Superhero names
Jun. 20th, 2017 03:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethThere are layers of trouble with superhero names.
Today I am daydreaming being a superhero and I get as far as introducing myself and I start feeling all apologetic and like it's going to work about as well as movie Star Lord.
Like, okay, there is this tradition of renaming yourself for a particular ...task, role, lifestyle. That's pre established. And there's reasons for it like protect loved ones and avoid being drafted. Layers of argument to be had there, about accountability and so forth, but that just means it needs to be a persistent pseud. See also every argue about anonymity on the internet. But unlike screen names, which anyone can sign up for and are mostly not going to be read for deeper meaning, a superhero or supervillain name is, like, saying you're a Name.
Like you might not be claiming you're A-list but you're still saying you can play.
And even when daydream me clearly can - I like to take one specific power and then see how worldbreaking I can make it, despite it's limitations - I still feel all ugh about naming myself.
Like, if it's something to live up to that I'll never quite reach, okay. If it's an aspiration and a standard, yes. But it's just going to sound like... I mean, how does anyone ever get the confidence to introduce themselves as Wonder Woman or Superman?
And, also... there's a bit on the Blue Beetle Rebirth I just read where Ted Kord is trying to think up his own superhero name. And it's ... it bugs me so much, because Ted inherited the mantle. He is Blue Beetle because the Beetle before him inspired him. In a coma, stuck in the depths of his own mind, he doesn't wear the costume he designed, he wears Dan's, and yet in waking life he'd never. Because he's trying to live up to that. And he's never going to think he's all the way there. There was a hero, and now there's only him, and he's got to keep it going. That's a legacy hero. But now they've made it like... he's casting around for a forum screen name. It's just a decorating theme. And it's so casual it feels wrong, even if he does drop his shopping when he thinks of it. I mean, this is the name he's going to die under, this is the name they'll put on the statues and maybe the gravestone, this might be the only name left if he dies where nobody knows him. But he's just... pulling it out of a box.
I know it's because he's not centered in this story but I liked the legacy heroes we had, so this I'm not sold on.
Booster Gold though... he didn't choose to be Booster Gold, he chose another name and screwed up introducing himself, and then the president said it, and then he was stuck. Which is just him all over. Excellent origin story.
Doesn't really do for a daydream because you're still doing all the parts.
Same like the 'leave it up to the press' version. I'm doing the writing, I am also the press in this scenario. Like how I can name characters that aren't me but the daydream one is just... I am playing dress up, I shouldn't take a name someone else might be using.
Also if the Flash left it to the press he'd be the Streak, and that... I mean they clearly both have the same problem, but. Streak. Not awesome.
Legacy names when the new holder isn't connected just seem so arrogant. Even if it's the writers doing the deciding, obviously. They're trying to take up a reputation they have no connection to. Don't seem right. Even if the new guy gets more famous than the before one. Like, if it's someone they passed the mantle to, then they can't eclipse their teacher, they're always enhancing their legacy. 'Teacher of' is a role of distinction too. But if someone just, like, assumes a name is just lying around for the taking, that's not cool. Can erase them from their own story.
I mean if I say Captain Marvel there's just a few people that could spring to mind, but some get a lot more cartoon minutes than others.
And like, why is everyone Captain? It involves significantly demoting certain of them. There's General Glory, but he was nearly a parody. There's Major Disaster, but he was definitely a joke, until he wasn't. I don't know, who went by Commander? But there's a bazillion Captains. And no LTs.
There's also gendering issues. Like, I do like the post on tumblr that says superhero names with a gender in them are like pronoun stickers, and all your faves are trans now. That's a fun spin. And the bit in Legion where they're reinventing the tradition and they're like, okay, name form goes Power then Gender, and then they get to Chameleon and someone is like Chameleon girl? Chameleon boy? Shapeshifter. Chameleon.
... will take the genderfluid heroes I can get...
But if you're working with / standing next to an established Name and appear female? Odds are you're getting landed with a Lady X sort of name, or X girl. ... X is unusable as a wildcard because X men but you know what I mean.
