What do you like/dislike about the members of Alpha Flight?

RE: Death of Mac

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Originally Posted by Yankee

I'd say yes and no. Yes because it was macs team and to lose him so early, particularly with not much emphasis on Heather it left the team rudderless for a bit too long. Didn't help that in the time between Mac dying and Heather properly becoming leader ie vindicator Byrne was gone and Mantalo was in.

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And that may be it - the book, while still under Byrne's handle - seemed to lose direction after issue #12, in terms of the team as a whole. It's like he had the first 12 issues paced - but anything after that was sort of adlibed.

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

Okay, Tawmis, you're making me figure stuff out about myself! How dare you?! :wink:

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Sometimes it's fun to do... Not when it's actual work related stuff - but hobby stuff. :)

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

Byrne's characters:
The originals and bests. I loved them when Byrne created them and wrote them - though none survived his loss intact.

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It was interesting that each of them were given some serious quirks.
Aurora = Dual Personality
Northstar = Rudeness (due to "covering up" his Sexuality)
Puck = Dwarf, with constant pain
Shaman = Insecurities (dealing with his daughter)
Snowbird = Powerless outside of Canada

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

His Nemesis is probably my all-time favourite character - just from that one issue (not counting Mantlo's version).

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Nemesis was your favorite character? Really? Out of everyone? I have to hear why.

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

I loved the way he wrote Wild Child; somebody who came across as a cheap knock-off of Wolverine, but with a very erudite way of speaking; somebody who looked weird, but not comic-book weird: real world weird. (This was before somebody decided that people who read stories about guys who fly must want ultra-realism above all, and everything was 'realistic'.)

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I agree. I liked his disfigured facial appearance (which, for reasons unknown, eventually went away... probably to make him more appealing when they wanted to write him more of a hero).

This is one of the reasons, despite disliking Volume 3 of the New Warriors, I actually _really_ liked the character Microbe.

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

I loved Snowbird's power-set, though not her origins.

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What is it you don't like about her origins?

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

I like these guys, too, though not all the same. The Goblyn/Pathway duo appeals to me (and I named my cat Goblyn); the quietness of Pathway (who, by the way, was my introduction to autism - when I first read her, I thought it was just a personality trait).

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I do think they were the best success of the post Byrne characters.

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

St. Elmo... Sooo Brian Blessed! :grin:

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I am missing the reference I think?

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

Manbot I don't even consider a character, just a piece of equipment.

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The trash compactor in Star Wars was better than Manbot...

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

Northstar = Rudeness (due to "covering up" his Sexuality)

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I've always thought he was just rude. :)

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

Nemesis was your favorite character? Really? Out of everyone? I have to hear why.

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I loved her mystique, the sense of vampirism and Joan-of-Arcness, that sword! Where does she get those delicious toys?, the costume worked for me, the drive, the fantasy-style speech patterns...

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

This is one of the reasons, despite disliking Volume 3 of the New Warriors, I actually _really_ liked the character Microbe.

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Reality TV volume, right?
I thought it was okay, but not great.

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

(Snowbird)
What is it you don't like about her origins?

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There's a... clash... with my personal beliefs.

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

St. Elmo... Sooo Brian Blessed!

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I am missing the reference I think?

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St Elmo reminds me a lot of Brian Blessed. If you don't know who that is... think of somebody like Blackadder the First's father, or Voltan of the Hawkmen in the '80 Flash Gordon.

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

The trash compactor in Star Wars was better than Manbot...

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The Dianoga, certainly! :D

~ Le Messor
"Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers' gardens."
~ Douglas Jerrold

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

Didn't he die? (Not that it means anything in comics...)

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Exactly ;)

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

I've always thought he was just rude. :)

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See, that's what I thought when I first read Alpha Flight... I was much more niave back then and missed EVERY clue that Byrne dropped about Northstar's sexuality - once I was older - I just assumed he was rude, because he was bitter and angry about hiding his sexuality from all the world (being a championship skier and all)... Maybe being rude is just there - but it seems like, when dealing with his boyfriend (in recent years of Uncanny X-Men, he didn't seem as rude)...

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

I loved her mystique, the sense of vampirism and Joan-of-Arcness, that sword! Where does she get those delicious toys?, the costume worked for me, the drive, the fantasy-style speech patterns...

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Interesting! I love that everyone has their favorites! For example, Maico and I (who I do the Comic Relief Podcast with), did an "eval" of everyone who has ever been an X-Men for our upcoming "Age of Apocalypse" (movie) Podcast - and we were both VERY much against Maggot - and yet, just recently on the New Warriors twitter I run - someone mentioned that they LOVE Maggot.

