She's our head of security, and she's that way for a reason. Even above and beyond the specific actions we could assign her to, having her missing is going to leave a hole.
- She's obviously our henchwoman, and known as such. Sending her offers potentially significant evidence of us working together, if someone manages to uncover it.
Now... what's the Wells breakdown?
Upsides:
+ He's cheap. We have to half-struggle to find useful things for him to do as it is. Losing him isn't going to hurt us any. losing his actions in the short term won't hurt. If he gets suborned or captured... big deal? Sending him isn't zero-cost, but it's cheap. That's valuable in general, and it gets more valuable if Ra's decides to move against us.
+ He's reasonably competent, and in an organization of moderately sexist assassins? He'll fit right in. He's male, he's got the right moral stance, he's capable of showing due respect to authority figures, and the job isn't likely to be significantly worse than whatever else he was going to do.
+ He's reasonably competent, and as long as he isn't suborned, he'll do the job just fine.
+ We can honestly say that of our employees, he's the man who would fit into their organization the best.
Downsides:
- Very real chance of him getting suborned. Not going to lie. If Ra's puts real effort into it, he can probably manage it.
- Loses out on "gesture of respect" points a bit. Not too badly, but a bit.
- Probably won't go above and beyond in infiltrating the organization ad getting as much info as he can.
So the breakdown between them, then, is "What do you care about, and how much?"
- Sending Mercy costs us a great deal more, both personally and professionally. It probably sends a better diplomatic signal to Ra's, and it definitely results in more and better info coming from them, and in better coordination between our groups on their side.
- Sending Wells costs... honestly, very little. Even if Ra's suborns him completely, it still costs very little. We can just... leave him in place, as our little gift to the man. I don't think that Ra's intends to betray us, and if he's not outright betraying us, then giving him an easy way to "Get away with" doing things that we'd rather have plausible deniability on anyway sounds like more upside than downside.
So... if you really care about this alliance, and you want it to be the best alliance it can be, and you want to work really closely with him, and make our relationship with Ra's be, say, on the importance-level of our relationship with the US military, then yeah, probably send Mercy.
On the flip side, if you want someone who will make the system work, and keep Ra's reasonably happy, and make the connection functional but not amazing, then Wells will do the job just fine, and at far lower cost. We keep paying him, we offer generous additional pay on top for the foreign duty station, we maybe offer him the language-learning spell to help simplify settling in if he wants it.
For me? Ra's is a sideshow. I hope and expect to get some value out of him, but our desires are opposed, in ways that we're not particularly opposed to, say, Diana, the US military-industrial complex, or Queen Bee. As such, Wells as the "good enough" choice seems pretty much perfect. Mercy is overkill, and she's expensive overkill, and if she's only temporary overkill then... well, when we pull her back, who are we going to put instead? It's not like we're going to suddenly have anyone else better than Wells to send. Might as well go to him directly.
And no, I don't see Helen as a particularly good option. She cares about kids too much, she won't like the sexism, and she's guaranteed to be much more useful where she is than Wells is.
Silvereagle21
Soaring through the Sky
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
[x] [LL] Edward Wells
Don't forget that Talia coming to us isn't the same as us sending Mercy to Ra's, for one Talia isn't actually his most trusted lieutenant, that would be Ubu, and for another Talia actively volunteered for the position in order to benefit herself rather than having been sent by her father as a sign of trust
Not to mention that even if we do intend for this to be a long term alliance, which I personally do, we will almost certainly be working with Talia not Ra's
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
I would like to state that this is a vast over-simplification of things and a bit of a strawman argument. Hero units are prioritized to live when possible but you have succeeded in getting kills against them (Whisper A'Daire for example was killed on screen in quest). Hero units can die and will die if you use them stupidly.
Yes it does warp the world a little bit that they're prioritized to survive over generic units but it's a comic book setting, I shouldn't be attempting to stick one to one to realism and I think it's a necessary addition considering how permanent death is in quest (if a character dies on screen chances are they're never coming back ever again). I think the current situation is the best solution to giving you fair difficulty and letting things have proper impact (you can try to metagame it but the system is fair and most importantly it enables fun since it gives you a bit of a safety net if you want to play more crazy and aggressive).
TLDR: I feel a bit like the position you're critiquing is a strawman and not the actual state of things. My solution is not perfect but I consider the alternatives to potentially be worse.
I personally do not consider the League of Shadows to be fundamentally sexist. There are sexist members and Ra's himself is ever so slightly sexist in that he won't ever consider a female heir/successor but nothing about the structure/organization of the League of Shadows makes it any more fundamentally sexist than a business or a military. Of the top of my head characters like Lady Shiva and Whip don't seem to face much discrimination for being women and have risen up the ranks whilst characters like David Cain don't seem to believe in any inherent superiority of men over women in combat/assassinations (for all that's messed up with Texas Dave, he doesn't consider Cassandra to be any less capable due to being born female). Ra's is sexist and it's never a great look when an organizations leader is something negative but Ra's sexism is relatively minor and insidious, only really affecting the people closest to him and his own opinions and beliefs don't necessarily transitively apply to the organization as a whole.
Talia also isn't trying to get as far away from Ra's as she can or else she'd simply leave the League and vanish into obscurity. She does have issues with Ra's and Ra's sexism does affect her but it's not inherently tied to the League as an organization and simply stating that she's separating a bit from the League due to being treated poorly is a vast simplification. Talia's actions are motivated less by what Ra's is currently doing and instead more by what he might do in the future.
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I see what you're saying but to some extent it feels slightly disingenuous to say the League isn't sexist because it has some high ranking female members and it's high ranking make members aren't openly sexist
In an organisation that was founded centuries ago by a, mildly, sexist man who still runs it whose goal it is to maintain old values and indoctrinates a lot of its members I find it kind of hard to buy that the rank and file isn't at least somewhat sexist even if they'd never express it to their superiors, especially because if you're a woman who raised in rank then you've bloody earned it
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Having reconsidered a bit, I think I'm declaring neutrality in the Mercy-Edward debate and retracting my vote.
Fair enough, I can respect that
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
I mean that's fair but I suppose that I ought to elaborate on my original position. I feel that the League is not fundamentally sexist. In practice it might be actually sexist but nothing about the organization's structures, goals or methodologies inherently necessitate that the organization act in a manner that is sexist.
The League's goal isn't to maintain old values per se (they're a lot closer to being ecoterrorists than they are fundamentalists) and they're fairly egalitarian in who they take in. There might be sexism amongst the organization but at the same time if you put the same people in an official government recognized military then it would be about as sexist. I suppose what I'm saying is that if every member of the League of Shadows weren't sexist it would function broadly the same as it does now (the biggest change would come from Ra's now considering women eligible heirs).
Edit: Additionally while you are right that having a few high ranking female members doesn't make the organization inherently not sexist, the more general part I was trying to make is that gender doesn't seem to have impacted Lady Shiva or Whip's time in the organization to any significant degree. Even when we look at less prominent and in charge members like Tigris, Cheshire, White Willow, Promise or Kitty Kumbata their gender doesn't seem to truly affect them within the organization to any meaningful degree. It's not enough to prove things one way or another but it's pretty consistent that unless you're attempting to become Ra's heir then gender and sex doesn't seem to play a part in how people are treated within the League of Shadows
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KidFromPallet
Pokemon Fan
- Location
- Pallet Town
[x] [LL] Edward Wells
Losing access to Mercy just hurts far too much.
