/coc/ - Projects

The Third comic - The Supervillain (title might be subject to change?)
It's also still a WIP, more so than the second comic with feedback being something the artist is asking for since the script for it in the pastebin was so sparse.

https://imgur.com/a/KpIMghB

That art style is familiar. Is that Endpiece?

>>418435
I'm getting Jetsons vibes from that pic.

>>418431
Thinking about the Trade Off some more, I should bring up with the artist to not forget Conner's handcuffs that he wears at all times. I know the pages are roughs, but it shouldn't hurt to mention it to him.

And George's facial expressions remind me of the Royco Cup A Soup animation.

Does anyone still have the rough descriptors for Mr A and Mr EO's designs

Also let me know if there's any student/hero/villain designs you have (original or from the wiki), that you think we could make a good short story from. Stuff like expies of other series (Yu-Gi-Oh and Death Note) will be fine too

>>418465
Mr. A is tall and huge (but not really fat or muscular), has perpetually angry looking eyebrows (like resting bitch face, but angry face), somewhat pronounced canine teeth that make him self-conscious of smiling, and lots of body hair.
He's like a gorilla-bear. He looks nothing like the typical "healer" sort.
Sort of like a taller, less jacked Wolverine.


Mr. EO is skinny, stick-like even, but wears big clothes that flow. Like thick jackets and long coats to make himself look bigger. He always wears goggles that have some built in displays and control functions for some of his machines.
Very angular.
Like a mix between the man with a sparkler on his head from that episode of PPG and Rusty Venture.

>>418466
Hmm... let me float something by you.

So Deelette is a character of mixed origins. There's a handful of monsterkid school stories involving her. In some stories she's a child, in other stories she's in highschool, but they are all on the same timeline.
One of the story ideas is about /d/eck Wars, /d/'s custom Cards Against Humanity deck. The deck was never completely finished, but there was an idea about this deck ending up at school and the cards being scattered everywhere.

This idea of a scandalous inappropriate deck of cards needing to be recollected might be something to consider for IKAG. Especially if the cards have some sort of magic on them. Like a really disturbing Card Captor parody.

Anyway, just thought I'd run this by you since IKAG seems to pull from a lot of ideas from other projects that sort of got half-way over the years.

>>418473
Do you have a link to the creation of (or any major discussion of) the deck idea? Are the cards supposed to be innately cursed, or just have really risque suggestions?
I floated an idea a while back about Conner and Pepper competing to complete a full trading card set (him doing it for validation/enjoyment, her doing it for the financial value) and inadvertently sparking a revival of the game. I'd assume the cursed /d/eck would have a completely different synopsis, maybe pastiches/expies of series protagonists teaming up or competing to reassmble the /d/eck, or even stop it being assembled at all ("Only you can return the cards to the deck." "Why us?" "Because you let them out!"). It feels like the kind of thing that Pepper would try to blindly capitalise on, while Conner wouldn't want to risk expulsion over any involvement. Or it could be another Mr A scenario where Conner's involvement (aiding a theft) is cancelled out somewhat by his later actions (returning the property). Or he might even be an antagonistic force actively trying to stop the deck from falling into [what he perceives to be] the wrong hands. Whatever scenario is brainstormed on and deemed most interesting.
It would definitely be strange if the Boards and Card Games Club weren't involved, or at least namedropped in some capacity.
Magic's always an interesting element since Lustbane and the succubus teacher were floated as ideas, but I'd rather justify it the same way powers are. Through mutation from exposure to an alien element, or just sufficiently advanced/poorly-understood biology and technology. Maybe magic is a school of study that has an high entry curve, like you have to know the equivalent of coding or advanced calculus before you're allowed to try and interpret it, and some people are just more gifted at it.

>>418481
I collected pretty much every Deelette related story on this pastebin.
https://pastebin.com/d0hkrjE2

And there are links to other pastebins in it with other stories.

The /d/eck as it was when last discussed several years ago:
https://pastebin.com/WPwwpnZ1

The actual content of those stories might not mesh all that well with the IKAG setting seeing how it was a mix of /co/ and /d/ back before /aco/ existed.
I'm just thinking that there could be a story where an exchange student shows up after weirder than normal things are going on and it turns into a gotta collect 'em all-a-thon with the cards actually having an influence on people or summoning things into existence.

Magic in the general /coc/ setting is often described as playing a musical instrument, anyone can learn how, it's just harder for some than it is others.

>>418482
1) The entire Deelette setting would clash with IKAG, but the premise of Deelette herself could be filtered through. She makes me think of a student who has mutation powers that make their life a living hell - inhibiting their breathing and bloodflow, poor understanding of (and inability to control) said mutations (tentacle-forming?), undercover organisations trying to kidnap them for study, etc. Likely grew up on the poor side of town and only transferred to Motown High because the principal learned of those powers and ostensibly took Deelette into her care. In actuality the principal is just another interested researcher and Deelette's social/mental well-being plays second fiddle to reverse-engineering her powers. Stories of babies/children unable to control their power (touch-of-gold, combustion etc) and the steps society took to try and mitigate them (chambers to monitor pregnant women), could give Conner some perspective on how much his life could 'actually' suck.

>I'm just thinking that there could be a story where an exchange student shows up after weirder than normal things are going on and it turns into a gotta collect 'em all-a-thon with the cards actually having an influence on people or summoning things into existence.

2) To tell the truth I don't feel comfortable with the step of 'magical influence/summoning things', but I can't rationalise why when we have a setting for people with powers already. I think the setting should be a little more low-key, or any particularly wild stuff should be beyond Conner's reach or beyond his control (sort of like the protagonists of Hidden Fortress or C3P0/R2D2 in Star Wars, the bigger events happen around them). I could make the framing device of the story a dream, so long as the dream leads to actual changes in the setting or character development (since another thing I'm not a fan of is the whole 'you thought things were gonna change? psyche it was a dream, the end' trope). A big danger of the dream/daydream storytelling device is it can lead to lots of self-indulgent fluff that doesn't go anywhere.

2a) Alternatively: Amelia's a deviant weeb. Teenagers vent by making and doing dumb things they try to keep secret, like going through phases or making shrines or making amateur games/comics/fanfiction/etc. She probably started making the deck herself to work out some issues, and 'someone' found out about it and surreptitiously spread the cards around school. When Amelia finds out, she bluffs that the cards are cursed/magic to try and stop people from using them - please hand them in to the student council and we'll do an 'investigation' into who was responsible. But when people try to use them and they don't work, they rationalise that certain cards must only match up in the 'correct' pairs, or the whole set needs to be found.

>>418483
If you don't feel like it works, then don't sweat it. There's always a lot of trial and error to see what works and what doesn't. Can't know if something doesn't fit unless you ask.
Truth be told, my mind landed on Deelette since she sometimes fits the age range of the kids at the school and the other characters who also fit that age range (Mean Teens, Shark Lass, etc.) had already been brought up. And that was pertaining to background cameos and filler for crowd shots.

On the subject of a student being subject to endless organizations trying to study young supers, that sort've veers into Pepper's territory since the military kept trying to confirm if the powers were "inherited" when she was a child.

>>418484
>If you don't feel like it works, then don't sweat it. There's always a lot of trial and error to see what works and what doesn't. Can't know if something doesn't fit unless you ask.

I encourage the trial-and-error process of collaborating. Truth be told, I just don't want to shit on people outright if they have conviction in their suggestions and ideas. Since there's one person drawing comics, there's already a bottleneck for the project; me going "no that won't work" to everything would defeat the purpose of /coc/'s group projects.

Even the Lustbane guy who keeps coming back and reiterating how his character's combat style works or demon appearance looks, must believe in his idea strongly enough. I feel like like Magi is the only person that can make that concept interesting or appealing though.

>>418485
Magi excels at making things look sexy.

The only ideas for Lustbane in the IKAG setting that I can come up with would be a parody of that episode of Billy & Mandy "That's My Mummy".
Or a parody of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Battle Tendency's hammon oil training pit. Wherein Rudy's mom has a "pit of lust" in the back yard which she throws the kid into and Conner somehow ends up down there as well.

But that's more like a funny situation than a plot, and funny situations can be done with any characters.

>>418485
The lustbane guy is pretty obnoxious, he also tried to push that concept of an escaped super soldier experiment that was just a pale muscly blank dude?