But that would totally drive me nuts. Like, dream of infiltrating the Time Masters and ending up working with Chronos, sure, but Lady Chronos? Ugh, ew, no. Blergh. Nope. Got ordained to get away from that stuff in 3D, not keen on getting stuck with it in hero world.
... yes I know some banks will give a gender neutral title now, but this was the 90s, and also I was bored and online ordination is always a click away.
Sometimes comics are cool and stick with the original gender neutral version. Like, Hawkeye. Everyone has eyes. They can be hawklike. No reason to go gendering that.
But in category 'don't leave it up to the press', I would have waaaay more of a problem getting Named Supergirl. I mean turning up to tell them they've misgendered me is one way to give an interview, but after that instead of a nice tidy work title you've got to out yourself and it'll be controversial and half the papers would stick with the old form if they were assholes. So all that Batman Superman Supergirl stuff is just a big Nope. Unless wearing the wrong gender again is a sandpaper suit you can put up with.
But, well, I pretty much never insist on my pronouns neither. I mean, I know I'm me, I'd rather wear they/them because people actually recognise those and they're not all gendered, but I've just never been that assertive about it. Feel kind of silly. Even if it feels really uncomfortable to be Miss. Doesn't feel worth making a fuss.
... I will make a fuss on behalf of others if they want me to, obviously, it's clearly important, it's just... awkward when it's me.
Superperson isn't taken yet, is it? You could round out the set.
... I'm not a Super, though. Even when I give myself powers that's a bit much.
I know my Time Lord name is The Reverend, I've used that before on forum threads, that's just funny. Time Lords are self aggrandising and never quite live up to the promise, even the Doctor by his telling, so having a too big name is fair enough.
But somehow declaring oneself a superhero is... way too much.
If I was on the Flash I'd not just be arresting 'villains', I'd be trying to recruit them. Think of all those powers harnessed for good! And of course it can work, Eo!Wells had Killer Frost working for him, anyone can make the new choice. And like that guy who bullied Barry in school, given the chance to step up he died to protect others. Okay, by generous interpretation, but still. They live in a world that doesn't have an ongoing tradition of heroism to step in to, someone has to get it started. And they're working at STAR labs, so that's the perfect excuse to go with All Star Squadron.
... not that I've read any of those adventures, it's an old Name from before before, but an issue was also the first appearance of 'retroactive continuity', which, with all the time travel, seemed appropriate. ... I thought I read the word retcon started there, but a different wiki page says that had to wait for 1988, and the phrase version was 1983.
ANYway, I can name the team, as long as I don't imagine myself founding the Justice League or Avengers. But naming me?
A superhero name is in some respects a declaration of one's qualities, and it seems arrogant.
But. What seemed creepy to me in the Flash? Cisco naming everyone.
Wells points out that someone already has a name, but given that Wells is Reverse Flash he's not a viable moral compass, even when he's right.
It was in the episode Power Outage, and they'd just killed the dude, and Wells had made a big deal of knowing all the names of all the people he'd killed in the 'accident' with the particle accelerator - though some of those were probably 'killed' and actually just got their powers, seeing as everyone he had memorised was a known name in other 'verses.
So in context knowing his name - the real name of a real dead person - is a mark of respect. But even after Team Flash capture people, they keep calling them by names Cisco assigned them. And that's quite the reverse.
Barry in Supergirl's world refers to an electric villain. "We call him Blackout."
... dude was in a bodybag, he never called himself that.
Why keep referring to him that way?
It's dehumanising and it distances them from their own consequences.
I can see why they'd need a filename for each meta when they don't know who they're chasing, but continuing to refer to them that way after? Not cool.
Except of course when someone like Cold takes it up and runs with it. But even then, he announced himself to the world, he left off the Captain part, and team Flash I think kept using it.
Renaming other people, super rude.
Renaming yourself, super assertive.
Maybe if I thought smaller I'd feel more like the names fit. But I always pick one that's like More Boss Than Anyone, or something where I know what it's meant to mean, like I'm some kind of good example, and then I just... can't always imagine actually wearing the things.