Losing access to Mercy just hurts far too much.
Fair enough, it isn't intentionally sexist nor is that a part of its core values
That makes sense
I would say they're at least a little bit more sexist between being led by a supreme ruler who is unintentionally sexist and the military at least theoretically being effected by public opinion
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Sirrocco
Pedantic
Okay, then I could use some correction, because the position I was taking is based on my gut-level understanding of how it works, which, more or less, comes out of my memories of my understanding of how you've responded previously when the topic has come up.
At the time, I was looking at Lois Lane specifically, and looking at "What would it take for this woman to straight-up no fooling no take-backs die, if we wanted to assassinate her?" The response that we got back (as best I understood it) was that you would take literally everything else on the plausible reward table before you picked "Lois Lane just straight-up dies". As far as I could tell, that meant that in order to make it happen, we'd have to roll better than your creativity at coming up with potentially interesting bennies that might come out of an assassination attempt. That felt like an unrealistically high bar to achieve, and was one of the reasons I gave up on even trying.
I'd assumed that someone like Mercy would be... more or less the same. Further, I was pretty sure that if Ra's was rolling for "attack Mercy Graves" he'd actually prefer that she be captured rather than killed (for various reasons). As such, my interpretation was that it would be unrealistically improbable for the situation "We send Mercy to Ra's. Ra's decides to betray us and sends lethal-capable assets after Mercy." to result in "Mercy has died." just going off the "picks off the reward table". For example, something like "Mercy is captured, but manages to get some sort of word out to Lex before they lock her down" could quite plausibly slot in as being worth the same point score from Ra's point of view, and therefore would occur instead.
If I'm wrong in any of this understanding, then please do correct me.
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
So you are right in the broad strokes but a lot of the nuance is missing from the interpretation listed above. It's less that I would "take literally everything else before killing off a character" and more so that I'd pick anything that could feasibly serve as an alternative prior to that point. Furthermore if it doesn't kill off a character but it does have negative consequences then it does make it easier to attempt again later. This is true for both Lois and Mercy.
I'm not going to get too into what Ra's would or would not do as that feels like it's unrelated to what I felt you were unintentionally strawmanning which is the viability for characters to die. I will however discuss a mechanistic way for things to work.
Assuming Ra's does decide to betray you and send lethal assets after Mercy, you are right that it's highly unlikely that he'll succeed in killing her in one turn (it's possible but highly improbable). However he could do something like "prevent Mercy from leaving Nanda Parbat or contacting Lex Luthor until Turn XX". Then he gets to take another shot next turn. That also won't necessarily kill right off the bat but lets say it severely injures Mercy enough to hospitalize her. Then in the third attempt he's much more likely to be able to successfully kill her. There is a safety net but it's not infinite.
Furthermore moving Mercy to be somewhere Ra's can easily access and attack lowers the DC on attempting to kill her. This in turn makes it more likely that the consequences will be severe and the more severe the consequences are the easier it is to kill off a character the next go around.
Ra's almost certainly won't kill a hero unit in one turn but if you make it easier for him to get negative consequences racked up faster than he can kill them in less time overall since he has to do less work in the grand scheme of things to force a death.
You are almost certainly not going to be able to outroll my creativity on the first attempt to kill a character but each time I give you a benefit from the attempt, I further limit the range of options from that point and thus it becomes easier to kill a character. If I have a character be rendered comatose by an attack I can no longer have them get injured escaping an assassination attempt and thus a whole branch of options is cut off. Killing a character is possible you just have to put a good amount of concerted effort behind it and invest a lot to have it occur.
So to return back to your original assumption Ra's would get something like "Mercy is captured but manages to get word out to Lex Luthor before she's locked down" before "Mercy is killed" but if he gets the former than it's significantly easier next turn to ensure that Mercy actually is killed.
Does that make sense or should I clarify further?
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So essentially take actions that will limit plot armor until everything possible is now impossible.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
That, and use overkill.
Don't just send a single high-Martial character to assassinate a low-Martial character. Sure, they'd win in a cage match, but that's not enough. You want to blow the doors off that DC, so that the character is not only injured but also, say, captured and at their attacker's mercy, or cut off from their supporting resources, or their allies already think they are dead and won't be trying to rescue them, or whatever extra stack of bad consequences you get from oversucceeding by +100 or more on the dice.
- Location
- At the end of the world
[X] [LL] Mercy Graves
Looks like we're just going to give up one of our most useful hero units for the foreseeable future then
I guess we'll just have to go into next turn two useful heroes down
I guess we'll just have to go into next turn two useful heroes down
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Have I mentioned how much I dislike this kind of... commentary?
Whineposts are very offputting. If you have an argument to advance, advance it in a form that respects other people's intelligence rather than just implying that they're too stupid to see the obvious reason they're wrong.
Because I'd declared neutrality in this vote. But so help me, every time I see this kind of thing...
[X] [LL] Mercy Graves
That is all.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
Oh, it does, and I'll admit that that's useful to know for the case of, for example, Lois Lane. Now I'm half-wishing we had sent someone after her while she was in the hospital.
At the same time, I was also looking at what Ra's (in my estimation) would actually want. Like, he's highly unlikely to want to kill Mercy. He ight want her locked up, under his control, unable to escape, and unable to communicate, for a bargaining chip, but killing her would antagonize us severely to no gain for him. Much better to have her as a bargaining chip who he could conceivably get information from and then offer to trade back later.
So... basically he wont' wind up killing her by mistake, when he'd meant to capture her instead. He won't wind up killing her because it's the easiest way to deal with the problem when he'd rather have her captured - by the time she's broken down far enough that killing becomes possible, suddenly capture is a pretty doable thing. So, unless I've significantly misjudged him, sending Mercy pretty much won't wind up with her dead, because "dead" requires concerted, focused effort over an extended period, where murder really is the thing you very much want to achieve. It's never going to happen by horrible mistake.
I mean, given how many lab accidents turn into superpowers rather than fatalities around here, that's not inappropriate, but it does strip some of the drama out of some of these situations.
I'm not implying that at all and I find it kind of offensive that you're assuming the worst of me here
I have explained my reasoning behind my argument several times now, arguably more so than the people voting for Mercy whose arguments so far can seemingly be boiled down to "she's loyal" and very few acknowledging the points that have been raised against sending her or in favour of Edward
I am perfectly entitled to make a short post expressing my dislike of the situation that doesn't call out or insult anyone without being accused of calling people stupid
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
So remember that idea I had for a halloween omake where people became their costumes? I developed the idea a bit more and came up with a bunch of costume ideas for a whole host of characters. I bolded where I'm leaning with each character and gave a brief explanation for why I'm leaning the way I am. That being said I would like feedback on some of these ideas especially if there are concepts people really did like. I decided to try and make use of people's suggestions and some of them really did help especially as I was trying my hardest to avoid repeat costumes.