>>418487
>He also tried to push that concept of an escaped super soldier experiment that was just a pale muscly blank dude?
You mean 94 and 54, or a different super soldier concept? I was pretty certain 94 was a different anon

>>418487
He's more overbearing I'd say.
The impression that I get from him is that he has an idea, but he wants someone else to do all the legwork for him, or that he doesn't know how to do the legwork and won't go through the process of learning how and getting the skinned knees that come with learning.

I don't know if that impression is accurate, it's more like a gut feeling after years of seeing similar things happen.

>>418488
I'm pretty sure he mentioned at some point that he was the one behind them as well.
I feel like we're sort of veering off track with this now though.


So, this is looking nice.
https://imgur.com/a/sTsPogX

Conner's cuffs are missing in the first page, but I assume you're already aware of that.

The changes to the ending don't bug me, I knew there'd be cuts. Conner's frustrations over feel like he got conned come more from the body language now. (It tried to auto-correct that to body building, hilarious, I bet there's a club for that).

There is one thing that bugs me though. Belle comes off as a bit too mean, too "snooty" or "bitch cheerleader" when they're off to deliver the bear. My idea for her is that she actually is a sweet person. A southern bell meets valley girl type of deal.

Might I suggest a change?

Conner: "So, do you want that gift-wrapped, or...?"
Belle: "No, no! That won't be necessary, but, like, can you help me deliver it?"

Belle: "Usually my, like, fan club offers to help me with this stuff, but I think you've proven yourself."

>>418485
/coc/ characters look like whoever does the most art of them, so if you want to define a character, you have to draw them. A lot.

If you are specifically making a collaboration, I'd recommend doing a model sheet of a character, something that you and your collaborator both agree on. The point of that is to have the design "set in stone", and have the others agree on a set design, and not do something like adding some random detail just because they think it looks cool.

However to find out what works and what doesn't, one would need to draw a lot of parts of the comic in advance. That makes it a chicken and the egg problem.


>>418486
>Magi excels at making things look sexy.

I've been saying that for so long.

>>418489
>Conner's cuffs are missing in the first page, but I assume you're already aware of that.
Gonna have to go back and edit them in, ditto all the missing cuffs in the pencilled pages.

>>418490
>There is one thing that bugs me though. Belle comes off as a bit too mean, too "snooty" or "bitch cheerleader" when they're off to deliver the bear. My idea for her is that she actually is a sweet person. A southern bell meets valley girl type of deal.
Honestly, I felt like I had completely glossed over the general difference in social status between Conner and Belle early on, so that may have been an attempt to establish it. I can rectify that for you and change the line, though.
I had trouble fitting in some parts (the hole in the Cooking Club wall) because I wanted to keep to a page count that's a multiple of 4 (easier to fit into print). So I'd like to address those in one-page comics after the main story too.

>>418491
>If you are specifically making a collaboration, I'd recommend doing a model sheet of a character, something that you and your collaborator both agree on. The point of that is to have the design "set in stone", and have the others agree on a set design, and not do something like adding some random detail just because they think it looks cool.
I get it, but I feel like if another person picks up on the model sheet and changes it anyway because they think it'll be more interesting, they should still be allowed. Since there's a chance they're right and the changes catch on. At worst, it gets ignored afterward.

>However to find out what works and what doesn't, one would need to draw a lot of parts of the comic in advance. That makes it a chicken and the egg problem.
Yeah. It's annoying but it's part of the process of working on any project, that you'll get acclimated to what seems like a rough design and be able to streamline it.

>>418492
Belle is popular enough where nothing threatens her social status, so she doesn't need to make any effort to demean others to prop herself up.

You've established "50 club Conner" in this issue, so one-off comics of any or all of those escapades would work very well.
You could even head-line all of them with "50 Club Conner" to better help identify them as a mini running gag sort of thing.

>>419013
That thread is the catch all thread.
I'll just reply to you in this thread if it bothers you.

Yeah, like a toga. A Go-Go dancer outfit would have sleeves. Probably long boots too.
I don't know how well GG and IKAG would mix since both settings have a different set of internal rules they follow. As confusing as GG's internal logic is, it has been consistent I think.

>>419014
I found my old Pastebin account so I'm able to save and edit uploaded synopses. This one is pretty verbose and may go overboard in re/interpreting the character, but it comes from a mixture of seeing what already exists for Audrey's comics and some 'what if' ideas from the abilities and personality described on the wiki pages - there's a wholly different characterisation that can be made here, but I want to elevate the spirit of the current character. The ideal is that she's not wholly reactive to another character, or without understandable quirks; possibly the script can be punched up with more action or accidents.
https://pastebin.com/tuMXhM9U

>>419015
That's a pretty good script.
I was worried it was going to be a pretentious jab at how tone deaf old comics come across as through a modern perspective, but you took it in a totally different direction than what I saw discussed in the thread.

Having read the script, considering her social status and the IKAG setting, that gives me some ideas for the revamped costume idea.

One: she'd have a sports bra, there's no getting around that or excuse for it since she's not in the 1950s here.

Two: some form of shock absorbers in her boots/knee pads. There's too much bullshit tech in IKAG for a rich girl like her to not have some form of protection. And it opens up double entente potential.

Three: this comes from my half-asleep brain. So if you stick with the go-go dancer look, maybe try cut-off bell bottoms. They're bell bottoms, but, you know, cut off at the knee or above the knee.
There's that dumb Japan whatever the fuck it is thing that means absolute territory. So hike her boots up past her knees.

Four: And probably some MMA/tiny boxing gloves.

GG always feels like a double edged sword to me. I've cut my hands on that project more than once with anons getting pissed at ideas I've tried to float and also gotten more feedback and cooperation on scripts for it I've written than most other stuff that gets discussed.
What I really want to write is Bullion. That's where I feel I could actually explore her mounting frustrations and insecurities.

>>419017
I don't remember that old character on the right playing a role in the creation of her original look, I think it was more of a happy coincidence after the fact when it was brought up. Then again, I only read those threads after they had been archived to play catch up when she started catching on in a big way a month after she was first made.
Then reading the archived threads again in a massive crunched hurry to preserve as much information as I possibly could by getting it onto the wiki when I suspected the archives were failing and they did with a permanent six month gap literally a day after that. I still regret not saving an offline copy of those threads, but they were all broken to shit looking when I was pulling info from them because of the archive crashing as I was doing it.
So my recollection of the exact details of her creation isn't too clear is what I'm trying to say.

Is she still going to have a cape?

In my opinion, I don't think Audrey is all that out of character in your script compared to my own mental notes on her.

>>419018
>So my recollection of the exact details of her creation isn't too clear is what I'm trying to say.
I saw some frustration in the threads regarding people not having the full context of those origins, but given the lack of warning, I don't think anyone would blame you. If those anons show up again in the next thread I'll have to rely on them for a second opinion and just hope there aren't falseflaggers in the conversation
>Is she still going to have a cape?
Yes, but it won't be a massive one. I think the small cape looks better on these designs

>>419019
Back to the script itself, one of the thoughts I had when reading it was "What if Audrey is stalking Rudy because he's the son of a pair of supervillains?" but then I thought nah because she'd have to also be stalking Hayleigh for that to make sense.

My approach to any characters I end up playing with is thinking "What would they do in X situation?" But I feel like I don't have Conner pinned in this respect.
Like Conner makes the very obvious observation that Audrey's tits are the biggest in class and he's getting pushed into those tits in the montage of Audrey's meddling. Does that do anything for him, a teenage boy with a presumably fully functional body? I know boner jokes don't fall in line with the vibe of this idea, but he'd at least maybe say something like "Don't tempt me with your feminine charms!" or "Don't threaten me with a good time."

On an unrelated note, for a long ass time I've been wanting to do a GG joke where she keeps things stored in her cleavage leaving everyone puzzled where she pulls something out of or confused where she made something disappear to since her tits are covered in that "somebody else's problem field". So whatever is between them is gone, like magic.
But, I don't think anyone would go for it because it's too fetishy.

