P90 App

[walkingballpit]

APPLICATION

Player Name/Handle: Marie
Plurk Handle: seemarierun
Player Status: New Player
Other characters: N/A
Invited by: Korel

Character Name: Robbie Baldwin [AKA Speedball, Penance, and very briefly THE MASKED MARVEL]
Fandom: Marvel 616
Character Journal: walkingballpit
Canon, AU, CRAU, or OC? CRAU, originally canon.
Canon point: CRAU from the Legion and subsequent PSL. Entered from New Warriors Vol 5, #5. Was canon-updated before game closed to end of Volume 5.
PB: None

SETTING BACKGROUND

The Legion ( game found here ) was a jamjar RP within an alt-universe version of DC's Legion of Superheroes that diverged from the ending of the original universe around Legion of Three Worlds in approximately 3000-3010 CE, in that this Legion did not loose its home universe. To make up for the depleted ranks of the LOSH, citizens of other universes were ported into their universe and asked to join the team. As a superhero from another universe, Robbie did so and remained with the team until endgame, when a permanent means of moving between his universe and time and that of the Legion was established.

His home universe, Marvel 616, is meant to be much like the world that we know, and it is nearly always set in the present day. However, there are numerous additions to it. The primary one is that super-humans, superheroes, and super-villains exist. Others are less noticeable, such as the fictional country Genosha or the American government's spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and its Canadian counterpart Department K, both of which tend to be the government's way of working with or against super-humans.


HISTORY

• Standard suburban milquetoast childhood, complete with beige carpets and parental divorce, leads to a semi-standard, superpower-endowing industrial acident, after which he immediately decides to become a superhero.


• He joined a team of teenage superheroes, the New Warriors, shortly thereafter and remains with the team for about two years. To fund the team, they filmed two seasons of a superhero reality show.


• At 17, he's the sole survivor of the Stamford Incident, where a supervillain killed over 600 civilians and the other New Warriors. Robbie is publicly blamed for the deaths at Stamford as the New Warriors could've stopped it if they'd been better trained. Robbie is held without charge, incarcerated, assaulted multiple times, and forced into a plea deal.


• Abandons the Speedball persona, as the explosion caused his powers to mutate. Robbie adopts the moniker Penance and focuses on the use of his pain-related powers, wearing a spike-filled suit as his new uniform.


• As a part of his plea deal, Robbie must act as a superhero for a government-approved team. After turning down better offers due to anger, stubbornness and guilt, he is made to join the government-run Thunderbolts team, which is comprised of mainly barely-controlled villains, and round up "illegal" superheroes.


• As Robbie heals and regains a sense of self, he becomes harder for the leaders of the Thunderbolts to control, leading to his being drugged into near catatonia and sent to a separate government camp in hopes of his being stripped back to a easily ordered heavy hitter.


• After having his memories restored through the powers of Deus Ex Machina, Robbie is hired as a teacher at the Avengers Academy, due to the insistence of his friend Vance Astrovik. He works there for almost the full school year. He is quite plainly working through issues of depression, PTSD, and survivor's guilt, as well as still engaging in self harm despite having taken up the Speedball persona and costume again.


• Fighting to save 3 different towns from increasingly heavy hitters reminds Robbie of how much being a superhero and more importantly helping people means to him. Even though he fails in protecting the third city, his efforts while incredibly overmatched do not go unnoticed, and he has a sense that absolution may someday be earned if he can do enough good.


• With Vance's encouragement and enabling, Robbie and he leave the school and reform the New Warriors. They save the world in epic fashion with a ragtag bunch of heroes, and they tell off the Avengers along the way, perhaps even more epicly. While life is not perfect and Robbie continues to hide the worst of his mental health issues, the return of several believed-deceased friends and the redemption of the New Warriors name dramatically improve his outlook.


• Around this time, Robbie is first pulled into the universe of the Legion by the Time Trapper. He doesn't hesitate to join the Legion of Superheroes - it's partly because if he helps them they'll help him, but also it's a When in Rome decision and, hey, he likes helping civvies. It's immediately confirmed as the right decision when he realizes that there are already three of his New Warriors friends in LOSH.


• While he hits it off with a number of Legionnaires, particularly Brainy (who has endured similar public blame and demonization), enjoys joking with ones like Grif, and is fond or respectful to a number of others, he also butts heads with many of them due to philosophical differences. Compromising on what he knew to be true had only bitten him in the ass before, so working with people who think a headshot is the tidiest resolution pissed him off.


