The Syndicated World
Table of Contents
The Syndicated World
Other Appellations:
The Sell-Out World (Alpha), Universe 22822 (Universe 161)
Fox Harmonic:
Sigma-Lambda
Astral Connection:
L3 D3
Caution Rating:
2
This universe is fairly peaceful, and supervillains don’t get worse than your typical BOL flunky. It would have to be peaceful–serious danger would probably put an end to the celebrity-obsessed status quo overnight.
Multiverse Activity:
Frequent
This universe frequently offers the help of their superheroes to other worlds…and their merchandise. As they say, the multiverse is “hot” these days.
Keywords:
Quantum, Analog
Description:
In any universe with superheroes, identity and notoriety become matters of grave importance. Even superheroes that want to be as mysterious and “urban legend” as possible eventually come to realize how important a degree of celebrity is. If you want to ask the police or other superheroes for help, who are you to them? Just a guy in a mask? Who are you to them? Who are you to the child you’re trying to lead out of a burning building? Who are you to the wounded, hysterical mother whose child you’re trying to take to the hospital?
If all you want to do is scare people and beat them, being a nameless, faceless enigma is fine. If you want to do more, however, you need an identity with substance.
In our universe, several organizations are devoted to helping superhumans manage their identity–and identities for those who believe in keeping a secret identity. The Statesmen are chief among these organizations and they’ve been helping superheroes with their identities since 1938. It takes a lot of work to manage an identity. It’s not just a matter of adding names to a list. Supercostumes and supernames need to be as distinct as possible to avoid confusion. No one wants Golden Snake to get charged with reckless endangerment only for the police to send out a warrant to arrest Golden Serpent. The culture a superhero is assigned to needs to be taken into account. A supercostume with wings wouldn’t work very well on the planet Tomino-3 whose tiny mammalian inhabitants were fed on by birds of prey back before they discovered fire and the wheel.
And merchandising rights need to be taken into account.
Few things are as controversial in the superhero community as superheroes turning a buck off their iconography. Even the age-old debate of “dark superheroics vs bright superheroics” doesn’t reach the same level of emotions. Same people think superheroes should market themselves. Though the Statesmen receive plenty of funds from donors, more than enough to fund all of America’s full-time superheroes, a little extra money for people that put their lives on the lines is never a bad thing, and what is more it can help humanize a superhero to the public. People like action figures and clothing lines and autographs. They wouldn’t buy so much if they didn’t. Superhero merchandising is especially common in Japan where superheroes are culturally expected to do all they can to provide and produce. If a superhero doesn’t market his image, it communicates that they aren’t trying as hard as they could. It may sound strange, but not trying to make an action figure of yourself is seen is egotistical in Japan. It says that you think you’re too good for the superhero game everyone else plays.
But some look on merchandising as selling-out. They fear that merchandising incentivizes a superhero to care about the flash of superheroics and none of the substance.
This world is what happens when their fears are confirmed, though the usual caveat applies here–never draw a simple conclusion from something as complex as another universe. That the Syndicated World is full of self-aggrandizing superheroes should not be taken as evidence that superheroes should never push merchandise. There are countless differences between our world and theirs that resulted in us being like we are and them being like they are.
To better study the interplay of celebrity and superheroes, ARGO’s comparative culture division has taken to studying the career of the Lioness, superheroine protector of Generic city (yes, that is what its actually called, stopped flagging this entry as containing an error–that means you, Dewey). She has recently been ordered by the Syndicate of Heroes, the organization which manages all the heroes of Earth, to get herself a sidekick to soften her public image. After carefully prowling through her online community of fans, she finally settled on a young action figure reviewer to be her Cub.
A fresh-faced, optimistic fanboy of superheroes is getting a very fast and very brutal reality check, and we’re keeping tabs on him to see if he leaves superheroics or if he holds fast and tries his best to be a real hero.
Individuals of Note
Lioness
Vain, egotistical, and extremely brand-conscious, Lioness is the self-appointed protector of Generic City (yes, that’s what its called). She’s representative of many superheroes from this world and seems more concerned about her celebrity than actually fighting crime–she even had a little girl arrested for asking her to sign a bootleg Lioness toy. But maybe her new (mandated) sidekick Cub can turn her around and help her care about more than her social media numbers?
Limited in powers, the Lioness is what we would term a gadgeteer. She gets by on weapons and tools stored at a not-so-discreet by highly trademarkable headquarters–a cat shaped tower just outside a kitty litter factory. Her weapons of choice are a pair of clichelium claws, which many fancy metal weapons, cuts through anything not clichelium.
Raw Power 3
Speed 5
Durability 3
Sanity 4
Intelligence 3
Skill 3 (10 for social media skills)
Cub
When Cub was chosen to be Lioness’ sidekick, he thought he had hit the big times. As one of Lioness’ biggest fans, he was looking forward to being taken under her wing and taught how to fight evil and rescue people like a superhero should.
They say never meet your heroes, and in this case the saying was true.
He was promptly informed that the only reason he was chosen as her sidekick was because she was forced to have one and given the ignoble task of managing Lioness’ social media accounts, shipping her merchandise, and genuinely being an unpaid factotum.
Not trusting him with anything as potentially dangerous as her clichelium claws, Lioness gave him a…yo-yo to use as a weapon.
Cub isn’t in the best position, but he’s determined to make the most of it. That’s what a superhero would do, right?
Raw Power 4
Speed 4
Durability 4
Sanity 6
Intelligence 5
Skill 3 (6 for social media skills)
Nek O
The new superheroine on the block–oh how Lioness hates her! Younger, hipper, and cat-themed, she’s invading Lioness’ turf and she sees that as more of a threat than any supervillain could ever be.
Lioness could be a mentor to Nek O. She could pass on her knowledge and experience to the new generation and in doing so create a stronger, more loving superhero community.
But instead she’s going to be Nek O’s rival, because no one gets away with making her social media numbers drop!
Nek O fights evil with roller skates and large, paw-like gloves. She is cute, but also very, very obnoxious.
She is very cute but also very obnoxious.
Raw Power 4
Speed 6
Durability 4
Sanity 5
Intelligence 4
Skill 4 (11 for social media skills)
The Syndicate of Heroes
The governing body of superheroes in this world, the Syndicate is led by three of the most powerful beings on the planet–Primary Colorman, Ghost of the Green Shark, and Purple Power Princess (3P). These three are the ones with movie series lined up for the next three decades. These three always have action figures on the shelf.
Part entertainers, part weapons of mass destruction, they are the movers and shakers of the world–for they contain the ultimate power:
The power to exile superhero identities to the public domain!
With this threat, Lioness had no choice but to obey when they told her to get a sidekick.
Raw Power: Stronger than a Disney lawsuit.
Speed: Faster than a C&D.
Durability: Lasts longer than routine IP copyright extensions.
Sanity: Perfectly rational for maximum consumer relatability.
Intelligence: Smarter than an entertainment industry lobbyist.
Skill: More than an army of lawyers.
Safarix
A hunter themed hunter of heroines! Similar to the supervillainess Atalanta from our world who hunted down superheroines, particularly Nemea, mother of Burning Bright.
He denies that the reasons he has for hunting down Lioness and trying to, I don’t know, put her in a cage or something, are fetish-related, though the fact that he uses two women in skin tight puma outfits as his henchwomen makes his denial rather specious…
Raw Power 5
Durability 3
Speed 3
Sanity 3
Intelligence 3
Skill 3
This reminds me too much of tiger and bunny to be a coincidence
Tiger and Bunny isn’t as extreme. No one ever had anyone arrested because they tried to a get a bootleg toy signed.