>>419020
>Back to the script itself, one of the thoughts I had when reading it was "What if Audrey is stalking Rudy because he's the son of a pair of supervillains?" but then I thought nah because she'd have to also be stalking Hayleigh for that to make sense.
That line of logic makes sense. If she's scoped out who they are and what they do, and Rudy generally does as little volunteer/club work as possible to avoid drama, and Hayleigh organises two clubs, then Audrey would draw the conclusion she already knows Hayleigh's daily routine - and she's simply too busy to get up to anything underhanded, while Rudy isn't. Hayleigh is friends with the student council while Rudy isn't, so they can also vouch for any alibi Hayleigh has. Conner also gets up to weird schemes, and Conner is seen palling around with Rudy, and Audrey knows that Rudy makes connections around school to find Conner clients... etc etc
>My approach to any characters I end up playing with is thinking "What would they do in X situation?" But I feel like I don't have Conner pinned in this respect.
Half of that honestly comes down to exceptions being made for his behavior based on how I or the writers feel. At the core he's got traits of Donald Duck and Jack Spicer and Fleetway Sonic [braggart, short temper, jack of all trades, cares for family / mad genius, goofball, ADD, self-loathing, plays off as though he's a big villain even he enjoys helping and fighting for good / builds up his own hype but doesn't buy into it, puts on a front about his feelings, finds it difficult to articulate his feelings and frustrations and it can backfire, etc] and the wiki says his motto is about 'not doing anything for free'. He's like a guy who wants to be a hero but dresses and acts like a villain, right down to 'teaming up' with hero-designated people and denying himself a win if he feels he didn't 'deserve' it. He's already a mess of a character where he can be the hero, supporting character or roadblock/antagonist of a story.
But then you have other factors like him remembering certain embarrassing/annoying things and not retaining others, or using 'momentum' as a factor in keeping some conversations going while clearly ducking out of others [like the street-level interaction with Golden Girl], or who he confides into about how he really feels [like blabbing to total strangers].
Sometimes if a character seems set up for a certain convention [oh, this student councillor is a behavior-controlling prude/but she's secretly interested in sex], it's helpful to discuss if it's more interesting to just roll with it, or spin it around a bit [she watches and draws porn] or just get a frame of reference from real life [she gives sexual health advice to the students, it's part of her job]. Sometimes a character can act two different ways in the same scenario and it can still read as 'correct' in that character's frame of mind, or based on their written mood, time of day, other circumstances.
With Conner it feels like you have a character only the creator can really write 'well' because they put a lot of their own perspective and life experience into that character, so it'll never quite read the same with a different writer. And sometimes if that writer is even better, it's to the character's benefit.
>Does that do anything for him, a teenage boy with a presumably fully functional body?
A suggestion based on the setting - Conner held a torch for Hayleigh before he was made her step-brother, he's in a class with girls, he's in a school full of girls, he's a teenage male close to incel level. He nuts in the morning before his shower and commute, and that's generally all he needs for a zen-like level of tranquility compared to the other guys. It explains his lack of obvious horn-dogging over Hayleigh and Belle and Audrey and the like. [That or he's just imitating all those sexless shonen cool guys? In shonen most people close to Conner's archetype would probably be the 'horndog friend of the chaste protag', so he can be an exception.] There's tech in the IKAG setting, is there some with easy access for hormone-suppression or general ADD-suppression? "The rage cage" that goes over your genitals and calms you down? Pills were patented but never released on the market for ethical and financial reasons.
It only really gets difficult for zen!Conner if he's borderline forced to watch T&A parade around, or a girl works away at his patience with the end-goal of getting him to snap and raw dog them, and none of the girls really seem to want that except for one.
I assume Conner's parents taught him to be better than a lecher. They're not in the picture any more, all the more reason to take their lessons to heart.
As far as teenagers go, Rudy just has the patience of a saint while Hayleigh gets up to a lot of business. Rudy probably lost his V-card years back but not by choice. In my head, since they're both half-succubi, they both get really heated during the summer and they're essentially confined to their rooms all summer vacation. George and Barbara pass them dinner and buckets of water, and then reminisce about how Barbara used to be the same way.
One year Conner got roped into helping with the buckets of water too. He made a plea bargain to do a full week to help George and Barbara out, but no more ever again after that.
I don't think any of that shit's going to end up in the comics but it can inform some conversations or topics like "what did the family do this one year", or "does George just buy that Hayleigh goes to study at her friends every week".
>I know boner jokes don't fall in line with the vibe of this idea, but he'd at least maybe say something like "Don't tempt me with your feminine charms!" or "Don't threaten me with a good time."
I think he only saves that banter for using ironically with Rudy or Hayleigh, like going "hey, what's shaking, good-looking? also hi [girl next to Rudy]", or "don't touch me, harlot". There's a real early one-page comic where he calles Rudy a slut but there's enough familiarity between the two of them that it works fine.
Conner kicking a soccer ball as hard as he can: "Begone THOT" [with the "THOT" forming onomatopoeia]
Conner lying in bed after talking with Golden Girl for the night: "wish I could get those titties out of my head"
He didn't bring it up before because he didn't know GG super well, but now that he knows Audrey a little more he's more comfortable about it? I don't know why it doesn't get brought up at all in the first conversation.
Boner jokes could work if they're funny but I don't have confidence in the ones I've written. The webcomic "It Hurts!" has some great dialogue including dick jokes, could be a good font of inspiration.
>On an unrelated note, for a long ass time I've been wanting to do a GG joke where she keeps things stored in her cleavage leaving everyone puzzled where she pulls something out of or confused where she made something disappear to since her tits are covered in that "somebody else's problem field". So whatever is between them is gone, like magic.
Yeah, to me that seems like a no-brainer for a GG joke. I think in the script draft with Amelia playing baseball, she even does the same with the key for Conner's handcuffs. It only gets fetishy I feel if it's a vibrating smartphone or something designed to stimulate.

>>419021
So Conner wakes up every day at five-fucking-AM to have time for a morning wank and shower?
That is something I did back when I was in highschool.

I doubt he'd imitate anything from those same faced glasses wearing no dick anime pretty boys who have dozens of girls just throwing themselves at them. I swear that must be a form of actual autism, or at least the imitation of it is.
In real life, you'd only act like that if you're terrified of embarrassing yourself, so you feign disinterest and self-alienate yourself out of fear. Or you have crippling trust issues and cannot believe anyone is expressing legitimate interest in you. Maybe half of all people can understand that.

That's somewhat insightful to my interpretation of Conner's character.

>>419022
>five-fucking-AM
I wonder if Conner gets his 8-10 hours sleep each night or if he's kept awake by the thoughts he shuts out of his head with distractions during the day. If he's gunning for 8-10 then a 5am alarm cuts out a lot of night time that other students might use to socialise (or take the midnight patrol around the city).
>In real life, you'd only act like that if you're terrified of embarrassing yourself, so you feign disinterest and self-alienate yourself out of fear. Or you have crippling trust issues and cannot believe anyone is expressing legitimate interest in you. Maybe half of all people can understand that.
I resonate with that and I imagine a lot of anons do as well, people spending time on the internet to socialise because of ineptitude/insecurities doing so IRL. I have a big Wordpad document of notes and useful greentexts and one of the ones I go back to occasionally is this one:
>You didn't miss out on anything special. It seems very nice, from far away, but when you're in the moment, subject to all the fears and insecurities and anxieties your half-developed immature hormone-addled conceptualization of self is putting you through, it's really quite awful. No matter who she is, you never quite shake the feeling that you're being made into the butt of a joke everyone else is in on except you, and that your existence, as important as only a teenager can think it is, simply doesn't mean anything to her.
We forget what it's like being teens and take certain things for granted as we grow older, but when you take a thousand kids experiencing the same crisis of identity and lock them in a box, it's almost a foregone conclusion to see fights and fucking and self-isolation and poor mismanagement from the faculty and the like.

>>419023
What time does school actually start for them? I remember when I was wrapping up public schooling well over a decade ago is when they started getting irregular with the school days. Like Wednesdays we'd get out two hours earlier than all the other days for some reason. I hear it's even screwier now for "cost reduction" purposes.
But anyway, Conner being at the school before most other students would give him prep time for a lot of his weirder antics.

He probably has a morning coffee stand he makes a killing at. Or made a killing at before he turned over the business to someone else or the school took notice and made their own to net the profits or force him out of business.

On another line of thought that I can't shake - Is the GG in IKAG idea cutting into your work on The Trade Off or is it more like a break from that to keep from feeling burnt out?

>>419025
So what's up with the Card Captor Sakura wings?