• The LOSH is the first team that he's involved with to really make mental health a priority, and Robbie started regular sessions with the team's doctor. He's been working to develop better coping mechanisms, as well as to admit when he's struggling (where his previous habit was to invest all his energy in pretending to be the pre-Stamford Robbie). He has accepted that he's not the charity case of the surviving friends who knew him before, but is worthy of new friends.


• The Legion saves the Universe, because of course they do, and Robbie gets one of the best "everybody lives" rewards ever. Even Rich Rider gets to safely return to the Marvel 616 universe, and, with a passage back to the Legion's world, Robbie doesn't have to permanently lose any of his new friends.


• Robbie has been flitting back and forth between the universes since then. If it weren't for the New Warriors in his "home" universe, he would have elected to stay with the Legion permanently, although he hasn't said it so precisely. He's not quite ready to give up trying to make things right after Stamford.

PERSONALITY

Robbie's personality should be discussed as an evolution, because his personality has undergone numerous changes without completely eliminating a trait.

He had a decent, if not idyllic, start to his life in Springdale. Robbie had friends, decent grades, an after-school job, and a sunny personality. The only thing that was amiss is that his parents argued constantly, and Robbie played up the role of rebellious teenager with his ripped jeans and hard rock to get their attention.

In spite of this, he was a good kid. He made quips, was always there to lend a hand, and was fun to be around. He managed to be carefree without being flippant. Things like his parents' divorce and a friend's arrest for murder didn't leave him unscathed, but they didn't sink him into depression.

This remains the core of his personality: he's a good person with decent enough morals. He's just a little bull-headed and occasionally lacking in common sense. He might help steal a Quinjet from the Avengers, but they're stealing it for a rescue mission. It balances.

His real reason for being a superhero was because he was looking for the positive attention that he never got at home. Everybody knew who he was. He got fanmail and free hugs from grateful citizens, and Robbie was making a difference in the world. He loved it. Nowadays, he only loves the making a difference part. If he could do his do-gooding with no one knowing, he would.

Robbie is his own harshest critic, and his inner monologue is still a mess of doubt and guilt, with a side of imposter syndrome. He's made some strides, however. He can now choose to disagree with his darkest thoughts. The cruelest part of himself may think that he doesn't deserve a new friend as good as Querl Dox, but Robbie's no longer compelled to listen and deprive himself.

Post-Stamford, Robbie went through a period of grief, mental illness, and increased capacity for violence while with the Thunderbolts. Once he was no longer in that detrimental atmosphere, he began to heal slowly. During his stint as a teacher at the Avengers Academy, the Avengers were concerned that he was too rough with the students. While he's learned to control his anger and temper it with humor instead of lashing out, Robbie still sometimes reacts harshly when things went badly as he's still developing good coping mechanisms when it comes to stress (and the ones that he's picked up are time-consuming, like talking it out, so they don't work in the heat of the moment). For example, while in Legion, he delayed a rescue mission to try to convince everyone that the plan shouldn't include immediate headshots. These serious moments seem few and far between, and they always have similar triggers (Stamford, heroes using too much power/violence, heroes walking away from their duty).

He still wants to atone for what happened, even though his life no longer revolves around it. His experience after a tidal wave in Newfoundland helped a lot. The citizens were posting nothing but nice things about him online. While it didn't completely erase the animosity, polls after that day showed that 70% of people had, in fact, forgiven him for his role in Stamford. It alleviated some of his burden. Being considered a hero in the Legion's world, even a popular one... it's not the same as being thought of highly at home, but it's an honour to be considered an equal to the other Legionnaires. The kind of honour that makes him want to tear up.

Nowadays, he's a mix of the before and after of Stamford. On the surface, Robbie is largely back to his "old" self, a chatterbug who seems "on" almost all the time. It's not a daily struggle to do the best imitation of himself, the way it was before he came to the Legion. He only has to fight for hope and banter when things are bleak.

When he's struggling for positivity, he can be over-the-top with his cheery enthusiasm, but it's so breezy and flippant that it doesn't hold up to close inspection. For example, when confronted with the knowledge that the man he attacked (because he looked like a demon) was actually a superhero, he said "Look, mistakes were made." It's hardly something that makes sense, given that he's been dragging around the weight of his last mistake for years, but it is the joke he would have made when he was young.

New people tend to treat him with bewildered amusement or outright exasperation, and he doesn't care whether it's because they think he's funny or an idiot. Anything is better than being treated like you're about to break or already broken. The role of the class clown is safe and familiar, and he would rather command attention than simply have it thrust on him. Friends know his game.