I certainly never use them anywhere people can see. Even though naming your characters is perfectly respectable. ... though not so much your marysue ocs...
So there's a lot of practical layers to the naming thing - like do you go with something that tells your powers or conceals them, and how many syllables is even practical anyway - but I always get stuck on, just, like
hi, I'm a hero
... even for the length of a story I feel weird getting that far.
... which may explain one part of my writers block.
But I have seen so many more characters I'm supposed to look up to than characters I can even slightly identify with, I just feel... small. And like the stories happen to someone else.
And yet it's so powerful whenever the story tells you to be your own hero.
So I should be able to stand up and choose a Name.
... I just might have to put up with the laughing for a while until the plot makes me big enough to wear it...
Today I am daydreaming being a superhero and I get as far as introducing myself and I start feeling all apologetic and like it's going to work about as well as movie Star Lord.
Like, okay, there is this tradition of renaming yourself for a particular ...task, role, lifestyle. That's pre established. And there's reasons for it like protect loved ones and avoid being drafted. Layers of argument to be had there, about accountability and so forth, but that just means it needs to be a persistent pseud. See also every argue about anonymity on the internet. But unlike screen names, which anyone can sign up for and are mostly not going to be read for deeper meaning, a superhero or supervillain name is, like, saying you're a Name.
Like you might not be claiming you're A-list but you're still saying you can play.
And even when daydream me clearly can - I like to take one specific power and then see how worldbreaking I can make it, despite it's limitations - I still feel all ugh about naming myself.
Like, if it's something to live up to that I'll never quite reach, okay. If it's an aspiration and a standard, yes. But it's just going to sound like... I mean, how does anyone ever get the confidence to introduce themselves as Wonder Woman or Superman?
And, also... there's a bit on the Blue Beetle Rebirth I just read where Ted Kord is trying to think up his own superhero name. And it's ... it bugs me so much, because Ted inherited the mantle. He is Blue Beetle because the Beetle before him inspired him. In a coma, stuck in the depths of his own mind, he doesn't wear the costume he designed, he wears Dan's, and yet in waking life he'd never. Because he's trying to live up to that. And he's never going to think he's all the way there. There was a hero, and now there's only him, and he's got to keep it going. That's a legacy hero. But now they've made it like... he's casting around for a forum screen name. It's just a decorating theme. And it's so casual it feels wrong, even if he does drop his shopping when he thinks of it. I mean, this is the name he's going to die under, this is the name they'll put on the statues and maybe the gravestone, this might be the only name left if he dies where nobody knows him. But he's just... pulling it out of a box.
I know it's because he's not centered in this story but I liked the legacy heroes we had, so this I'm not sold on.
Booster Gold though... he didn't choose to be Booster Gold, he chose another name and screwed up introducing himself, and then the president said it, and then he was stuck. Which is just him all over. Excellent origin story.
Doesn't really do for a daydream because you're still doing all the parts.
Same like the 'leave it up to the press' version. I'm doing the writing, I am also the press in this scenario. Like how I can name characters that aren't me but the daydream one is just... I am playing dress up, I shouldn't take a name someone else might be using.
Also if the Flash left it to the press he'd be the Streak, and that... I mean they clearly both have the same problem, but. Streak. Not awesome.
Legacy names when the new holder isn't connected just seem so arrogant. Even if it's the writers doing the deciding, obviously. They're trying to take up a reputation they have no connection to. Don't seem right. Even if the new guy gets more famous than the before one. Like, if it's someone they passed the mantle to, then they can't eclipse their teacher, they're always enhancing their legacy. 'Teacher of' is a role of distinction too. But if someone just, like, assumes a name is just lying around for the taking, that's not cool. Can erase them from their own story.
I mean if I say Captain Marvel there's just a few people that could spring to mind, but some get a lot more cartoon minutes than others.
And like, why is everyone Captain? It involves significantly demoting certain of them. There's General Glory, but he was nearly a parody. There's Major Disaster, but he was definitely a joke, until he wasn't. I don't know, who went by Commander? But there's a bazillion Captains. And no LTs.