Characters appearing after Clark Kent likely will not be appearing in the omake (I need to keep it at least a little focused) but I may end up including them if I have time and I encourage people to write their own omakes using some of these ideas if the mood strikes them. Feel free to suggest other costume options or characters that could potentially be included if you've got strong feelings their and I greatly appreciate any and all feedback you could give me on this bit of brainstorming.
Halloween Costume Omake Brainstorming
Lex Luthor: Evil Overlord, Devil, Egyptian Pharaoh, Vulcan
(So I knew from the get go that if Lex would have a costume it would have to be some kind of leader. The evil overlord fits the halloween aesthetic and it's a fun reversal of Lex's usual schtick, eschewing science and technology for raw magical might. It also lets me create a possible problem for the "heroes" of the story to solve beyond the general chaos as Evil Overlord Lex could realize that this will only last while Halloween is going on thus causing him to magically lock Metroplis into endless night thus forcing the heroes to climb LexCorp tower, now converted into the Tower of Terror, to undo his magic spell and thus bring an end to things since Mxyzptlk promised that everything would go away after Halloween was over)
Mercy Graves: Cyborg, Robot, Dragon
(I was initially tempted to have cyborg Mercy as a reference to Young Justice but I figured a dragon would be more fun. Not only is it a fun unique Halloween costume but it also lampshades Mercy's general role and lets her serve as a big climactic threat
Pamela Isley: Witch (couples costume with Katherine), Vampire, Frankenstein's monster (couples costume with Katherine), Robot
(Pamela was tricky for me, I liked a lot of the costume ideas and a lot of them would be fun but the witch won out as a classic Halloween costume that worked well with Pamela's skin tone and I could see her wearing it before people turned into their costumes. The fact that it worked as a couples costume with Katherine was just a nice cherry on top)
Katherine Kane: Cat familiar (couples costume with Pamela), General, Mad Scientist (couples costume with Pamela), Plant-Woman
(Again I liked a lot of the costumes but this melded well with an idea of Pamela's costume I liked, it's in the Halloween spirit and it has the nice little bonus of having the character who's normally Batwoman instead become a literal cat-woman)
Rebecca Carstairs: Solid Gold Statue, Demon/Devil, Cowgirl
(Rebecca was tricky. I'm not super happy with any of the ideas I have for her now but I think the solid gold statue lets me imply a bit about Rebecca's more artsy side, it keeps her out of the way and it demonstrates some of the potentially nastier aspects of Mxyzptlk's reality warping)
Roxanne Sutton: Pirate, Skeleton, Mummy
(I honestly just find the pirate costume to be a good fit for Roxy. It's a look she could pull off and would let her stay mobile and I think it could feed into her more chaotic side making her a menace in a different way than all of the ghouls and goblins. Roxy as a pirate could feed into her thrill-seeking making her a Jack Sparrow-esque wild card constantly playing everyone in the hopes of getting treasure and rum. It's just a fun idea)
Carol Ferris: Cleopatra-esque Pharaoh/Mummy, Zombie, Genie
(So Carol was a bit tricky. I knew I did want to throw in a mummy somewhere but I also wanted to make it distinct from a zombie and do something fun with it. Carol had a good look for it and so I figured why not)
Karl Helfern: Monstrous Skeleton, Frankenstein's Monster
(The man who makes monstrous bone creatures becomes a monstrous bone creature. Not much to say here things just lined up neatly)
Cassandra Luthor: Demon/Devil, Princess, Head of LexCorp, Batman
(Cassandra Luthor was one that hurt. I've been leaning every which way with her as almost all of them are just fun states of mind to see her act out. Ultimately though I am leaning on the demon/devil to keep her loosely associated with LexCorp when they all transform and would mesh the best with letting her bounce off of other characters.)
Mari McCabe: Werewolf, Mermaid, Lioness
(I knew that I wanted to give Mari an animal related costume and a werewolf is a classic monster that I hadn't used as a costume for anyone else yet. It worked out and I was happy to make use of this)
Oswald Loomis: Wizard, Uncle Ozzy, Jack-O-Lantern headed Skeleton
(Oswald would almost certainly pick something pleasant for children and I agreed with the suggestion that offered the wizard as a good Halloween costume for him. Plus it lets Oswald be heroic for a bit and help people out which he doesn't really get to do all that much)
Jinx: Witch, Vampire, Mercy-esque, Batgirl
(Jinx was another brutal one for me. Batgirl was tempting but only when having a Batman to work off of as Jinx as Batgirl wasn't strong enough on its own. Likewise having Jinx act like how she thinks Mercy would only works if she had a Lex-equivalent to play off of. The witch is a good look and one I could see her going for but Jinx as a witch isn't all that different from regular Jinx which kind of undermines the fun of the transformations making character's act differently. As such I'm leaning towards making Jinx a vampire as it's a costume she could wear and gives her a wildly different powerset and letting her play off of others)
Carl Draper: Prison Warden, Alien Interrogator, Grim Reaper
(Carl was tricky but making him an alien interrogator keeps him spooky and makes him unique and different. It's a fun way to break up the monotony of the predominantly supernatural transformations)
Felicity Smoak: Barbarian Warrior, Cyborg, Hippie, Velma Dinkley
(Felicity was tricky but I ultimately settled on the barbarian warrior as a way to kind of role reverse stuff. Felicity is generally portrayed as a character defined by her intelligence so I thought it would be fun to have a costume transofrmation that was completely unlike normal Felicity and would let her play out a different role.)
Marie Louise Dahl: Red Riding Hood, Pumpkin, Bat, Ghost, Doll
(Marie had a lot of fun costume ideas but I couldn't see her wearing something completely infantilizing or something that drew too heavily on her previous television career. Also turning Marie into an animal or a plant or a ghost just felt kind of mean to me. Having Marie as little red riding hood is a costume I could see her wearing and it would let me potentially show off the mental effects of the transformation by having Marie actually mentally become a child and lose a lot of her bitterness)
Edward Nygma: Sphinx, Secret Agent, Sherlock Holmes
(I was split between Sherlock Holmes and Secret Agent because I knew I wanted Nygma to go from a generally unpleasant person to a genuinely heroic ally working to solve the events of the costume curse. Sherlock Holmes won out due to it being something I saw Nygma as more likely to wear and that I feel like giving Nygma fencing and boxing skills is cooler than just giving Nygma a gun)
Rose Wilson: Pirate, Soldier, Ninja, Revenant
(Rose is tricky and not one I'm fully happy with but having her be an undead warrior of sorts with ghostly white hair appealed to me on an aesthetic level)
Dr. Moon: Not appearing, Frog being dissected, Banana
(Dr. Moon just isn't fun and while he does have some things that can be reversed, he simply isn't compelling enough to have seeing him act on his perception of a different role be interesting. Dr. Moon works best as a foil or accompaniment towards other characters but in this story his usual role is unnecessary)
Lisa Snart: Red Riding Hood, Cheerleader, Ballerina
(I knew that I wanted to have Lisa play into the more "attractive" spectrum of costumes and I also knew that I didn't want to give her a big role. Giving her the cheerleader costume knocks a fairly common costume out as one that's seen and seems like something she might wear and lets her play a more innocent role as a damsel in distress as opposed to her more greedy and manipulative normal behavior)
Leonard Snart: Police Officer, Prison Inmate, Ghostbuster
(This just seemed like a really fun role reversal. Seeing Leonard act how he thinks the police act seemed like a riot and it let him act as a heroic character of sorts which would be fun. All in all I like this)
Samuel Scudder: Bedsheet ghost, Gorilla, Superhero, Disco Ball
(I feel no pity for making Sam the butt of the joke here. Having someone basically get turned into an animal demonstrates the stakes and shows off some of the transformations. The removal of all of Sam's intellect sets up for the easy joke of it not being any different and Sam seems like the kind of guy who'd wear a gorilla suit)
Mick Rory: Mummy, Hockey Masked Killer, Cowboy
(I wanted to go with an easy simple costume for Mick and a Jason Vorhees-esque killer seemed right. It was a different sort of Halloween horror and Mick has a good build for it. Plus turning the most sympathetic of the rogues into a merciless killer is a good reversal and demonstrates why what happened is so dangerous to everyone)
Lucy Lane: General, Roman Senator, Medusa/Gorgon
(So I brainstormed a few ideas and I ultimately settled on the most horror related one. I do blame Castlevania a bit for me coming to this conclusion.)