Are all lessons in the same room? I remember it taking sometimes more than five minutes to navigate from one side of my old high school to the other from one class to the next with how spread out it was.

For a long time there was this hustling competition idea that was floated and eventually dropped from the Pepper story. Conner could be running a coffee stand since the school isn't doing it, then gets competition, then it gets out of hand and shut down, then the school realizes there is a legitimate demand/need for the service and starts running such a program.
Both competitors could get so strung out on coffee trying to one up the other that they never actually leave the school at night trying to get a leg up on the other. I doubt Conner would go that far, but I could see him instigating it as part of a ploy/job from another student to convince the council that some students do need a pick-me-up in the morning.

>>419026
>So what's up with the Card Captor Sakura wings?
When I saw the Marvel design had little wings on the helmet I had some inspiration from those and the Warrior class from Dragon Quest 3 (that also has wings on the helmet and boots). Honestly, seeing them in the picture above, I can take or leave them.
>Are all lessons in the same room? I remember it taking sometimes more than five minutes to navigate from one side of my old high school to the other from one class to the next with how spread out it was.
Different rooms. From my own experience most teachers will generally give some leeway on the students getting there before they do, but sometimes even teachers are late to class and sometimes you just get teachers that are hardasses. The rules are still generally designed around classes of students being predominantly human and not confined to wheelchairs, too. I'd like to think the structure of the school is flexible/vague enough, though, that writers can pick and choose the complexity of getting from point A to point B.
The hustling angle sounds fun to give Conner competition on a different level from purely competing in sports, or even a story where he's more purely a side-character if it's easier to focus on writing two of your own characters. It just needs a fun premise and synopsis fleshing out.

>>419027
I might try fleshing it out in the Sunday thread, but I have obligations to deal with this Sunday so who knows if that thread won't be dead and gone by the time I have time.

Those two fire guys could play a part in it heating up coffee.

Well that thread certainly went in many directions, but I don't feel any closer to landing on an idea that I think works.

After finishing the Trade-Off comic, I should work on a series of one-page comics that get the general character dynamics over. Then people may have a better grasp on the characters? This info might be too big for the wiki page, but it'll help to have it somewhere it can be easily accessible, so I might make a Pastebin page for it all too.

Rudy Nevermind - the idolising, idolised younger step-brother
>The middleman for Conner's bartering business. If a popular enough student has need of Conner's services, they may send a gofer in their own stead [not wanting to risk their own reputation meeting a low-rank], or they may find Rudy. For other students, it's a coin-toss if they meet Rudy or Conner. Rudy is able to retain more information than Conner, who requires a notepad for some key data.
>Childhood friends with Conner, but Conner drifted apart from him during high school because of how popular Rudy became.
>People seek Rudy's advice on all sorts of topic and his wisdom is generally on-the-nose, helping to quickly resolve their character arcs. People say he can 'understand the heart' as a result, but he can't get through to every student - exceptions include Conner, Hayleigh, Princess Daughter and Amelia. Rudy's empathy likely comes from his mother.
>Conner sometimes gives him 'older brother' advice that Rudy humors him on, but generally doesn't retain unless it's actually sensible. Through Rudy, Conner has an understanding of the kinds of worries other students have, like unrequited crushes and puppy love. Conner sometimes pokes [good-natured] fun at Rudy's trouble-magnet status.
>Rudy's relationship with Conner is estranged and confused. He looks up to Conner, even if the latter takes him for granted as a 'sidekick', and has some rose-tinted memories of their younger years. He becomes withdrawn and sullen if Conner seems to show interest in other people like Amelia. Rudy works to convince others of Conner's good points so they can open up to him, and vice versa.
>Wants to avoid drama and work as much as possible, unless people are in serious danger.
>Rudy dislikes the student council because they go along with society's ranking people by their augmentation/Newman compatibility, and lower-ranked students are socially ostracised compared to higher-ranked students. Rudy has a 'shouty versus calm' rivalry with Princess Daughter [dating in secret?], while Amelia resents his workaphobic attitude. Refusing to volunteer for work has threatened to put him in hot water on occasion.
>Rudy is either a high-A or S-tier compatibility in augments/Newmans. As a student that exceeds the standard he is allowed access to augment-uniforms [which need a better name], though he usually doesn't bother.
>If Conner goes to clubs, Rudy will sometimes join for the low-key activity, but he gets involved in social links and resolving conflict anyway - Conner sometimes resents going to a club and feeling upstaged when the students play up Rudy's own involvement. Rudy is often scouted for different clubs but refuses if they treat lower-ranks (especially Conner) poorly.
>Gets used as makeup practice by his sister.
>Has retired-supervillain parents, George and Barbara. He's a half-succubus on his mother's side.
>Often mobbed by people. Physically reactive. "One of the most popular people in school" according to Conner [who says this about a lot of students].

Hayleigh Nevermind - the casual perfectionist older step-sister
>The leader of the Makeup and Soccer Clubs.
>Childhood friends with Conner, but Conner drifted apart from her during high school because of how popular she became. Conner had a crush on her but he attributes it to 'boys just being horny for girls'.
>Pivots between soccer uniform and gyaru-style fashion. Dodging the councillors when in full gyaru makeup mode to change back into 'civvies', mostly out of habit rather than danger. [Frank can't catch her in time; Bucky handwaves it because he's a bit of a lecher; Amelia handwaves it because Hayleigh does more work than the other club leaders do; Ella is also a fashionista so she has no problem with it.]
>A huge gossip-hound. Conner and Rudy resent her inability to keep her mouth shut. She sometimes brings up embarrassing anecdotes to break the ice.
>Overworks herself [often seen with piles of papers in classes] and gets angry if heavily distracted during said work. Also gets angry when busy at home [organising food if the parents are away] or just wanting some downtime. Hayleigh has had an anger streak for so long that she now finds catharsis in her temper exploding. She likely takes after her father in that respect.
>Sometimes finds herself lecturing Rudy and Conner because they're silly boys, but she chides herself for coming off as a nag when she just wants to look out for them and doesn't use the right words. Can be protective of Rudy and Conner, especially if she suspects people are trying to exploit them - "Only I'm allowed to pick on him!"
>Estranged relationship with Conner, though she picked up on his ADD and eventual resentment of the Neverminds earlier than Rudy did. She resents Conner for distancing himself but still works to encourage him opening up to others and vice-versa - this sometimes bleeds into her 'embarrassing [for Conner, his doing something good/wholesome] anecdotes'.
>Has a working relationship with Amelia compared to her brothers.
>Hayleigh is either a high-A or S-tier compatibility in augments/Newmans. As a club leader she qualifies for [and occasionally uses] augment-uniforms.
>Has retired-supervillain parents, George and Barbara. He's a half-succubus on his mother's side.
>Often mobbed by people. Physically proactive. "One of the most popular people in school" according to Conner [who says this about a lot of students].