There's also gendering issues. Like, I do like the post on tumblr that says superhero names with a gender in them are like pronoun stickers, and all your faves are trans now. That's a fun spin. And the bit in Legion where they're reinventing the tradition and they're like, okay, name form goes Power then Gender, and then they get to Chameleon and someone is like Chameleon girl? Chameleon boy? Shapeshifter. Chameleon.
... will take the genderfluid heroes I can get...
But if you're working with / standing next to an established Name and appear female? Odds are you're getting landed with a Lady X sort of name, or X girl. ... X is unusable as a wildcard because X men but you know what I mean.
But that would totally drive me nuts. Like, dream of infiltrating the Time Masters and ending up working with Chronos, sure, but Lady Chronos? Ugh, ew, no. Blergh. Nope. Got ordained to get away from that stuff in 3D, not keen on getting stuck with it in hero world.
... yes I know some banks will give a gender neutral title now, but this was the 90s, and also I was bored and online ordination is always a click away.
Sometimes comics are cool and stick with the original gender neutral version. Like, Hawkeye. Everyone has eyes. They can be hawklike. No reason to go gendering that.
But in category 'don't leave it up to the press', I would have waaaay more of a problem getting Named Supergirl. I mean turning up to tell them they've misgendered me is one way to give an interview, but after that instead of a nice tidy work title you've got to out yourself and it'll be controversial and half the papers would stick with the old form if they were assholes. So all that Batman Superman Supergirl stuff is just a big Nope. Unless wearing the wrong gender again is a sandpaper suit you can put up with.
But, well, I pretty much never insist on my pronouns neither. I mean, I know I'm me, I'd rather wear they/them because people actually recognise those and they're not all gendered, but I've just never been that assertive about it. Feel kind of silly. Even if it feels really uncomfortable to be Miss. Doesn't feel worth making a fuss.
... I will make a fuss on behalf of others if they want me to, obviously, it's clearly important, it's just... awkward when it's me.
Superperson isn't taken yet, is it? You could round out the set.
... I'm not a Super, though. Even when I give myself powers that's a bit much.
I know my Time Lord name is The Reverend, I've used that before on forum threads, that's just funny. Time Lords are self aggrandising and never quite live up to the promise, even the Doctor by his telling, so having a too big name is fair enough.
But somehow declaring oneself a superhero is... way too much.
If I was on the Flash I'd not just be arresting 'villains', I'd be trying to recruit them. Think of all those powers harnessed for good! And of course it can work, Eo!Wells had Killer Frost working for him, anyone can make the new choice. And like that guy who bullied Barry in school, given the chance to step up he died to protect others. Okay, by generous interpretation, but still. They live in a world that doesn't have an ongoing tradition of heroism to step in to, someone has to get it started. And they're working at STAR labs, so that's the perfect excuse to go with All Star Squadron.
... not that I've read any of those adventures, it's an old Name from before before, but an issue was also the first appearance of 'retroactive continuity', which, with all the time travel, seemed appropriate. ... I thought I read the word retcon started there, but a different wiki page says that had to wait for 1988, and the phrase version was 1983.
ANYway, I can name the team, as long as I don't imagine myself founding the Justice League or Avengers. But naming me?
A superhero name is in some respects a declaration of one's qualities, and it seems arrogant.
But. What seemed creepy to me in the Flash? Cisco naming everyone.
It was in the episode Power Outage, and they'd just killed the dude, and Wells had made a big deal of knowing all the names of all the people he'd killed in the 'accident' with the particle accelerator - though some of those were probably 'killed' and actually just got their powers, seeing as everyone he had memorised was a known name in other 'verses.
So in context knowing his name - the real name of a real dead person - is a mark of respect. But even after Team Flash capture people, they keep calling them by names Cisco assigned them. And that's quite the reverse.
Barry in Supergirl's world refers to an electric villain. "We call him Blackout."
... dude was in a bodybag, he never called himself that.