Meena Dhawan: Mad Scientist, Princess Aura, Marie Curie
(I'm very tempted to go for Princess Aura but I don't think the Flash Gordon reference is interesting enough to work on its own. Mad Scientist is just a fun role for Meena as it basically gets to show her acting completely unhinged and making her another threat to the heroes that's distinct from the others)
Caitlin Snow: Aayla Secura, Yeti, Vampire, Surfer Chick, Jester
(I'm not super happy with any of the costume options but having Caitlin be able to be heroic and not have to deal with the nastier sides of her personality seems like a fun time)
Louise Lincoln: Not appearing in this story, no costume
(Louise just doesn't seem like someone who'd put on a Halloween costume and having her show up just to show up isn't all that fun. I figure I'm better off cutting her)
Vivian D' Aramis: Fox, Conjoined twin (Shared with Constance), Mobster
(I liked going for weird obscure horror aesthetics. A conjoined twin costume is a great fun creepy look that is unique and you don't see all that often. I naturally went for it.)
Constance D'Aramis: Fox, Conjoined twin (Shared with Vivian), Lifeguard
(Everything I said for Vivian applies her as well. Plus seeing Vivian and Constance literally become one person seems like another neat way to show off how far the transformations go)
Robert Frost: Not appearing in this story, Robot, Marble Statue
(I don't know if I want Mr. Frost in the story but I figured having him serve as Meena's robotic assistant gives him an interesting role and uses him in a fun way.)
Nathan Warbow: Pirate, Firefighter, Captain Nemo
(Nathan's a character who doesn't get to do much partly because of his lack of confidence. Making him more confident and just an all around cool literary character seems like a fun time and makes for an interesting ally)
Paige Monroe: Nun, Astronaut, Plague Doctor
(I knew from the get go that I wanted Paige's costumes to cover as much of her body as possible due to her body issues. Of the costumes I came up with plague doctor was the spookiest so I went with that)
Lana Lang: Ginger from Gilligan's island, Farmer
(This here was me wanting to use at least one fictional character that didn't come from literature and give Lana a different personality for the duration of the event.)
Rene Carpenter: Teacher, Flamenco dancer, Cyclops
(I'm leaning this way due to it lining up with Lucy's greek monster theme and it would be fun to see the transformation take place)
Elaine Marsh Morton: Not appearing in this story, Hunter, Robin Hood
(Elaine seems snobbish enough to not want to participate in Halloween and the only other thing she'd contribute would be shooting people. I frankly don't think she needs to show up in this omake)
Edward Wells: Hunter, Soldier, Outlaw
(Edward already is a hunter and a soldier. However having him be a no nonsense cowboy outlaw second in command to Roxy seemed like a fun role for him even if he'd be playing a bit part)
Siobhan McDougal: Ghost, Biker, Headless Horseman
(Siobhan already is kind of a Halloween monster with her banshee form but I figured making her a different sort of monster would be a neat change of pace as I didn't want to stick too closely to what she'd already got while still keeping her vaguely in theme with Scottish/Irish monsters and thus chose to make her a headless horseman instead of a banshee)
Helena Bertinelli: Schoolgirl, Police Officer, Nurse
(Helena also seemed to me like a character willing to go to the more "attractive" side of Halloween costumes. As such with that in mind having the teacher become a schoolgirl seemed like a fun reversal hence why I'm leaning this way)
Barbara Gordon: Batman, Vampire hunter
(This one's tricky. If the emotional crux of the story were on dealing with vampire antagonists then the vampire hunter would work great. However that's not the case here. Having Batgirl transform into Batman is a bit samey in terms of abilities but for me the key appeal is in the alteration to personality. Seeing Batgirl act like how she thinks Batman acts and be utterly convinced that she is in fact Batman just seems fun to see. It gives the protagonists a useful ally but not one devoid of comedy. Plus it serves as a nice reference to the many continuities in which the Batgirl costume begins life as a costume created for a costume party as a distaff Batman)
Jade Nguyen: Serial Killer, Cheshire Cat, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Ninja
(I didn't want to go for something that's really been seen before a lot with Jade and I figured making her into a slasher serial killer would be neat to see hence why I'm leaning that way)
Ace: Normal Schoolgirl, Princess, Fairy
(I knew that with Ace I wanted to take her powers away. However I also wanted to give her a form she could be happy with and not just be in danger the whole time. As such making her a fairy let me do that, it seemed like an appropriate costume for a young girl to want to wear for Halloween and it let me call back to her fondness for butterflies)
King: Professor, General, King
(I wanted King to have a costume that made him competent at something. I ultimately chose to make him a general because I thought it would make for a good basic starter problem without stepping on the toes of other characters)
Queen: President of the United States, Miss Metropolis, Queen of Everything
(Queen to me seemed like an opportunity to show off how even a simple costume could be unexpectedly dangerous. By making Queen a literal queen who felt entitled to rule over the masses I figured it would be a fun way to show that things can be unexpectedly dangerous while also having her as an easy starter problem. On top of that it leaves the option of helping the protagonists realize the perception component of the transformations by having Queen keep her powers due to her viewing her costume as "herself as the queen of the world" as opposed to just "queen of the world" and thus highlighting that angle in-universe if I want to explore it)
Jack: T-Rex, A Shadow, Mr. Monopoly
(This just seemed fun because it's so wildly out of character and Jack has no idea what rich people actually act like. It lets him serve as a comedic damsel in distress figure)
Ten: Boxing Champion, Knight, Headless Horseman, Martial Artist
(This was a toss up for me between boxing champion and martial artist but I went with the one that I felt would be less stereotypical whilst still keeping to the same broad strokes of portraying Ten as someone who'd be fighting in the chaos of the Halloween transformations)
Leslie Willis: Rock Star, Fallen Angel, Pirate Radio
(This just seemed like a costume she'd wear and was the least potentially disruptive to events in the city at large)