When Robbie's faced with death, his reaction is always an internal emotion shutdown, where he doesn't put up enough of a fight and thinks he deserves this because of failing Stamford. He's accepted that Stamford is not his fault and never was, but forgiving himself for not being a better hero, for not rising to the challenge? It's hard, and a lot of his sessions with his psychiatrist involve him dancing around "Look at what I just did, at how we overcame such an impossible situation, why all these times, why couldn't I just have done it that one more time."

On his past/present self-harm, he has almost completely overcome it. He will likely always have the compulsion when he is feeling overly guilt-ridden or hating himself, but Robbie has found healthier ways to deal with it (like actually talking to people!). However, he remains willing to do it to charge up his abilities, and a high stress environment like P90 may quietly cause issues without a proper support system.

Robbie will do anything for his friends and teammates. They're his family.

CANON POWERS

Robbie has access to another dimension of kinetic energy, which he is able to channel. He can manifest this in several, one with a predominantly orange energy signature (his traditional Speedball powers) and the other blue (his powers developed later as Penance). In some explanations of his powers, he is described as being made entirely of the kinetic energy or as having mutated receptors in his nerves which generate the energy and can use pain to create even more. For the purposes of explaining how his powers work in this game, we will use this last description (thus making his power internal and not external).

Historically as Speedball, he is capable of using his kinetic energy to generating an energy shield and, in fact, instinctively does so. While the shield will protect him from most physical harm, as well as telepathic interference, the downside to this field is that whatever hit him is ricocheted back to where it came from with greater force, and Robbie is sent flinging off in the other direction, making him the equivalent of a human rubber/wrecking ball. He refers to this as bouncing. He is very good at controlling his rebounds and ... not terrible at controlling where the things that were hitting him go, provided he knows they're coming.

Robbie can physically manifest the kinetic energy into bubbles (generally orange in colour) that he can direct into concussive attacks, use to cushion someone's fall, or turn a gym into a ball pit. It should be noted that, as a concussive weapon, the bubbles are less effective than a kickball.

Since the Stamford explosion, Robbie's nerves have mutated to generate additional kinetic energy when he experiences pain. This can be stored up in his body, and it is released as blue shockwaves, bolts, or shields. Unlike the bubbles, this blue energy causes massive damage, but it is not infinite. If he's not actively in pain or has not been in pain and saving up energy reserves, he will not be able to generate such an attack without injuring himself.

He was once shown using this last ability to levitate, but that was never seen again so it won't come into play.

CRAU “power”: Robbie has a Legion flight ring, keyed to his DNA, which grants low speed flight when he wears it.

POWER SELECTION
Canon Superpowers - Robbie will be keeping all 4 manifestations of his power (both forms of energy generation, as well as the bouncing and shield effect), but almost all of these abilities will be nerfed.

Nerf 0: (based on canon evolution of his power) The energy shield won't activate unless there is at least a good punch's worth of force behind it. Any lighter attacks, gentle slices with sharp blades, or slow, steady compression injuries will still affect him. He will remain susceptible to all energy and magic attacks.

Nerf 1: Robbie's bouncing canonically allows him to break the laws of physics, as his ricochets always speed him up, rather than slowly erode his velocity. Robbie will be limited to a max speed of 80 mph, regardless of the initial force or how many times he bounces.

Nerf 2: An absolutely massive impact, such as those one could expect from the Juggernaut, Superman, etc., will incapacitate or kill him depending on severity. Similarly, other major impacts that he's been shown using to kick start his bouncing will injure or incapacitate him. The rule of thumb that I will use is that anything that hits harder than him hitting a wall at 80 mph (the max of speed in the game) will hurt him (or worse as the force increases). Standard human physical attacks, like punches, will continue to not hurt him.

Nerf 3: I'm dropping the "side effects" of his power. His hair will not wiggle around like jello, his voice will not sound hollow when he's using his abilities, and, as his power is completely internalized, he will not be able to change in and out of costume due to storing clothes in the pocket dimension.

Nerf 4: While Robbie has been shown capable of filling an entire gymnasium waist deep in bubbles and sustaining them long enough to be used as props for a ballpit dance, he will be limited to a max of about 1200 cubic feet at any given time. This would be enough to fill a 20 by 20 foot room 3 feet deep in bubbles, which I feel is roughly the size of most work lunch rooms, and should be enough to allow him to catch someone who's falling.