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

RE: Snowbird Origin
There's a... clash... with my personal beliefs.

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Mind if I ask? Because now I am utterly curious. You're throwing bread crumbs and I am hungry for toast!

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

St Elmo reminds me a lot of Brian Blessed. If you don't know who that is... think of somebody like Blackadder the First's father, or Voltan of the Hawkmen in the '80 Flash Gordon.

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Yeah, I don't know Brian Blessed. (I hate being an uneducated American!) :)

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

You're throwing bread crumbs and I am hungry for toast!

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I'm trying to answer the question of this thread without starting a flame war.
I'll lay it out as simply as I can, and pray said war won't start:
I believe in one God and one only, and she being a goddess goes against that.

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

Yeah, I don't know Brian Blessed. (I hate being an uneducated American!) :)

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Well, again, Flash Gordon - American movie. (Isn't it? The producer's Italian, the band who did the music are English... hmmm...) (When I said 'think of people like', they were both people he's played. :D) TV Tropes does, or did, have a trope called 'The Toblerone' which was literally based on Brian Blessed.
Don't know how it got that name.

~ Le Messor
"Have more than thou showest; Speak less than thou knowest."
~ Shakespeare

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

I'm trying to answer the question of this thread without starting a flame war.
I'll lay it out as simply as I can, and pray said war won't start:
I believe in one God and one only, and she being a goddess goes against that.

~ Le Messor
"Have more than thou showest; Speak less than thou knowest."
~ Shakespeare

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I am not fanning the flame war hopefully but I'm just curious, does that mean you aren't a fan of how shaman and talisman get their powers because they are mystical, presumably from native gods, and they also communicate with their spirits frequently ie they aren't from the one God? I'm not condemning either way I'm just trying to make sure I understand your viewpoint. And from the sound of it you don't hate snowbird, just her origin doesn't gel with your belief system, which is fine.

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

Well, again, Flash Gordon - American movie. (Isn't it? The producer's Italian, the band who did the music are English... hmmm...) (When I said 'think of people like', they were both people he's played. :D) TV Tropes does, or did, have a trope called 'The Toblerone' which was literally based on Brian Blessed.
Don't know how it got that name.

~ Le Messor
"Have more than thou showest; Speak less than thou knowest."
~ Shakespeare

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Flash Gordon was based on an American comic serial, my dad had a couple old flip books when I used to visit his parents house. Still I remember being in the movie theatre when Ted came out and being the only one on the audience under 40 who had any clue who Flash Gordon was. The bit where whalberg was daydreaming riding that air scooter with flash, I was quoting "even a song from the Beatles !" Under my breath

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

I'm trying to answer the question of this thread without starting a flame war.
I'll lay it out as simply as I can, and pray said war won't start:
I believe in one God and one only, and she being a goddess goes against that.

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Clear enough! (For a moment, I was thinking you had a Native American belief - that they fubared!)

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Originally Posted by Le Messor

Well, again, Flash Gordon - American movie. (Isn't it? The producer's Italian, the band who did the music are English... hmmm...) (When I said 'think of people like', they were both people he's played. :D) TV Tropes does, or did, have a trope called 'The Toblerone' which was literally based on Brian Blessed.
Don't know how it got that name.

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I am (painfully) aware of Flash Gordon. Only meant, wasn't aware who Brian Blessed was. :)

Attachment 5233

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Originally Posted by Yankee

I am not fanning the flame war hopefully but I'm just curious, does that mean you aren't a fan of how shaman and talisman get their powers because they are mystical, presumably from native gods, and they also communicate with their spirits frequently ie they aren't from the one God?

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I'm... less comfortable with them than I would be otherwise, but don't dislike either of them for it.

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Originally Posted by Yankee

I was quoting "even a song from the Beatles !" Under my breath

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Queen is my favourite band! EVER!

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

Clear enough! (For a moment, I was thinking you had a Native American belief - that they fubared!)

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My Red Indian blood is verrrry thin indeed (but not non-existent).

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Originally Posted by Tawmis

I am (painfully) aware of Flash Gordon. Only meant, wasn't aware who Brian Blessed was. :)

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I knew that! No, I just meant you should be able to figure out who he was easily from that movie (see Phil's pic below) without having to hunt down a British show like Blackadder... which is very funny, so maybe you should find it anyway.

~ Le Messor
"Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself."
~ Anonymous