Lois Lane: Princess, Flaming Skeleton, Zombie, Evil Sorceress, Ultraviolet
(Lois Lane was an interesting one for me as a lot of options were really strong. Zombie was great if I wanted to make this seem more horrific, Princess if I wanted to play with the whole "Lois Lane is a damsel in distress angle" and an evil sorceress if I wanted to go and make Lois transform into someone Clark had to defeat. All of those are strong angles. However Ultraviolet seems the strongest to me. Admittedly Lois likely wouldn't wear the costume of her own volition but I imagine her agreeing to do so due to losing a bet to Cat Grant. Lois likely has interesting opinions on the world most prominent female superhero who just so happens to be sponsored by LexCorp and so seeing her act how she thinks Ultraviolet acts and filling in the blanks with her own mind seems interesting and fun. It lets Lois act as a morally dubious ally and the fact that Lois can physically look like Ultraviolet just makes the costume work better in my opinion)
Jimmy Olson: Superman
(It's Superman's best pal becoming Superman. It also means Clark's got to navigate working with a teen with all of his powers and less of his weaknesses who thinks he's Superman but actually isn't. It's a fun dichotomy and a problem to work around)
Cat Grant: Queen, Witch, Ghost Bride
(Cat Grant seems like someone who would wear this kind of costume and whilst it does overlap with Pamela, Cat Grant would likely serve as an introduction to the alteration of personalities the costume transformations cause as opposed to being a major obstacle, instead making a nice start to the journey)
Perry White: Mob Boss, Luchador
(This just seems funny to me. I don't have any deep reason for this, the image of Perry White about to elbow drop someone just makes me laugh)
Clark Kent: Unaffected but locked into having no powers due to "Clark Kent" being his costume according to Mxyzptlk
(It helps to situate why Mxyzptlk would pull the stunt he did, since Mxyzptlk likes to mess with Superman, and it gives a natural protagonist and window into seeing the transformations occur)
Diana Prince: Statue of Liberty, Pharaoh, Sorcerous Empress
(I think the Statue of Liberty is a neat costume that Diana definitely could wear in her current role, it would explain why she's not interfering in things and it would serve as a reminder that power prior to the transformation doesn't really matter. Plus it answers the interesting question of what does someone who thinks they're a landmark act like)
Zatanna: Bunnysuit, Lounge Singer, Mystical Fortune Teller
(Zatanna seemed to be the character most likely to appeal to fanservice and I'm not really happy with the options I had but I figured letting her keep magic but making her use it in a different way would be neat)
Bruce Wayne: Dracula, Black Knight, Barbarian Warrior, Superman
(This was tricky for me. Dracula is fun if you want a villainous sort of "bat-man", a black knight if you want to make him into a generically evil warrior and a barbarian warrior if you want to play a reversal with the world's greatest detective's intellect but for me the standout option is having Bruce Wayne transform into Superman. It's literally Batman acting how he thinks Superman would act, that's a goldmine of character opportunity and it's just a ton of fun. I'd probably go for this if I included him in the omake)
Dick Grayson: Werewolf, Batman, Police Officer, Peter Pan
(Having Dick transformed into Batman or a police officer, both of which he was in the comics is neat but it steps on other characters toes who do something more interesting with the transformation. Making him into Peter Pan gives us another literary character and gives him a unique niche to fill)
Alfred Pennyworth: Priest, Aging Knight, Charon
(This just seemed the best to me especially since the priest option, while good, works best with synergy with the rest of the batfamily that just isn't there with the rest of how I'm leaning right now)
Jason Todd: Robin, Shark, Robin Hood, Spaceman Spiff-esque hero
(It was tempting to make him Robin and it was tempting to make him Robin Hood just for the future referencing but I actually prefer to make him a Spaceman Spiff-esque hero. The contrast of a childish Jason Todd transforming into an ideal hero who uses a ray gun to blast bad guys with the nominal, utterly cynical "hero" Red Hood that Jason generally becomes is really good and I personally would like to play with that as you can use one to highlight Jason's thoughts on heroism and then how those same thoughts could twist to become something on the other end of the spectrum)
Cassandra Sandsmark: The Flash, Angel, Flamingo, Barbie
(Cassandra Sandsmark is tricky for me and I kind of wanted to go with a costume that highlighted her blonde hair. I also wanted her to not constantly be in danger so I went with the angel)
Oliver Queen: Robin Hood, Viking, Bewildered Tourist
(While Robin Hood is the obvious choice it's a little too similar to Green Arrow for my taste. However making Oliver Queen into a viking would change his behavior and weapon of choice whilst working for his general appearance. It just seems like an interesting alteration to me)
Dinah Lance: Pop Star, Mermaid, Banshee
(If I'm going to include Dinah, I kind of want to include a costume that plays around with sound. A pop star would make her act wildly differently and a banshee would make her a monster to fight but a mermaid gives options. Not only does it prevent her from fighting as she normally does and cause her to need to enter water but she can be as villainous or heroic as the story needs depending on how close to a siren I want to have the costume be)
Talia al Ghul: Queen Elizabeth I, Tiger, Ra's al Ghul
(I figured that it would be interesting to see Talia's take on the queen of England and while the Ra's thing is obvious it seems like it wouldn't lead to an interesting story and the tiger option just reduces all of Talia's agency as a character)
Barry Allen: George Washington, Commando, Gladiator
(The commando costume transformation seems to me like something completely different from Barry's powerset while still filling an interesting niche)
Characters appearing after Clark Kent likely will not be appearing in the omake (I need to keep it at least a little focused) but I may end up including them if I have time and I encourage people to write their own omakes using some of these ideas if the mood strikes them. Feel free to suggest other costume options or characters that could potentially be included if you've got strong feelings their and I greatly appreciate any and all feedback you could give me on this bit of brainstorming.