I am willing to nerf the pain-based energy, but as that power requires him to be in pain to tap into the ability (or to have been in pain and stored it up), there is already a cost to using it. Furthermore, given the setting of the Rig and the number of people on board, Robbie would be extremely hesitant to use that power on the Rig in the first place, given his history. It is most assuredly not an "indoor power."

I’m also fine with the flight ring not functioning in this universe due to comics science.

ABILITIES
He's useless. He can draw, he has experience with home-building and repair through a Habitat for Humanity like charity, and he's good with kids.

SETTING/SUITABILITY


➤ How do you expect your character to respond to the setting? Even if they plan to rebel in the long term, will they be able to at least obey enough to not get shocked to death?

Robbie has been in situations in canon where he's been at risk for being controlled with shocks, collars, and nanites. His immediate response to the setting will be standard superhero banter and bull, but once it becomes apparent what the repercussions are, Robbie will rein in his mouth and try to assess the situation while getting on as few guards/employees shitlists as possible.

➤ What do you hope to do with your character long-term?

I don't like to plan specific long-term goals with characters before games begin, as they can often lead to disappointment if other characters are not applied for. Robbie has had quite a string of successes since leaving Camp Hammond, and even the times where he has not been enough on his own have generally gone positively. I would like to have him in a situation where he is not good enough on his own, and where there is no outside person or persons stepping in to save the day or provide the bright side, and have him have to find his own way to accept it and keep breathing, without constantly calling himself back to it as yet another failure.

➤ Does your character currently have skills that would allow them to adapt, survive, and do the heroic things being asked of them? If your character doesn't, do you think they'd have the capacity to learn quickly?

Yes. See above: ... basically everything in his life for the past few years. Robbie might not always survive well, but he is very good at surviving.

➤ If they're not used to cooperating with others, what makes you think they'll be able to adapt to cooperating with the group?

Not applicable. Robbie lives for team-ups.

➤ Will your character have long-term plans to rebel against Jorgmund? If so, how? Will they betray the other PCs and cooperate with Jorgmund? If so, how do you plan to handle the negative CR that might arise?

Yes, he'll have long-term plans to rebel. They will be plans like "TO ME MY X-MEN", "CHARGE!" and standing up on a cart singing "It's A Good Day to Die" from Galavant. They're not good plans, which is while he'll wait for Brainy to come up with a plan and throw 100% of his support behind it.

The only way Robbie will cooperate with Jorgmund is if he's told to go undercover, so to speak.

SAMPLES

Network Sample

[ To anyone watching the video, Robbie Baldwin is extraordinarily at ease as he's hooked up to the polygraph machine, holding out his arm for the cuff and even offering his finger without prompting. He's relaxed and complaint enough to make the technician abundantly formal and careful while the strap is fastened around Robbie's chest, as if to compensate for the lack of nerves in the room. ]

Be gentle with me, it's my first time.

[ That gets a few chuckles, and Robbie inwardly feels a bit better. After hearing the setup of this test, the last thing he wants is someone pissed or cranky manning the machine. The first thing he wants is to not take this test, but that isn't on the table.

When he's fully rigged up, the questions start. With the camera blocking his view and the light behind it in his eyes, the only person Robbie can see is the technician manning the machine out of the corner of his eye.

The questions start from somewhere behind the light. "You’re a new addition to the crayon box, what color would you be and why?" ]

“Ordinarily Obnoxious”. It'd be a dark orange that's kind of muted. Like the mauve of oranges.

[ He can't hear any typing or chatter. There's some scritching to his left, but that's probably the polygraph machine. After ten seconds, the technician confirms that it's the truth. Which is stupid - Robbie just made it up. It's not true or false; it's a hypothetical that didn't even exist a minute ago. ]

Isn't this a lot of effort to be going to if you're not going to ask me where I was on Wednesday night?

[ "You weren't here on Wednesday night. It's irrelevant for the purposes of your interview." ]

But my crayon colour is?

[ "Yes. Now, if you were a kitchen appliance, which kitchen appliance would you be and why?"

Robbie's answer is fast and flip, with a hint of an eyeroll. ]

A sausage maker.

[ Scratch scratch scratch. "Oh, that's a lie."

The jolt is mild, for a blow from an enemy; Robbie's had worse and done worse. The positioning of it makes his lips part - somehow, breathing through his nose isn't enough right now, and his eyes widen. But he's determined to hold himself in check, with no gasps and no reaching to rub his neck. He focuses on stretching his fingers while another person asks the question again. ]

How can it be a lie when it's something I've never thought about before? Maybe an oven mitt - no, that's not an appliance. Don't hit the zappy button, I get it! Okay, I'm a donut maker. I'm situationally useful, most people like donuts, and there's a gaping hole in my chest metaphorically?