>>419036
Conner Jones - the eternal underdog
>99.9% of the planet's population have 'Newman' particles in their system due to latent/direct exposure to bacteria from outer space. These particles either work to produce mysterious superpowers, or aid in coordinating with specially-development augmentations for body enhancement, disability support, medical support etc. Conner is one of a literal handful of people born without 'Newmans' or the ability to produce them, leaving him unable to use augments or technology/powers that rely on existing particles. One of Conner's life goals is to become a licensed hero.
>Officially adopted into the Nevermind family after his own [neurotypical] parents disappeared, but Conner confines himself to his old apartment rather than move in, holding onto his independance as a teenager but also unable to move on from his fond memories.
>After some time spent socially ostracised in his first high-school form [with Ms Mallory], Conner decides that artificially making his body produce 'Newmans' will put him on an even playing field and maybe help bring his parents back somehow. He 'borrows' a uniform, reverse-engineers it and produces a replica with a bio-organic implement to inject Newmans, allowing him to boost his own body like other people can. The councillors track him down and he freely gives them the initial uniform back, but when they attempt to confiscate the replica Conner makes to escape the school. His intentions to leave school and work for society somehow, are pure but woefully naive. The uniform exceeds expectations [speed, strength, thought on a B-class level] but Conner forgot to create a failsafe or 'power off' - he has to be knocked unconscious and the uniform surgically removed. It is presented to the principal of the school, Queen Mother [whose daughter, Princess Daughter, is the student council chairwoman], who reneges on expelling the student - he's the only one who knows how it was made. Her R&D team look into reverse-engineering the suit. If Conner can replicate it himself with instructions, or produce something equally useful for the school and not dangerous, he will be 'handsomely rewarded'; if he violates another iron-clad school rule, he will be 'expelled on the spot'. In the meantime he is transferred to Mr Carous' class for behavioral remodelling.
>Conner is one of four students in teacher Mr Carous' class that doesn't have superpowers [himself, Rudy, Hayleigh, and Audrey Page].
>Often an egotist/braggart around his step-siblings or classmates, builds up his own hype but doesn't buy into it.
>Flippant/frank around others, either strangers or classmates he's warmed up to. Often judges people on first impression but catches himself and instead relates to them based on preconceptions. [An artist who has repeatedly been asked to draw random things or tattoos for free, or wheelchair-bound people who are patronised or asked how they get around school; Conner is familiar with these interactions, having been on both sides of the conversation.]
>A jack of all trades including building machines - flying pods, hard-light hologram firing lightguns, walking tanks, etc. A mad genius, though many of his inventions have a quirk or remain unfinished due to missing parts, some machines are ahead of their time. Unfinished inventions are often found and fixed by Amelia. Generally whatever actually works, is credited to the school instead of Conner himself, but most of the time he's too lost in another hobby or invention to care.
>Generally interested to learn new things, loses interest in his current 'obsession' after a couple weeks. If he's tried something before, it can be difficult to get him invested in it again.
>High marks in subjects like Hero Technical, even beating Amelia's scores; poor marks in Hero Practical. Skips out on 'hero rescue' exams and lessons when possible.
>In the bartering business Conner generally refuses to do things 'for free'; he also hates to be in other peoples' debt if he can't easily repay them, i.e if they're hard to find, if the debt is nebulous, or the debt is extraordinary [like his expulsion being waivered].
>Usually isolates himself from his class.
>Has an underdog complex surrounded by a 'world' of superheroes [two golden-god step-siblings and most of the rest of his class have powers] - feels he doesn't 'deserve' victories and often finds an excuse to disqualify the few accomplishments he manages. He hears the anecdotes and accomplishments of all his classmates and wants to join in, wants to exceed them, but sees them as an unattainable standard. The irony is that they [normal teens that happen to have powers and possibly mentors] see Conner as some closed-off, unreachable polymath.
>The result of this is that he will USUALLY isolate himself from his class, but he will break those rules if an opportunity to teach comes up; he likes to relate what he's learned from clubs and other places. This can help break the ice between him and students he's not normally familiar with, and in future he may be more casual/open with them.
>Short-temper. If Rudy and Hayleigh are around they'll try and keep him in check, and if things escalate then the rest of the class may join in. If they aren't around, they act as his shoulder angels. Conner has to learn to deal with situations productively.
>Because of this he's not above yelling at/threatening to fistfight his classmates, particularly rowdy ones like Rick and Gomez or people who inadvertently snipe him with their powers.
>Often forgetful and disorganised. Carries a huge bag of items and tools to barter around the whole school, but doesn't have an efficient system in place since he generally wants to oversee things himself.
>Has a $30 Java-era kind of phone when everyone else has smartphones or tablets. Carries a notepad to remember key things.
>Idolised heroes as a kid even though he wasn't born with powers. A mixture of learning his compatibility rank [G, the lowest above U for Untested] and general social bullying in early high-school by people with powers, soured him on the concept. He's more dismissive towards them, but still holds a torch for his childhood hero Super Joe.
>This dismissive attitude extends to scepticism over outlandish-sounding scenarios - people with the power of mass-healing, or a group of students all coming down with a virus that could be excused as a superpower. If people are quickly to assume a power is responsible over other possibilities, Conner may bring the mood back down to Earth.
>Respects people who have trained to acquire strength or proficiency in arts and sports, envies their dedication, even if he hates them or they piss him off. Even if a club member acts tyrannical and other students attempt to put them down or appeal to their better nature, Conner will relate to them on their aptitude and present his respect [as a master of none] before leaving. One of Conner's life goals is to find his own 'dream hobby' that he can keep persuing no matter the odds.
>Undiagnosed ADD.
>Conner dislikes the student councillors but respects their rules, since he's is on thin ice as is. Despite this he displays an attitude towards them that would otherwise warrant infractions [treating Princess Daughter and Amelia casually, getting into arguments/fights with Bucky]. Conner would secretly love to be a councillor.
>Years ago Princess Daughter once foiled a bank robbery where Conner was inadvertently held hostage; he was then held in a bridal carry by Princess for a photo op. Conner apparently resents Princess to this day.

>>419037
Pepper - emotionally shockproof
>The military has as many superpowered people as society does; wars are generally empty threats or proxy battles since most nations understand the planet could be nuked a million times over, and never restored. Pepper's father, a US soldier, has the unique and enticing ability to resist shockwaves and explosions.
>Pepper is actually a clone of the aforementioned soldier - to everyone's surprise she turned out female. Many 'stealthy' tests were performed on Pepper [setting off explosives in a china shop; her dad taking her to Take Your Clone To Work Day where they were test tank-paratroopers; her dad telling Pepper she was a clone; etc] to determine if she did inherit her dad's ability of being shockproof. The military results were inconclusive, but it's easy to assume that Pepper buried her own feelings and trauma deep down.
>Pepper's father is morally protective of the weak, somewhat socially isolated, physically strong, but a bit of a doormat [it's part of his job]. Her father's superiors are well-connected in the military, are somewhat entrenched in their ways, are used to command, and have respect and fortune. Pepper's role models instil a conflict of interest in her - she looks after her father at home, almost as the 'man of the house' and resents the exploitative, e.g cold-callers. Simultaneously she desires power and riches, and devises ways to acquire resources and assume authority.
>On the surface Pepper is something of a casual tomboy, or easygoing dudebro. She is not stingy with her slurs.
>A military brat, Pepper has transferred across most of the country for most of her childhood; she has trouble reading social cues and forming lasting friendships, getting into the habit of socially distancing herself.
>This changes when Pepper's father transfers to Motown City and Pepper sees the kind of prestige Rudy has built up; he directs Pepper to seek Conner for advice, who attempts to take Pepper under his wing as a sort of bartering protege. Her attempts to copy his behavior, under the guise of 'relationship advice', backfire as she improvises and gives the wrong kind of facial cover to Belle [who normally asks for make-up, but receives military camoflage from Pepper instead].
>Pepper can act as Conner's henchwoman, or friend, or rival, all at the same time. Someone who can just as easily pull Conner into trouble as join in on whatever he's getting up to. She isn't romantically interested in him; she just wants to hang out with Conner because she thinks he's fun or because of the funny things he says/does. He's also one of the few people she kind of knows in Motown City, so she'll try inviting him to events like school expos or barbeques, or trying to coerce him into inviting her - only for Rudy to tag along, and then for other girls to assume Pepper is trying to make moves on Rudy [who she's also not romantically interested in].
>Pepper's character hasn't fully come into its own yet. She doesn't quite know what chemistry she has with other people, she needs to resonate with more characters and interact with them to figure herself out. It's possible through her social ineptitude and dudebro demeanour, that people assume she's trying to hit on them or awkwardly befriend them. Perhaps she drags other characters off to do something fun. There is a lot of work in progress here.