Halloween Costume Omake Brainstorming
Lex Luthor: Evil Overlord, Devil, Egyptian Pharaoh, Vulcan
(So I knew from the get go that if Lex would have a costume it would have to be some kind of leader. The evil overlord fits the halloween aesthetic and it's a fun reversal of Lex's usual schtick, eschewing science and technology for raw magical might. It also lets me create a possible problem for the "heroes" of the story to solve beyond the general chaos as Evil Overlord Lex could realize that this will only last while Halloween is going on thus causing him to magically lock Metroplis into endless night thus forcing the heroes to climb LexCorp tower, now converted into the Tower of Terror, to undo his magic spell and thus bring an end to things since Mxyzptlk promised that everything would go away after Halloween was over)
Mercy Graves: Cyborg, Robot, Dragon
(I was initially tempted to have cyborg Mercy as a reference to Young Justice but I figured a dragon would be more fun. Not only is it a fun unique Halloween costume but it also lampshades Mercy's general role and lets her serve as a big climactic threat
Pamela Isley: Witch (couples costume with Katherine), Vampire, Frankenstein's monster (couples costume with Katherine), Robot
(Pamela was tricky for me, I liked a lot of the costume ideas and a lot of them would be fun but the witch won out as a classic Halloween costume that worked well with Pamela's skin tone and I could see her wearing it before people turned into their costumes. The fact that it worked as a couples costume with Katherine was just a nice cherry on top)
Katherine Kane: Cat familiar (couples costume with Pamela), General, Mad Scientist (couples costume with Pamela), Plant-Woman
(Again I liked a lot of the costumes but this melded well with an idea of Pamela's costume I liked, it's in the Halloween spirit and it has the nice little bonus of having the character who's normally Batwoman instead become a literal cat-woman)
Rebecca Carstairs: Solid Gold Statue, Demon/Devil, Cowgirl
(Rebecca was tricky. I'm not super happy with any of the ideas I have for her now but I think the solid gold statue lets me imply a bit about Rebecca's more artsy side, it keeps her out of the way and it demonstrates some of the potentially nastier aspects of Mxyzptlk's reality warping)
Roxanne Sutton: Pirate, Skeleton, Mummy
(I honestly just find the pirate costume to be a good fit for Roxy. It's a look she could pull off and would let her stay mobile and I think it could feed into her more chaotic side making her a menace in a different way than all of the ghouls and goblins. Roxy as a pirate could feed into her thrill-seeking making her a Jack Sparrow-esque wild card constantly playing everyone in the hopes of getting treasure and rum. It's just a fun idea)
Carol Ferris: Cleopatra-esque Pharaoh/Mummy, Zombie, Genie
(So Carol was a bit tricky. I knew I did want to throw in a mummy somewhere but I also wanted to make it distinct from a zombie and do something fun with it. Carol had a good look for it and so I figured why not)
Karl Helfern: Monstrous Skeleton, Frankenstein's Monster
(The man who makes monstrous bone creatures becomes a monstrous bone creature. Not much to say here things just lined up neatly)
Cassandra Luthor: Demon/Devil, Princess, Head of LexCorp, Batman
(Cassandra Luthor was one that hurt. I've been leaning every which way with her as almost all of them are just fun states of mind to see her act out. Ultimately though I am leaning on the demon/devil to keep her loosely associated with LexCorp when they all transform and would mesh the best with letting her bounce off of other characters.)
Mari McCabe: Werewolf, Mermaid, Lioness
(I knew that I wanted to give Mari an animal related costume and a werewolf is a classic monster that I hadn't used as a costume for anyone else yet. It worked out and I was happy to make use of this)
Oswald Loomis: Wizard, Uncle Ozzy, Jack-O-Lantern headed Skeleton
(Oswald would almost certainly pick something pleasant for children and I agreed with the suggestion that offered the wizard as a good Halloween costume for him. Plus it lets Oswald be heroic for a bit and help people out which he doesn't really get to do all that much)
Jinx: Witch, Vampire, Mercy-esque, Batgirl
(Jinx was another brutal one for me. Batgirl was tempting but only when having a Batman to work off of as Jinx as Batgirl wasn't strong enough on its own. Likewise having Jinx act like how she thinks Mercy would only works if she had a Lex-equivalent to play off of. The witch is a good look and one I could see her going for but Jinx as a witch isn't all that different from regular Jinx which kind of undermines the fun of the transformations making character's act differently. As such I'm leaning towards making Jinx a vampire as it's a costume she could wear and gives her a wildly different powerset and letting her play off of others)
Carl Draper: Prison Warden, Alien Interrogator, Grim Reaper
(Carl was tricky but making him an alien interrogator keeps him spooky and makes him unique and different. It's a fun way to break up the monotony of the predominantly supernatural transformations)
Felicity Smoak: Barbarian Warrior, Cyborg, Hippie, Velma Dinkley
(Felicity was tricky but I ultimately settled on the barbarian warrior as a way to kind of role reverse stuff. Felicity is generally portrayed as a character defined by her intelligence so I thought it would be fun to have a costume transofrmation that was completely unlike normal Felicity and would let her play out a different role.)
Marie Louise Dahl: Red Riding Hood, Pumpkin, Bat, Ghost, Doll
(Marie had a lot of fun costume ideas but I couldn't see her wearing something completely infantilizing or something that drew too heavily on her previous television career. Also turning Marie into an animal or a plant or a ghost just felt kind of mean to me. Having Marie as little red riding hood is a costume I could see her wearing and it would let me potentially show off the mental effects of the transformation by having Marie actually mentally become a child and lose a lot of her bitterness)
Edward Nygma: Sphinx, Secret Agent, Sherlock Holmes
(I was split between Sherlock Holmes and Secret Agent because I knew I wanted Nygma to go from a generally unpleasant person to a genuinely heroic ally working to solve the events of the costume curse. Sherlock Holmes won out due to it being something I saw Nygma as more likely to wear and that I feel like giving Nygma fencing and boxing skills is cooler than just giving Nygma a gun)
Rose Wilson: Pirate, Soldier, Ninja, Revenant
(Rose is tricky and not one I'm fully happy with but having her be an undead warrior of sorts with ghostly white hair appealed to me on an aesthetic level)
Dr. Moon: Not appearing, Frog being dissected, Banana
(Dr. Moon just isn't fun and while he does have some things that can be reversed, he simply isn't compelling enough to have seeing him act on his perception of a different role be interesting. Dr. Moon works best as a foil or accompaniment towards other characters but in this story his usual role is unnecessary)
Lisa Snart: Red Riding Hood, Cheerleader, Ballerina
(I knew that I wanted to have Lisa play into the more "attractive" spectrum of costumes and I also knew that I didn't want to give her a big role. Giving her the cheerleader costume knocks a fairly common costume out as one that's seen and seems like something she might wear and lets her play a more innocent role as a damsel in distress as opposed to her more greedy and manipulative normal behavior)
Leonard Snart: Police Officer, Prison Inmate, Ghostbuster
(This just seemed like a really fun role reversal. Seeing Leonard act how he thinks the police act seemed like a riot and it let him act as a heroic character of sorts which would be fun. All in all I like this)
Samuel Scudder: Bedsheet ghost, Gorilla, Superhero, Disco Ball
(I feel no pity for making Sam the butt of the joke here. Having someone basically get turned into an animal demonstrates the stakes and shows off some of the transformations. The removal of all of Sam's intellect sets up for the easy joke of it not being any different and Sam seems like the kind of guy who'd wear a gorilla suit)
Mick Rory: Mummy, Hockey Masked Killer, Cowboy
(I wanted to go with an easy simple costume for Mick and a Jason Vorhees-esque killer seemed right. It was a different sort of Halloween horror and Mick has a good build for it. Plus turning the most sympathetic of the rogues into a merciless killer is a good reversal and demonstrates why what happened is so dangerous to everyone)
Lucy Lane: General, Roman Senator, Medusa/Gorgon
(So I brainstormed a few ideas and I ultimately settled on the most horror related one. I do blame Castlevania a bit for me coming to this conclusion.)
