Jeff's submitted his character, Arc-Wave. Just waiting on Jack, and anyone else who show's up, before I post the full list of characters.

Thunderbolt wrote on Mar 19^th, 2011 at 11:32pm:


Nope, it's at Lake Geneva, WI this upcoming weekend.

Duroon wrote on Mar 20^th, 2011 at 12:38am:



Did they have his talking head in a jar or is that just in Futurama?

Didn't they build a statue of Gary Gygax in Lake Geneva? Lake Geneva is where the first GenCon was held.

I'm not sure about the others, but I plan on posting pics of the game as it progresses, as well as anything at the con that catches my eye. Also, I've got an extra copy of Masked, that I'll be having Bill autograph. Anyone who wants it can get it for $8 plus shipping. If you're interested in it, shoot me a PM.

Well, we're now one less. Justice had to cancel do to a family emergency, he's has to travel out west to be with his father. It's unfortunate that he can't attend, but family comes first.

Despite the fact that everyone's tired, we've been having a pretty good time so far. I'm dragging butt at the moment, so I'll post pics tomorrow, as well as a more detailed write-up of the days events. One thing was readily apparent though, V&V still appears to be popular as our game filled up quickly, and we had several people stop in hoping to get seats.

OK folks for your viewing pleasure here's a link to my Gary Con photos - http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v26/DSumner/Gary%20Con%202011/

I'll be loading more photos from today later tonight.

Hello everyone, this is Morty Snider, Senior Correspondent for Metazone Magazine: The Magazine by, and for Superhero Fans. In this month’s issue we’ve got special treat for our loyal fans an excerpt from the series of oral histories being conducted for the National Archives, with the reclusive Marcus Williams, the hero formally known as Polarity.

Interviewer: Good morning Mr. Williams, first off, I’d like to thank you granting us the opportunity to speak with you, as your known for valuing your privacy.

Polarity: I’m not getting any younger, and if any of this stuff can help out some of these young kids, then I guess I can sit down with you for a bit.

Interviewer: Well how about we start back at the beginning of your carrier, you were in Chicago then, with the Untouchables, right?

Polarity: The Untouchables…wow, that had to be what, 55 –60 years ago. But, yeah, that sounds about right.

Interviewer: What do you remember about your time with them?

Polarity: There were originally only four of us, as Cornerstone joined us a short time later. There was Ghost Machinist, Southpaw, Starshade, and myself. Somehow I managed to get myself nominated as the team leader. Most of us were a bunch of young, inexperienced kids, strait out of school, and brand new to the superhero game. We were so full of ourselves that we actually thought we we’re going to save the world on the first day on the job. 

Interviewer: You were the team’s first leader, correct?

Polarity: Yeah, I was the team leader, but it wasn't like I’d campaigned for the position. It was more like a process of elimination, everyone else eliminated themselves, and I was the only one remaining.

Interviewer: You’ve mentioned your first mission with the team, what was that like?

Polarity: You’ve got to remember that this happened several decades ago, and my memory isn’t quite as sharp as it used to be, so my recollections might be slightly off.

If you remember, most of the major heroes, and a good little chunk of the Strategic Space Force, had flown off to confront the Zorn and ----fleets deep in space, and the government had asked us, and another team of young heroes, the Misfits, to help them out. They were in a bit of a jam, Fagan Faust, the Imaginary Man, who at that time had been declared a national security asset, was in trouble. Or At least Faust thought he was in trouble. What a lot of people don’t know about Faust is that he was a coward. This guy was scared of his own shadow, and people wouldn’t believe the number of hoops the government had to jump though to meet his needs. But, that’s another story.

And let’s not forget that at the same time, there were a series of some really grisly murders taking place around the country.

Interviewer: The Alice Killings?

Polarity: That was them, but I’ll come back to them in bit. As I was saying, the Untouchables and the Misfits, had been asked to augment Faust’s security detail. The whole group was holed up in a resort up by Lake Geneva. The locals weren't supposed to know exactly what was going on, but I think some of them had figured out where we had him stashed.

Interviewer: What was it like working with the Misfits?

Polarity: Well you know how it goes, you expect there to be an initial period of awkwardness, as we tried to get to know each other, as well as bit of good-natured bantering between the teams. They had one guy on their team, Arc…Arc Wave, that was really dishing it out. But, there was also a bit of tension that continued to build over the first few days. You’ve got to remember, we were all still pretty new to this, and none of us really knew each other, so what happened next wasn’t all that surprising.   

Interviewer: And what was that?

Polarity: It turned out that we’d been duped, Strange Face had replaced Faust and his entire protective detail with robots. And to make matters worse, we’d all been inhaling Moon Dust, some very nasty stuff, the entire time we were there. We’d become so paranoid, and susceptible to suggestion, that we ended up turning on the Misfits, thinking they were trying to kidnap Faust.

We went after each other with a vengeance, doing our best to beat the hell out of each other. Luckily, Avatar, one of the Misfits, managed to figure things out, and both teams finally came to their senses before anyone got seriously hurt. That’s when things really went to hell. The next thing we know, “Faust” and his protective detail turn on both teams, and we had to fight them off. And just when we think we’ve got things under control, Ghost Machinist tells us the robots are going to explode.