>>419038
Original Amelia Nenko
>The half-sister of Stacy "Princess" Daughter [the council chairwoman] and daughter of Queen Mother [school principal].
>Used to be a tomboy that was fiercely competitive, but during middle school she learned this made her unpopular and hard to put up with. Her friends and classmates refused to interact with her after she kept winning all the time. After running home in tears one time too many, her mother would take her aside and explain that a 'monster' lay dormant inside her.
>Amelia has the superpower of 'supertalent', where she is objectively rubbish at a sport/hobby at first, but then rises to meteoric greatness after some short training.
>Amelia worked to suppress all of this and would reinvent herself as Motown High's student council's super serious secretary. She feels grossly socially-stifled however, and simply wants to have fun again. However part of Amelia feels she's too far gone to quit now; another part feels restricted by Queen Mother herself.
>Normally has blue hair, but dyes it brown as part of her facade; the dye dissipates if she gets wound up/excited.
>A huge weeb - reads manga online, gives herself a Japanese nickname like Ai-chan, drops Japanese loanwords, has Japanese fetishes, draws Japanese-style pornography under her nickname - but keeps it to herself or really close friends.
>Generally stoic and reserved, casual. Not afraid to raise her voice, or offer a dry chuckle. It's rare for her to openly laugh.
>Since she's strong at games and sports, it'd be nice to see her flustered in social situations that she loses control of, and then practice to save face for the next time it happens. Getting peoples' contacts on a smartphone or Discord to talk to them, studying books and videos on reproduction, observing slang in action, etc. Having a character that improves as we see them, rather than having them just make a declaration of intent/progress.
>As the council secretary she keeps herself busy by collating and organising most of the club leaders' paperwork as well as council paperwork; Hayleigh is one of the few exceptions to do her own work. Amelia also keeps herself busy helping with Princess Daughter's robotics and Conner's unfinished/scrapped inventions.
>Works at the council's office computer and also uses it to draw comics with a graphic tablet.
>Watches porn on her phone/tablet. She's probably more into doujins but she'd watch videos for curiosity's sake. Might be stereotypical to make her a BL fan if she's into doujins though - more futa, lesbian, tomgirls, incest etc. (Conner's favorite smut artist is just her under a pseudonym. It would kill him inside if he knew.) Since Amelia's own proportions are lop-sided, she either uses internet reference or seeks other students like Hayleigh for reference on legs/thighs and such.
>A councillor that students trust for advice on all matters, including sex education. Amelia and her sister are plenty experienced already [parties amongst the high-rank students, formal meetings with Queen Mother and current/prospective business partners that lead to afterparties, etc] and neither find a lot of joy out of it, only the practicality of networking. Amelia advises students on examining themselves and acquiring birth control outside of the school's responsibility.
>If students are in a panic, Amelia is able to assert authority and redirect them.
>Bucky and Ella are immensely charismatic and popular; Frank is intimidating; Princess Daughter commands respect like a tiger or a great phoenix. Amelia is viewed like a kind of icy glass automaton, and "just sort of there" for a lot of students. Amelia views herself as the weak link in the chain, the bridge between her and her colleagues in threat of breaking down entirely. However she sees it all as necessary to maintain decorum in the school, since she 'knows what happens if she tries to be normal'.

Awakened Amelia Nenko
https://pastebin.com/8hZpv5ji
>When someone brings her out of her shell, whether out of kindness or arrogance, she blitzes them at the event of their choice without fail; she treats these lapses of self-control as her "supreme darkness form", showing chuunibyou traits. [Signs of fantasising about an alter ego are commonplace in a school with superpowers.] Amelia acts childish in victory but occasionally she'll lose games on purpose, and her lack of anger/malice/bitterness over a loss ("What a great game! I won't lose next time!" with a big smile) rubs the winner all the wrong ways. Either they short-circuit because they don't know how to react, or they realise they're being patronised and get even angrier than if they'd lost conventionally.
>Even in high-school, most people who aggravate Amelia and get thrashed at a game will avoid her afterward, generally not being stubborn enough to poke the bear again - this dejection/resignation will upset Amelia, having pushed things too far. Conner has no such self-preservation.

Amelia vs Conner
>Conner inadvertently undermines the student council at almost every turn [from handing in a teddy traded through club leaders, after a 'no bartering' sign was posted; to being an accessory to theft; to almost kidnapping a child from a group of middle-schoolers on tour; to being disqualified from a contest, handed the prize as a PR stunt, then handing the prize to another disqualified entrant; etc]. Amelia receives many an infraction form or complication to sort out. She starts getting vexed. Surely Conner is doing this on purpose to antagonise her!
>She decides to monitor Conner personally by transferring to Mr Carous' class, and Conner drags her out of her comfort zone to try new things again. She learns up close that he's not really a scheming spiteful genius but a short-tempered guy who's just trying to find his purpose in life.
>Both are socially-handicapped to different degrees and have self-esteem issues that they try to fight, on top of issues that they vew as defense mechanisms (Conner's "me vs the world" attitude, Amelia's self-control); they both try to help each other overcome them. When Conner learns how talented Amelia really is and that she's actively burying it, he swears to slap whoever put that thought into her head.
>He reads comics, she's a big weeb ["backwards black-and-white comics"], they slowly assimilate each others' tastes. Slowly. It takes some pulling of teeth and mocking of conventions.
>Both respect one another (Amelia is a standard of aptitude that Conner wants to beat out of pride, Conner as a club-trotting non-councillor from a different family has freedom and confidence that Amelia desires).
>Both piss one another off (smug winning Amelia winds up Conner badly, rule-ignoring blockheaded Conner frustrates Amelia immensely).
>As a result Amelia goes from 'stoicly dealing with Conner's bullshit' to 'passively/playfully antagonising him', to 'both of them trying to embarrass/piss each other off'.

>>419039
Amelia and Conner
>At first Conner is Amelia's source of real personal interaction outside the teachers and other councillors, and only Conner drags her off to do things, so maybe she imprints on him a little. She starts to open up to other students more and the facade slips, resumes, slips again.
>When Pepper starts forcibly socialising with her, and she learns to acclimate to other people and join in more often, it could be the start of her learning not to lean on Conner as an emotional crutch ("I mistook happiness for this one person as a crush, but I can be happy around all kinds of people").
>Or conversely, even as she unlearns her confining introverted behavior, she realises the socialising she did with Conner [annoying him, competing against him, casual talk] made her happy in a different way.
>Maybe Conner is actually beating her at helping people, but it's not something either of them realize. Like Conner's help to others actually lasts, like good medicine. While Amelia's brand of help is more like a painkiller.
>The medicine/painkiller analogy is very apt. I thought at first that Rudy should be the painkiller, since he's the popular kid always being asked for advice and expected to help with emotional issues, but it's all superficial wisdom or it walks you through every step of your self-recovery. Whereas Conner would get people to question and re-evaluate themselves. Rudy is always around to redispense help and hold your hand, while Conner takes an interest, says something foreign to your point of view, and then fucks off leaving you to take self-initiative. Perhaps Amelia's guidance as a councillor skews towards Rudy's style at first, but begins to adopt and adapt the 'foreign point of view' intentionally.
>Love compromises logic in so many ways. The most deceptive way it does so is making itself unknown. There's a reason why "everyone can see it" is a thing while the people in love can't see it. I'm pretty sure Amelia really does love Conner, either romantically or at least knowing subconsciously that he "completes" her.
>At the denouement of the 'cards and board games' story where Amelia first transfers to Conner's class, where Amelia herself admits she wants to 'hang out' with Conner more often rather than hiding behind excuses, Conner officially calls their blossoming relationship a 'rivalry' and sticks to his guns the whole way. He's a low-rank student fraternizing with a councillor, and the daughter of the principal at that. He doesn't want to express affection until he can prove himself worthy to Amelia, and prove himself on his own terms. The irony is that he acknowledges this affection, and affirming it is the more important thing to Amelia rather than the actual proof of self-worth.
>Amelia's options at that point amount to (a) overcoming her own mental block and taking the initiative, calling Conner her 'boyfriend' [or calling herself his girlfriend, scandalous] and wearing him down until he agrees to the arrangement; or (b) getting Conner to overcome his own mental block and confess himself, winning her over; or (c) acting so smug and incendiary to Conner that he snaps and hatefucks her over a table, disregarding the very real misunderstanding that Conner will perceive Amelia's smug goading as her attempting to get him expelled from school.