Meena Dhawan: Mad Scientist, Princess Aura, Marie Curie
(I'm very tempted to go for Princess Aura but I don't think the Flash Gordon reference is interesting enough to work on its own. Mad Scientist is just a fun role for Meena as it basically gets to show her acting completely unhinged and making her another threat to the heroes that's distinct from the others)
Caitlin Snow: Aayla Secura, Yeti, Vampire, Surfer Chick, Jester
(I'm not super happy with any of the costume options but having Caitlin be able to be heroic and not have to deal with the nastier sides of her personality seems like a fun time)
Louise Lincoln: Not appearing in this story, no costume
(Louise just doesn't seem like someone who'd put on a Halloween costume and having her show up just to show up isn't all that fun. I figure I'm better off cutting her)
Vivian D' Aramis: Fox, Conjoined twin (Shared with Constance), Mobster
(I liked going for weird obscure horror aesthetics. A conjoined twin costume is a great fun creepy look that is unique and you don't see all that often. I naturally went for it.)
Constance D'Aramis: Fox, Conjoined twin (Shared with Vivian), Lifeguard
(Everything I said for Vivian applies her as well. Plus seeing Vivian and Constance literally become one person seems like another neat way to show off how far the transformations go)
Robert Frost: Not appearing in this story, Robot, Marble Statue
(I don't know if I want Mr. Frost in the story but I figured having him serve as Meena's robotic assistant gives him an interesting role and uses him in a fun way.)
Nathan Warbow: Pirate, Firefighter, Captain Nemo
(Nathan's a character who doesn't get to do much partly because of his lack of confidence. Making him more confident and just an all around cool literary character seems like a fun time and makes for an interesting ally)
Paige Monroe: Nun, Astronaut, Plague Doctor
(I knew from the get go that I wanted Paige's costumes to cover as much of her body as possible due to her body issues. Of the costumes I came up with plague doctor was the spookiest so I went with that)
Lana Lang: Ginger from Gilligan's island, Farmer
(This here was me wanting to use at least one fictional character that didn't come from literature and give Lana a different personality for the duration of the event.)
Rene Carpenter: Teacher, Flamenco dancer, Cyclops
(I'm leaning this way due to it lining up with Lucy's greek monster theme and it would be fun to see the transformation take place)
Elaine Marsh Morton: Not appearing in this story, Hunter, Robin Hood
(Elaine seems snobbish enough to not want to participate in Halloween and the only other thing she'd contribute would be shooting people. I frankly don't think she needs to show up in this omake)
Edward Wells: Hunter, Soldier, Outlaw
(Edward already is a hunter and a soldier. However having him be a no nonsense cowboy outlaw second in command to Roxy seemed like a fun role for him even if he'd be playing a bit part)
Siobhan McDougal: Ghost, Biker, Headless Horseman
(Siobhan already is kind of a Halloween monster with her banshee form but I figured making her a different sort of monster would be a neat change of pace as I didn't want to stick too closely to what she'd already got while still keeping her vaguely in theme with Scottish/Irish monsters and thus chose to make her a headless horseman instead of a banshee)
Helena Bertinelli: Schoolgirl, Police Officer, Nurse
(Helena also seemed to me like a character willing to go to the more "attractive" side of Halloween costumes. As such with that in mind having the teacher become a schoolgirl seemed like a fun reversal hence why I'm leaning this way)
Barbara Gordon: Batman, Vampire hunter
(This one's tricky. If the emotional crux of the story were on dealing with vampire antagonists then the vampire hunter would work great. However that's not the case here. Having Batgirl transform into Batman is a bit samey in terms of abilities but for me the key appeal is in the alteration to personality. Seeing Batgirl act like how she thinks Batman acts and be utterly convinced that she is in fact Batman just seems fun to see. It gives the protagonists a useful ally but not one devoid of comedy. Plus it serves as a nice reference to the many continuities in which the Batgirl costume begins life as a costume created for a costume party as a distaff Batman)
Jade Nguyen: Serial Killer, Cheshire Cat, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Ninja
(I didn't want to go for something that's really been seen before a lot with Jade and I figured making her into a slasher serial killer would be neat to see hence why I'm leaning that way)
Ace: Normal Schoolgirl, Princess, Fairy
(I knew that with Ace I wanted to take her powers away. However I also wanted to give her a form she could be happy with and not just be in danger the whole time. As such making her a fairy let me do that, it seemed like an appropriate costume for a young girl to want to wear for Halloween and it let me call back to her fondness for butterflies)
King: Professor, General, King
(I wanted King to have a costume that made him competent at something. I ultimately chose to make him a general because I thought it would make for a good basic starter problem without stepping on the toes of other characters)
Queen: President of the United States, Miss Metropolis, Queen of Everything
(Queen to me seemed like an opportunity to show off how even a simple costume could be unexpectedly dangerous. By making Queen a literal queen who felt entitled to rule over the masses I figured it would be a fun way to show that things can be unexpectedly dangerous while also having her as an easy starter problem. On top of that it leaves the option of helping the protagonists realize the perception component of the transformations by having Queen keep her powers due to her viewing her costume as "herself as the queen of the world" as opposed to just "queen of the world" and thus highlighting that angle in-universe if I want to explore it)
Jack: T-Rex, A Shadow, Mr. Monopoly
(This just seemed fun because it's so wildly out of character and Jack has no idea what rich people actually act like. It lets him serve as a comedic damsel in distress figure)
Ten: Boxing Champion, Knight, Headless Horseman, Martial Artist
(This was a toss up for me between boxing champion and martial artist but I went with the one that I felt would be less stereotypical whilst still keeping to the same broad strokes of portraying Ten as someone who'd be fighting in the chaos of the Halloween transformations)
Leslie Willis: Rock Star, Fallen Angel, Pirate Radio
(This just seemed like a costume she'd wear and was the least potentially disruptive to events in the city at large)
Lois Lane: Princess, Flaming Skeleton, Zombie, Evil Sorceress, Ultraviolet
(Lois Lane was an interesting one for me as a lot of options were really strong. Zombie was great if I wanted to make this seem more horrific, Princess if I wanted to play with the whole "Lois Lane is a damsel in distress angle" and an evil sorceress if I wanted to go and make Lois transform into someone Clark had to defeat. All of those are strong angles. However Ultraviolet seems the strongest to me. Admittedly Lois likely wouldn't wear the costume of her own volition but I imagine her agreeing to do so due to losing a bet to Cat Grant. Lois likely has interesting opinions on the world most prominent female superhero who just so happens to be sponsored by LexCorp and so seeing her act how she thinks Ultraviolet acts and filling in the blanks with her own mind seems interesting and fun. It lets Lois act as a morally dubious ally and the fact that Lois can physically look like Ultraviolet just makes the costume work better in my opinion)
Jimmy Olson: Superman
(It's Superman's best pal becoming Superman. It also means Clark's got to navigate working with a teen with all of his powers and less of his weaknesses who thinks he's Superman but actually isn't. It's a fun dichotomy and a problem to work around)
Cat Grant: Queen, Witch, Ghost Bride
(Cat Grant seems like someone who would wear this kind of costume and whilst it does overlap with Pamela, Cat Grant would likely serve as an introduction to the alteration of personalities the costume transformations cause as opposed to being a major obstacle, instead making a nice start to the journey)
Perry White: Mob Boss, Luchador
(This just seems funny to me. I don't have any deep reason for this, the image of Perry White about to elbow drop someone just makes me laugh)