While it required a bit of quick thinking, and even quicker actions, everyone managed to get out of the house safely before it blew up. And let me tell you, it was one hell of an explosion. We were really lucky no one got killed.

Excuse me, but do you mind if I take a break for a while? I’m not as young as I used to be, and I’d like to rest for a while.

Interviewer: That’s fine with me sir, may we continue the interview tomorrow?

Polarity: Sure, now if you excuse me, I need to take my heart medication.

By the way, I only took detailed notes for this first fight, which I thought most of you would enjoy because the two hero teams were fighting each other.

Turn #2
Arc-Wave tries to convince Faust to get to the Safe Room

Avatar alerts everyone that “Faust” is not really Faust

Tatterjack interrupts as Faust tries to leave, smashes him with a dresser, then grabs the bed and smacks Faust with it

Archer fires at and misses Makeshift, thanks to a warning from Ghost Machinist

Polarity uses his magnetic powers to throw Janeway and Faust back against the wall, which nearly knocks Faust out of commission

Ghost Machine misses Sisko and races away, revealing to both teams that the Agents are androids; he also opens up communications for the Misfits (that he had previously locked down); in addition he learns that Strangeface is the one controlling the androids

Avatar smashes Janeway

Tatterjack swings at Janeway and misses

Arc-Wave blasts Faust and drops him

Southpaw smacks Kirk with his gigantic fist

Makeshift runs over to Starshade and levels a green gun at him; after a dramatic pause (and the Untouchables wondering if he would attack their teammate) he shoots him, which heals the hero a bit

Archer barely grazes Makeshift, who shrugs it off

Ugly Darkling blasts Sisko, but misses

Ghost Machinist takes control of Picard

Avatar strikes Janeway with his shield

Makeshift throws a tangler grenade, which misses Archer (right next to him) and ends up gooping Avatar, restricting his movement

I am so jealous.   Will there be a sequel?

Turn #3

Tatterjack smacks Archer with a refrigerator (none of the contents spill out)

Ugly Darkling hits Sisko, but just barely

Kirk fires (from his finger, but it looks like he’s firing a phaser) and tags Southpaw

Tatterjack swings at Archer again, but misses

Arc-Wave does a double Lightning blast; the first one strikes her and the second one does so much extra damage that it goes into the wall circuitry and starts causing the security system to act up

Makeshift misses Archer with another tangler grenade

Ghost Machinist warns everyone that the robots are going to self-destruct

Polarity snags Janeway and Faust and gets them outside to safety  (into Lake Geneva)

Arc-Wave grabs Southpaw and rescues him from danger as well

Makeshift snags his leader counterpart (Polarity) and races him outside, almost forgetting his Snooper drone that was still inside

The few robots (Archer, Kirk, and Sisko) inside self-destruct, which causes the upper (second) floor to collapse down onto the first floor, leveling the building

Breathing heavily, the Misfits and Untouchables realize they have survived their first real combat!

Well faithful readers, for those of you just joining us, we’ve been reprinting the transcripts of a series of oral interviews conducted with Marcus Williams, the hero Polarity. Now without any further delays…. Part two of the interview.

Interviewer: Bill, you ready?

Soundman: You can roll whenever you’re ready.

Interviewer: Mr. Williams, how are you today?

Polarity: I’m … excuse me…Cough, Cough, I’m… cough, cough.

Interviewer: Would you like me to get you some water?

Polarity: No, I’m fine. It’s these damned pills, never liked taking them. I always feel like I’m choking.

Interviewer: We can wait if you’re not up to this.

Polarity: No, no, I’m fine, really.

Interviewer: Okay then, we’ll keep rolling. When we talking with you yesterday, you were telling us about your first adventure with the Untouchables.

Polarity: Yes, good times, good times.

Interviewer: You’d just finished explaining to us how the Untouchables had battled the Misfits, while under the influence of Moon Dust.

Polarity: Did I tell you about the explosion?

Interviewer: Yes sir, I believe you did. What happened after that?

Polarity: Well the feds rushed in, and cleaned everything up. They were in a panic, as no one new what’d happened to Faust or when the switch had taken place. We began checking out members of Faust’s security detail, and some irregularities popped up. The feds ended up busting one of the guys on Faust’s security detail. Turns out he’d help set up the kidnapping, and setting us up.

Interviewer: And the misfits, what were they up to?

Polarity: Well, after our little incident at the house, the feds split us up and sent them out on a separate mission. They were supposed to be tracking down Strange Face, and his robots, but ended up getting sidetracked. I’ll get back to that later, as things get a little complicated, and my memories aren’t as clear as they used to be. I don’t want to end up misquoting what happened with them.

Interviewer: That’s fine sir.

Polarity: Now where was I? Oh…the feds. Well we managed to work out where we think the switch had taken place, and went to check it out. It was at some fast food joint, who’s name I don’t recall at the moment.

Interviewer: Culvers?