Why keep referring to him that way?
It's dehumanising and it distances them from their own consequences.
I can see why they'd need a filename for each meta when they don't know who they're chasing, but continuing to refer to them that way after? Not cool.
Except of course when someone like Cold takes it up and runs with it. But even then, he announced himself to the world, he left off the Captain part, and team Flash I think kept using it.
Renaming other people, super rude.
Renaming yourself, super assertive.
Maybe if I thought smaller I'd feel more like the names fit. But I always pick one that's like More Boss Than Anyone, or something where I know what it's meant to mean, like I'm some kind of good example, and then I just... can't always imagine actually wearing the things.
I certainly never use them anywhere people can see. Even though naming your characters is perfectly respectable. ... though not so much your marysue ocs...
So there's a lot of practical layers to the naming thing - like do you go with something that tells your powers or conceals them, and how many syllables is even practical anyway - but I always get stuck on, just, like
hi, I'm a hero
... even for the length of a story I feel weird getting that far.
... which may explain one part of my writers block.
But I have seen so many more characters I'm supposed to look up to than characters I can even slightly identify with, I just feel... small. And like the stories happen to someone else.
And yet it's so powerful whenever the story tells you to be your own hero.
So I should be able to stand up and choose a Name.
... I just might have to put up with the laughing for a while until the plot makes me big enough to wear it...
no subject
Date: 2017-06-20 06:26 pm (UTC)The only "Major" who's at all well-known is Major Force, who's a DC villain best known for killing the original Woman in a Refrigerator (he put her in the fridge to troll her boyfriend). So yes, not morally upright.
no subject
Date: 2017-06-20 07:38 pm (UTC)but this is not tumblr.
is on youtube though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xb-oLS-cyY
ugh, Major Force. I had successfully forgot that guy. nasty.
no subject
Date: 2017-06-20 07:37 pm (UTC)*brief thought* pacifistman
*better thought* PEACE MAN
Now I want a hero called Peace Man
Hippie appearance optional
Re introduction, I think it has to do with confidence in your job. Like the difference between introducing yourself as "Hi, I'm Mitch" and "I'm Dr. Smith-Jones, please come in". It's in knowing what you're doing here.
Recruiting villains is my krypt... uh, it's one of my fave tropes that I always like if done well both in media and fanfic
Dehumanising villains is the opposite and something I strongly dislike, as well as disrespecting a person's name after their death - let's say it's too close to certain rl practices, huh
no subject
Date: 2017-06-20 07:47 pm (UTC)... now I'm trying to match the theme to the genre. Like, a psi power that makes everyone too chill to fight would be nifty, but not necessarily dramatic...
Confidence is key. ... all the people I knew with a doctorate were first names with their students anyway.
I'm wondering what superhero university would look like. There's superhero high school movies, but like, what even would a doctorate be in? And you mostly only get like Doctor Doom with the actual qualification. Doctor Fate isn't, afaik. Strange is, obvs. Now I'm vaguely tempted to make lists and compare which side is proud of its qualifications more...
Most superhero training is like wandering the earth getting beat up until can hit back. Structured learning seems like a better idea.
Recruiting villains is a heartbreaker because the genre is cyclical so they'll almost always fall even if they almost always rise again. But I like better the stories which remember being good is a daily choice, not a side. So villain recruitment forever.
*nods*
no subject
Date: 2017-06-20 08:37 pm (UTC)Also optional: he's immortal or nigh-immortal and has been a young man in WWI or so. Not because of Wonder Woman, which I haven't seen yet, just because.
no subject
Date: 2017-06-20 08:39 pm (UTC)I think superpower people doctorates should be in RL topics but relevant to their stuff. If you can shift reality like Wanda, maybe go study physics, some high math. If you talk to fish, marine biology won't go amiss. Etc
no subject
Date: 2017-06-20 08:40 pm (UTC)ALL THE AGREED. Also fuck the genre, that's what we're here for.
sorry about the overtalkative day
Date: 2017-06-21 05:25 am (UTC)