Clark Kent: Unaffected but locked into having no powers due to "Clark Kent" being his costume according to Mxyzptlk
(It helps to situate why Mxyzptlk would pull the stunt he did, since Mxyzptlk likes to mess with Superman, and it gives a natural protagonist and window into seeing the transformations occur)
Diana Prince: Statue of Liberty, Pharaoh, Sorcerous Empress
(I think the Statue of Liberty is a neat costume that Diana definitely could wear in her current role, it would explain why she's not interfering in things and it would serve as a reminder that power prior to the transformation doesn't really matter. Plus it answers the interesting question of what does someone who thinks they're a landmark act like)
Zatanna: Bunnysuit, Lounge Singer, Mystical Fortune Teller
(Zatanna seemed to be the character most likely to appeal to fanservice and I'm not really happy with the options I had but I figured letting her keep magic but making her use it in a different way would be neat)
Bruce Wayne: Dracula, Black Knight, Barbarian Warrior, Superman
(This was tricky for me. Dracula is fun if you want a villainous sort of "bat-man", a black knight if you want to make him into a generically evil warrior and a barbarian warrior if you want to play a reversal with the world's greatest detective's intellect but for me the standout option is having Bruce Wayne transform into Superman. It's literally Batman acting how he thinks Superman would act, that's a goldmine of character opportunity and it's just a ton of fun. I'd probably go for this if I included him in the omake)
Dick Grayson: Werewolf, Batman, Police Officer, Peter Pan
(Having Dick transformed into Batman or a police officer, both of which he was in the comics is neat but it steps on other characters toes who do something more interesting with the transformation. Making him into Peter Pan gives us another literary character and gives him a unique niche to fill)
Alfred Pennyworth: Priest, Aging Knight, Charon
(This just seemed the best to me especially since the priest option, while good, works best with synergy with the rest of the batfamily that just isn't there with the rest of how I'm leaning right now)
Jason Todd: Robin, Shark, Robin Hood, Spaceman Spiff-esque hero
(It was tempting to make him Robin and it was tempting to make him Robin Hood just for the future referencing but I actually prefer to make him a Spaceman Spiff-esque hero. The contrast of a childish Jason Todd transforming into an ideal hero who uses a ray gun to blast bad guys with the nominal, utterly cynical "hero" Red Hood that Jason generally becomes is really good and I personally would like to play with that as you can use one to highlight Jason's thoughts on heroism and then how those same thoughts could twist to become something on the other end of the spectrum)
Cassandra Sandsmark: The Flash, Angel, Flamingo, Barbie
(Cassandra Sandsmark is tricky for me and I kind of wanted to go with a costume that highlighted her blonde hair. I also wanted her to not constantly be in danger so I went with the angel)
Oliver Queen: Robin Hood, Viking, Bewildered Tourist
(While Robin Hood is the obvious choice it's a little too similar to Green Arrow for my taste. However making Oliver Queen into a viking would change his behavior and weapon of choice whilst working for his general appearance. It just seems like an interesting alteration to me)
Dinah Lance: Pop Star, Mermaid, Banshee
(If I'm going to include Dinah, I kind of want to include a costume that plays around with sound. A pop star would make her act wildly differently and a banshee would make her a monster to fight but a mermaid gives options. Not only does it prevent her from fighting as she normally does and cause her to need to enter water but she can be as villainous or heroic as the story needs depending on how close to a siren I want to have the costume be)
Talia al Ghul: Queen Elizabeth I, Tiger, Ra's al Ghul
(I figured that it would be interesting to see Talia's take on the queen of England and while the Ra's thing is obvious it seems like it wouldn't lead to an interesting story and the tiger option just reduces all of Talia's agency as a character)
Barry Allen: George Washington, Commando, Gladiator
(The commando costume transformation seems to me like something completely different from Barry's powerset while still filling an interesting niche)
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Mildred Graves:
"I can see the family resemblance."
...It is later revealed that Meena didn't actually dress up for Halloween. Mr. Mxyzptlk didn't actually do anything to her; it's all placebo effect and all MAD SCIENCE she did was purely under her own power and initiative.
Tempting, assuming the character exists yet?
Mildred Graves, meditatively:
"Now, I can work with a Cyclops. The trick is to bring lots of good booze."
Mr. Mxyzptlk:
"I... actually didn't get around to changing her... wait, did she turn herself into a fairy?"
Mr. Mxyzptlk:
"That wasn't a costume. She's like Meena, I didn't have to do anything."
Leslie Willis:
"HEY! HEY! I RESENT THAT REMARK!!!"
Nitpick: Jimmy Olson's been working for the Daily Planet since at least the time Blindspot tried to assassinate Lois Lane, and that was around Turn 12-16 or so of the quest as I recall. It's been about four years. Surely he's at least comfortably into his twenties, even if he's an intern slow-walking a journalism degree through community college or something?
Jimmy Olson:
"Great Scott, we've got to keep him away from the Santa Priscan embassy!"
@King crimson , I think you missed a beautiful opportunity.
Bruce Wayne as Don Quixote, and Alfred as Sancho Panza.
King crimson
Confusion Will Be My Epitaph
- Location
- Los Angeles
She doesn't exist but if it's non-canon then that's not an issue. On top of that if I absolutely wanted to make it canon Caitlin could just be some random Twi'Lek Jedi as Twi'Lek's first appeared in the 80's I believe. I'm still not the fondest of breaking the media crossover rule but I could do it.
Yeah made a mistake and he's probably out of high school at this point I mean depending on how we cut things Jimmy's not necessarily in college yet (he could be in his last year of high school) but it is fair to say that he's not really a "teenager" any more as he's definitely older than Barbara who's about sixteen. He's somewhere between 19 and 21 if I had to ballpark his age off the top of my head. Still not someone I'd trust with the powers of Superman and the overall point remains I believe (just replace teen with "very young adult" in my original statement and you've still got an interesting set-up).
I actually considered Don Quixote as a costume for Alfred. The thing that ultimately caused me to dismiss it is that Don Quixote has a mustache and beard, which is a minor thing but it just felt weird for me to have Alfred put on a fake beard. I didn't consider having it be Bruce Wayne who's dressed as Don Quixote though.
It works better with Bruce Wayne doing it as he's been proven willing to put on fake facial hair for a disguise before although there's still the issue of it potentially no longer being recognizable as Bruce Wayne to the characters involved. That being said as good an opportunity it is to make Bruce Wayne Don Quixote and Alfred Sancho Panza, I still feel having Bruce Wayne as Superman works better and is more worthwhile of an opportunity to explore if I do include him in the omake.
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- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
I suppose.
Although when Bat-Mite pulls the same stunt, having it be Don Quixote and Sancho Panza seems very right, because on some level it's a meta-fictional commentary on Batman and Alfred's entire relationship, and on Bruce Wayne's entire relationship with being Batman at all.
To the point where they probably picked out the costumes with this in mind, it being a rare instance of Bruce showing any real sense of humor about himself.
Although when Bat-Mite pulls the same stunt, having it be Don Quixote and Sancho Panza seems very right, because on some level it's a meta-fictional commentary on Batman and Alfred's entire relationship, and on Bruce Wayne's entire relationship with being Batman at all.
To the point where they probably picked out the costumes with this in mind, it being a rare instance of Bruce showing any real sense of humor about himself.