[ "That's the truth." Robbie smiles cheekily at the technician and gives him a thumbs up.

"If you were on an island and could only bring three things, what would you bring?" ]

Do things include people?

[ "Do you view people as things, Mr. Baldwin?" ]

No! No way. I just wanted clarification, because the answers are easier if I can bring people smarter than me to build a boat or flare gun. Okay, in that case... a solar still, a high end Swiss army knife with a good blade, and the biggest spool of fishing line I could find.

[ Robbie isn't trying to be dishonest, but he's trying to treat the interview as a normal interview and give the expected sort of responses to try and game whatever system that they have in place to assign people to roles. He thinks that if he scores well in B.S., can-do, and bureaucracy, he may end up in a more informative role.

Unfortunately, while he does think all three of those items would be useful, they would not be his actual top three picks. "That's a lie."

The shock under his skin is a little stronger this time, and Robbie grips the arm of the chair tightly. You know, there's a reason why he didn't want to be a lawyer like his father, and it's because people who work in offices every day always wind up a little too bottled up. Probably because they're all getting daily shock therapy if they say the wrong thing. "Again, Mr. Baldwin." ]

I don't know. A box of Girl Scout cookies, an omnicom, and my ring.

[ "True."

Regrettably true, but Robbie only had the ring when he arrived. The cavalry are going to be hella delayed, and he can’t munch on thin mints while he waits.

"If you could get rid of any one of the US states, which one would you get rid of and why?" ]

Massachusetts. Because damn, son. It deserves it for the Boston roads alone. Forget "grid city". I'd be happy if it was any sort of shape that made sense in the human mind.

[ Another instant answer, but he knows as soon as he's said it that it's the realest thing he's ever said. The confirmation from the technician comes moments later. "True."

"Final question, Mr. Baldwin. What is the one thing that you believe to be true that very few others do?"

Robbie hesitates, because there's several dozen things that he knows he still struggles with believing them true when every friend tells him otherwise. Any number of answers could work here, and still be "true", or at least as true as Boston sucking, but there's a lot of responses that he would rather not share.

And he doesn't exactly want another shock, either. ]

Okay, so, here's the deal: Yoda was right, and there is no try. Trying is actually useless without success, participation trophies are bullshit, and life is pass/fail every step of the way and everyone fails in the end. It doesn't exempt anyone from trying, but patting people on the back and telling them at least they tried doesn't help anyone. Not everyone can do everything. Acting like they can is just a good way to get people hurt.

[ He's spoken for so long that there's no delay between him finishing his monologue, and the technician with the results of the polygraph. "Truth."

"Thank you, Mr. Baldwin. You've been adequate."

Robbie leans back in the chair and nods happily. ]

Awesome! I strive for adequacy. You don't know how long I've worked to get here. Hey - after this, you want to grab a coffee and synergize?

Prose Sample
TDM thread with Mac

ADDITIONAL INFO
Robbie has an adorable orange cat named Niels, who he is very fond of and has been with him through thick and thin. Niels also bounces and produces itty bitty kitty energy balls, but Robbie promises that he will keep him in his room for cuddling purposes and will not allow him to wreak havoc on the Rig.

Niels has survived being on a space station. He'll be fine. Can he come?

Other than that and his jammies, the only thing that Robbie will have with him is his Legion flight ring. I’m fine with it not working in this universe.

FINAL QUESTIONS


➤ Will your character suspect some kind of guiding intelligence has brought them to the game? Or will they think it was random or done by Jorgmund?
Given the previous game universe that he was pulled into, he will suspect it involves the Time Trapper or a similar sentient and that there is some as-yet-unseen universal damage that he is meant to help fix. He will keep this largely to himself, however, so as to not be seen as a conspiracy theorist, although he will likely discuss it with Brainy.

➤ If they think it was something other than Jorgmund, like God or some other force of fate, what character traits do they think of that intelligence as having? Is it cruel or kind? Capriciously punishing them or doing it for good reason?
Certainly not kind and benevolent, but cruel is debatable. Often time with these intergalactic mystery types, good and evil is not black and white, and the distinction rests heavily on perspective. What Robbie comes to think of the mystery puppetmaster will depend largely on the types of characters in the game. As it is a jamjar, odds are good that not all of the characters will be the capes-and-tights set. The randomness will make him think that this is NOT an intentional selection process; therefore, it's not an pointed malice at play.