>>419040
>>419039
>'cards and board games' story
https://pastebin.com/nUJVnb5r

>>419041
Belle - cheerleading club leader
>Born with a mutation that gave her unusable scorpion claws and a stinger tail, both of which are accessorised. Has an on-site butler to help with tasks requiring handling objects.
>Southern charm and hospitality towards mid/high-rank students that's strengthened in spite of her lack of hands. Confident enough in her popularity to readily associate with low-ranks and not worry about gossip or taking a hit to her reputation.
>Gets annoyed when the other club members are over-eager to pitch in and help with tasks she can ostensibly do herself. Frequently over-estimates her own capability. Prideful; tries not to complain about the lack of handicap facilities around the school for her own sake, only if club members have trouble. Because of her aptitude in cheerleading and motivating, and owing to her lack of hands, she's given more of a free pass on the whole 'can't do her own club paperwork' thing.
>Prideful but willing to change - will re-evaluate her opinion of people based on their proving their merits, instead of becoming competitive or trying to undermine them.
>Relates more to the girls on the student council than the guys. A bit more mutual a friendship with Amelia; a little cold/dismissive towards Ella [poor at following complicated routines]; treated a little distantly by Princess Daughter, despite nicknaming her "Peedee" and bringing her gifts.
>Carries a torch for Rudy. Enjoys having her make-up done by Hayleigh. Allows Conner to help her with make-up in exchange for giving him a tool he needs; his refusal to offer the service for free gives Belle more confidence in it, to the point of blindly trusting proxies of Conner [like Pepper].
>Characterisation can be fleshed out further, feel free to embellish/add/remove as necessary

Janet - sewing club leader
>Trusted enough to help oversee the school's uniform design and production, since her club also associates with the Mechanics and Robotics clubs. Some of her eccentricities are handwaved because of this, which can also mean a lack of self-awareness over the implications of some actions. (e.g. her innocently asking "can you do this thing for me" carrying the implication "if you don't, I can block/deny you access to important resources").
>Scatterbrained when it comes to time management; Janet is often seen multi-tasking with the multi-thread belt she wears. Lots of tasks are on the 'backlog' and people who left the club are assumed to still be participating. This isn't necessarily helped if they register and quit more than once, like Conner.
>Shameless pervert; if an opportunity arises to feel up handsome/swole guys she'll take the risks, however comical. Her career choice of working in the fashion industry is calculated to allow her to be around near-naked man on a regular basis. Keep her away from the boys' changing rooms. [Has more than once walked/been escorted away in disappointment from a room full of 'skinny guys'.]
>Has a beefcake boyfriend in the Football Club, but circumstances rarely allow them to interact and go on dates. He's smitten with her confidence - while many girls have asked him out, he has too much spaghetti and self-loathing [mostly over his vernacular] to go through with it. Janet was the first to do the heavy lifting in their relationship and follow through.
>Not a very popular student even in spite of being a club leader. Janet thinks it's because she has the keys to the metaphorical candy shop and won't let people indulge, or her less-than-feminine figure and attitude. 'Being a pervert' isn't seen as a problem.
>Doesn't seem like a strong fighter. Likely relies more on the multi-threading belt for long-range combat if any; probably prefers to fall back.
>Does Janet freak out around action/fighting? Does she still have scruples? Is she hypocritical when it comes to pointing out other people coming off as perverts? Does she have good/funny relationship advice to give? Does she carry a torch for Frank? Is she seen as something of a freak for her lack of salivating over a 'small guy' like Rudy?

Gavin - cooking club leader
>Tall, broad, cool confidence. Little actual characterisation is given to him in the one comic he's in [The Trade-Off], mostly warm-neutral to Conner coming back to the club and arranging a favor for the club.
>Casually brings up an incident of Conner overly judging himself over his high standards and damaging one of the student kitchens, putting a hole through a wall; it seems like these kinds of incidents of building damage are commonplace or low-scale enough to not be a subject of resentment, but kept to jokes or bantz.
>Conner's bungling of words ["No, she already has a boyfriend"] puts the impression in Gavin's head that Conner is helping a girl two-time on someone. It's possible Gavin is in a relationship himself and has jumped to the farthest conclusion, that Conner's 'proposal' was a confession of guilt. This turns out to be false. It would be ironic if Gavin has/had a girlfriend that Conner's plans eventually involve, with Conner oblivious to the connection.
>A big metal/rock fan, like most of the people we see in the club [who are more upfront about it].

Axel - swordsman in training
>Tall, stocky, Bluto-like proportions. Dressed coincidentally similarly to Zack from FFVII.
>Little actual characterisation is given to him in the one comic he's in [The Dragon of Lakefire].
>Assumed to be very confident at his job and very strong [can hold comically-oversized blades and axes one-handed], but not too strong or conceited that he doesn't need outside help, be it on the battlefield or in school. Warns Conner of the dangers of the terrain outside of town, showing experience and willingness to concede to the experts.
>Quick physical reactions, as seen by his being ambushed at school and attacking [but barely missing, possibly just to warn?] on instinct.
>Poor conversational reactions, doesn't seem to be fast on the uptake; alternatively he is just easy to bamboozle if you're fast enough about it and plow through attempted interruptions, demonstrating Conner's patter.

>>419042
Student Council - The ones at the top of the school hierarchy, the ones with either superpowers or the best body modifications. It can be said that they intentionally make Conner's job more difficult, but this comes from his own perspective. It's just as possible [from the view of other mid/high students or the teachers or club leaders] that the councillors are just doing their job. The grudge is somewhat mutual - as Conner feels he is being undermined and blocked at every turn, so too do the councillors feel that Conner is pulling a fast one on them whenever possible. However Conner is self-aware of the precarious situation he's in and will obey the rules as necessary, and stop others breaking the rules as necessary, even reporting violations or infractions. This can paradoxically give the impression he's a backseat monitor, or a stooge, or just a hypocrite.

Toby Frank
>The big guy. It isn't fully understood by everyone what his power is at first. Conner assumes his clothing pattern denotes a 'fire and ice' theme, and that the blue/red auras that emnate from his body on occasion show that he's ready to get serious.
>Frank's actual power is more complicated - half his body [blue] exudes comforting/morale-boosting energy to those around him, the other [red] inflicts equivalent painful sensations upon himself. The stronger the energy/strength boost he requires, the stronger these effects. The less control Frank has over his own stress, the more visible these auras are.
>Diligent and straight-forward. Has pride in the school faculties. Abhors bullying and goes overboard in correcting it. Sees no fault in his overreactionary correction of other peoples' behavior. One of the strongest students in the school, possibly one of the strongest people at all.
>Wants to shepherd the students and assume tasks around school but is often restrained to his mandatory schedule of 'relaxing' or 'calming', such as extended yoga sessions. Often torn between his being restrained and the other councillors being incapable [Ella], lazy [Bucky], or too busy [Amelia].
>A firm believer that 'wanting' to be a hero or 'sacrificing' yourself 'heroically' has no value if you're a weakling, you give little value to your cause and in the worst-case scenario, may endanger others or exacerbate the current danger. People rise to the top because of their merits; if you want to be at the top then you must show your merit. People who try to push their bodies artificially are seen as relying on crutches.
>Often scolds Conner for his perceived undermining or attempts to artificially elevate himself or unrealistic dreams ("you have to understand, not everyone is going to be a hero"). But he comes from a similar place that Hayleigh does, where he recognises Conner's redeeming qualities [such as helping kids with life advice] that he knowingly squanders or denies.
>His mother owns a construction company that was once run by his grandfather. His father was a domestic abuser, long out of the picture. Frank assists the company on his off-days.
>Generally rather serious, but was initially endeared to Bucky through his humor; the two are good friends. Frank tolerates Ella. He is respectful and loyal to Amelia and Princess Daughter, only defying them in his loyalty to Queen Mother.

Bucky Jacks
>The playboy. It isn't fully understood by everyone what his power is at first. Conner assumes his power is 'good luck' as he always seems to appear where he's most [un]wanted, and things appear for his convenience at the most opportune moments.
>Bucky's actual power is extreme speed, usually arranging things make himself seem luckier/stronger than he actually is. He has built up a tolerance to travelling at this speed, but the same can't be said for objects or people he carries along the way.
>Has the constitution of glass. Conner could take him in a fistfight with two hands tied behind his back, and often gets goaded into trying as much. Bucky is a sub-par fighter, relying on his speed to carry him or allowing his stronger cohorts to take point.
>Uses banter to disguise stress/concern. This is how he met the pre-councillor Frank and befriended him through humor.
>Fraternises with Amelia and Princess Daughter constantly. Generally treats Ella with kid gloves as she's seen as too much of an 'easy target'. There is confusion as to whether he is dating Amelia or not.
>"One of the most popular people in school" according to Conner [who says this about a lot of students].
>Well-aware of the seething that his good fortune inspires in his 'lessers' and enjoys being smug about it.
>Leader of the hall monitors. He could ostensibly do the job of all the monitors and the entire council by himself, but is far too lazy to bother. You'd think being a speedster would make him skittish and impatient, but paradoxically Bucky seems to enjoy the slow life as it unwinds in real time.
>The initial idea for Bucky was that his parents were funeral directors and his own power made him something of a psychopomp, escorting spirits to the afterlife [but not before coercing them into doing his own bidding to fight crime]. The power was dropped, but we currently don't have anything else as placeholder for Bucky's family life.