Polarity: That sounds right. Okay, so we get to Culvers and start checking the place out, things get a little fuzzy here, as to who did what, but if I remember correctly Ghost Machinist went inside to check the place out, and Cornerstone found the bodies of five dead federal agents stuffed in the garbage dumpster.

Interviewer: Cornerstone?

Polarity: Oh, I forgot to mention that by now Cornerstone, a big  bruiser, but a good guy to have on your side in a street brawl, had joined us. He’s rummaging through the garbage behind Culvers, and finds these dead bodies. We call the feds to let them know what was going on, and then everything went to hell. 

Interviewer: How so?

Polarity: Pickles.

Interviewer: Sir?

Polarity: Well, more specifically, the Pickler. He was a third rate villain, more of a minor annoyance really, who’d constantly show up, and get into trouble. He’d come up with this wild idea that if hired a bunch of kids, we couldn’t lay a hand on them.

Interviewer: Could you be a little more specific?

Polarity: Sorry about that, just thinking about that clown still gets me hot, he could have gotten those kids killed. And a couple of them almost were. But, back to what I was saying. Pickler and his gang start popping up through these big-damned pickle jars, made the whole place stink to high hell.

I wasn’t sure where Ghost Machinist was, so I bust through the front door, and here all these damned kids. I couldn’t believe it. I first thing I could think of, was to try to pin them all in. So I start pulling metal from around the place to form a wall around them, and one of them starts going on about how they’re just kids, and we cant touch them.

Interviewer: What was the rest of the team doing?

Polarity: Sorry, I meant to get back to that. Well, there were some vans, or trucks or something outside, and the next thing we know, there are more of these pickle kids popping up. There was one, Brine… Kid, Brine Boy, or something like that, that had some sort of, I guess you’d call it, a pickle juice cocoon surrounding him. It turns out that the “pickle juice, was some sort of mutagen. Anyone who came into contact with it was literally turned into a human pickle.

Well once they started popping up, South Paw, Starshadow, and Cornerstone got to work. Cornerstone tried to capture all of them by throwing the garbage dumpster on them. He ended up catching that Brine kid.

Interviewer: Sounds like you all had things under control.

Polarity: So did we, but things have a way not working out the way you’d like. Before we could round them all up, the Pickler shows up with this damned cane of his.

Interviewer: What was so special about his cane?

Polarity: We never did figure out where he got it from, but when he struck it against the ground, things started shaking, pickle juice is flying all over the damned place, no one knows what’s going on. Did I mention how bad it smelled?

Interviewer: Yes sir.

Polarity: Okay then, back to where I was at then. As I said, pickle juice is flying all over the place, and the next thing you know, a giant sentient pickle shows up.

Interviewer: A giant pickle?

Polarity: That’s right, the Big Pickle. I kid you not.

Interviewer: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I’m sorry I’m just trying to picture the looks on your faces as this giant pickle shows up on the scene.

Polarity: Yeah, I guess it does seem sort of funny now, but when it was happening it was far from funny. This pickle was a beast. It was several stories tall and out for blood. If I hadn’t been there, I would think this was a plot from a really bad B-movie.

Interviewer: So what happened next?

Polarity: Well Cornerstone jumped in and tried taking the thing out with the dumpster he’d used to capture the Brine kid. He might as well have thrown a spitball against it, as it would have been just as effective. While all this was going on, the Pickler is making his way into the back of the building, I’m trying to get this kids to surrender without a fight, and Southpaw and Starshade are trying to round up the rest of the gang. So this huge melee ensues.

Interviewer: There were some allegations that you all used excessive force against the members of the Pickle Gang.

Polarity: Excessive force? Your kidding right? I've been hearing that crap for years. Let me get this strait. For the record, we never laid a hand on them, and went out of our way to make sure they weren’t hurt in the fight.

Interviewer: So, how’d you guys manage to capture everyone.

Polarity: Well, it was a combined effort between myself, Southpaw, Starshade, Ghost Machine, and Cornerstone. We basically just wore the big pickle down. Once that happened the Pickle Gang fell apart like a house of cards. And the Pickler, what a looser, was taken out with one solid punch. Oh, and then this Brine kid, and you should have seen it, tries to make a low speed get-away his bubble of pickle juice.

Ha, ha, ha, ha… It was hilarious.  Ha, ha, ha…cough, cough, cough.

Interviewer: Are you okay Mr. Williams?

Polarity: Cough, cough. I’m sorry about that. I haven’t had a good laugh in a while.  Cough, cough.

Interviewer: I tell you what Mr. Williams, why don’t we take a short break, and continue after lunch break?

Polarity: Yeah, I guess we can do that.

Interviewer: Okay then, we'll see you around one o'clock then.

Polarity: That’s fine. Cough. That’s fine.

Interviewer:Bill, that's good. we're done for the moment.

Majestic wrote on Mar 30^th, 2011 at 1:45pm:

This is how superhero vs superhero fights get started!

Majestic wrote on Mar 30^th, 2011 at 4:43pm:


He was, and when he asked why one of the members of the Misfits was hanging out with us, I told him it was to see how real superheroes do it. 

I finally uploaded the last of my photos to Photobucket.

Reply #15 of this thread.