Ella Menopy
>The magician. Her powers aren't seen in real-life, so few people know what they actually look like. Even Conner can only posit that she's just on the council out of nepotism or for her own protection.
>Her actual power is the 'nightmare game' where the victim is trapped in another realm and tasked to compete in a contest; generally their ego or greed is their downfall, but if they show remorse or promise they may win and escape back to the real world, with only a faint dream of what happened.
>This power was initially dubbed the 'genie game' and left losers in a coma-like state; even winners were left mentally distorted in some fashion, to tie in with the capricious or trickster-like whims of an actual genie. However Ella was able to change it so that winners leave with no consequence and losers merely suffer a long and karmic dream before waking up.
>Naive and easily taken advantage of, has trouble learning things conventionally, requires a lot of patience and repetition - understands things quicker with pictures and props, hence her proficiency with cards and magic.
>The other councilors make sure that students don't get away with making passes at her or exploiting her. Bucky and Amelia are usually frequent caretakers. Sometimes Ella just stays in the office while Amelia works on the computer.
>She adores puzzles, high-stakes poker, the spectacle of magic and the mystery of tarot, especially using it to predict romance in the near future.
>She is well aware of her shortcomings and being exploitable, though she doesn't bring it up outside of close confidants. She may be getting tired of the routine condescension and attempted exploitation from non-council students. Recently she's been looking into learning chess.
>She knows the good sides of all her friends like "Peedee" and Amelia, despite their put-upon demeanour.
>At first she treats Conner as a recurring friend [and is reminded not to trust him, sometimes even by Conner himself] and he might even get roped into tutoring her. It's only when he starts getting more vexed at Amelia that Ella becomes strongly indignant on her behalf, especially when she handwaves it.
>"One of the most popular people in school" according to Conner [who says this about a lot of students].

>>419043
Stacy "Princess" Daughter
>The daughter of the school principal. The chairwoman of the student council. Her power is the one that's most recognized by the students, even Conner. The school is sometimes mockingly nicknamed 'Princess Daughter Academy', owing to the black hole of attention that she is.
>Has psychokinesis; she can create barriers, including a shield across the entire school, though the amount and strength are tied to her own life force, and her body is fairly frail. This is witnessed when a school-sized shield tanks several missiles during the Mr EO assault and Daughter begins to collapse with mild blood loss.
>Has the ability to read peoples' minds. This is limited to broad emotions and sensations rather than specific thought-out-loud sentences, but she can see if people are internalising fear or worry or smug self-assurance.
>Princess has the iron will and confidence that her step-sister lacks, and so she is the face of the council while Amelia is given carte-blanche to make the decisions she feels are necessary and fill out the right forms. Princess speaks the most softly of all the councillors while they carry the biggest sticks in her name.
>Stacy and Amelia confide in one other when they cannot do the same with their mother or with other students; even Bucky, Frank and Ella are seen as 'subordinates' or 'colleagues', with most of the rest of the school [even the faculty] seen as novelties, interesting little ants or nuisances. Their provocations and insults generally bounce off her, and attempted assaults are intercepted by the councillors or other high-rank students/club leaders acting as lackeys.
>The high-to-mid rank students naturally show her more respect than the begrudging resentment of the low-rank students... and Rudy, and a few other outliers [natural rebels-without-a-cause like Rick and Gomez].
>Daughter's name is apt. Despite the show of egotism with her name and branded paraded around school, she is well aware of her ultimate status as a pawn for Queen Mother's own plans, down to being prepped for college and taking over her mother's business. Even down to the calories being counted for her in school lunches. Rather than fighting it head-on she goes with the flow, choosing moments where Mother's back seems to be turned in order to rebel in petty ways (parties with friends, hooking up with strangers). Mother and Daughter turn a blind eye to each others' business so long as no major mistakes need covering up.
>Because of her assured graduation Princess coasts along on above-average grades. Her full potential would result in only slightly more above-average grades. In a competition of sports of almost any kind, Conner would win.
>At the start of the story Mr Carous' formroom [Conner, Rudy et al] is one of the two infamous classes in Motown High. The other formroom, headed by a Mr Stewart, is full of normal teenagers except for Princess Daughter, Ella and Amelia.
>It goes without saying that she draws exaggerated crowds with her presence. Cafeteria lunchtimes with the Princess turn into a disaster for people sitting where she also happens to sit near, hence she sometimes opts to drink tea in the council office instead. Amelia almost always eats in the office.
>Amelia glamorises Japanese food but is actually an American food junkie - she loves hamburgers, hot dogs, pizzas, steaks, fried chicken, cookie dough, etc but hates drawing attention to it. Conner is a pseudo-vegetarian, not out of a moral choice but because he just doesn't like the texture or taste of most meats. By his logic, anything you can add to boost the flavor of chicken meat or beef, pork etc can be just as easily done with vegetables - even down to deep-frying, bread-coating, drizzling with cheese etc etc.

>>419044
Conner might also choose veggies because they are less expensive or because he suspects super hormones are in the meat available in town.
I get the feeling Conner and Mr. A actually share a similar number of paranoias about Mother Queen, but Mr. A has the backing to hold his ground against her on all fronts where Conner has to quietly try to not be noticed.

>>419041
Got that one on the wiki scripts list when I set that page up.

>>419045
>Conner might also choose veggies because they are less expensive or because he suspects super hormones are in the meat available in town.
Good points. Didn't think of those for some reason. Went with the protracted personal excuses rather than the financial/paranoid excuses.
Hayleigh/Amelia/Audrey: "What do you mean, super hormones?"
Conner: "You know what? Forget I said anything. Don't worry about it."
Do you think it would be cliche to have a conspiracy theory student? "They're putting chemicals in our meat to turn the frogs gay" etc

>>419046
I don't think it would be cliche, but you would need to decide beforehand if any of them are going to be true or not later on.

Like there are conspiracies where everyone assumes or knows are true but refuse to openly acknowledge them (stuff pertaining to Mother Queen), and then there's the outlandish ones like all the money in town is laced with listening devices to spy on the residents.
But even that doesn't sound so outlandish given the setting.

If not a student who is a conspiracy buff, then it's just Conner saying some random made up on the spot bullshit to get someone to disengage with him and they believe it.

Artist Anon, if you actually keep up with this thread and not just the weekly threads, I've been reading through your big pastebin thing you posted.

https://pastebin.com/7bx8FXRB

I've only had time to read through the "opening story attempts" so far since I've been busy with my own writing project, but here are my thoughts so far since the Sunday thread is going to be made late due to Mother's Day.

I feel Conner's past is better hinted at than shown at the start of the story. It creates more mystery/intrigue that way.

If there needs to be an origin for the bartering, then maybe tie it into how he got the raw materials for the augment suit, or how he bribed his way into creating an opportunity to "borrow" the official augment suit while making his own. After his recovery, he keeps doing the trades because people still come to him asking for things. He's compelled to be useful and sees this as the only interactions he'll get where people aren't afraid he'll blow up a building again.

I think it is a mistake to put ALL of the super kids in the same class. Amelia should not start off in the same class as Conner, she'll put herself in that class once she takes a personal interest in him. He should only come to her attention via his deeds which, ironically, would be an accomplishment Conner can't refuse credit for. Furthermore, I thought Hayleigh was older than Rudy and Conner, did she get held back a year to be in the same class as them?

Maybe my perspective is a bit off, but I think the best opening story is to just throw Conner in the middle of one of his trades, see how readers respond to it, and then see what kind of story you want to tell VS the type of story they think you are trying to tell.

>shuttlec0ck
Ah, I see. Now the censored swears make sense. Pastebin's policies really have gone off of the deep end.
I tried up add my Bullion #6 script to the bin I've been sticking them in and it rejected it for inappropriate content. The shitters. We could just make use of the wiki for an easy place to dump and edit text. It does have user pages and blogs for that sort of thing.

Who did the later commentary on the shuttlecock story? They have a point about not every story needing huge escalation. That's something I realized with the Pepper intro story, it didn't need massive escalation, it just needed a conflict and it was a fairly low grade conflict that also helped to introduce Amelia more to the the readers.

That's all I have so far, I haven't had time to read through all of the other story drafts yet.

Now with a webtoons
https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/i-know-a-guy/list?title_no=769587