[Axel3.14]

I read that site. It might help if we knew more about Dyna’s personality. Whom does she relate to? What causes does she advocate? Even her hobbies might be a potential plothook.

[Amazon Lover]

Though I’m not as much into villainous femmes fatales as other folk are, how about a muscular female villain? DCM doesn’t have any of those…!

[Lingster]

Oh, I’ve got it – a power leech, like Rogue or Fatale. Dyna gets to the scene after some disposable Superman-type character, only to find that the skinny little villainess has absorbed most of his powers, leaving him skinny and weak while transforming herself into a muscular powerhouse!

[JimmyDimples]

Idea and character needs a little more fleshing out (drum rimshot), but that’s an idea.

I’d also been thinking of this… Mr. H4X0R.

Roger, a college technogeek in New Vista University was once infatuated with a fellow hacker cutie Sonja. He tried catching her attention various ways, but she kept giving him the cold shoulder. When he declared his affection for her by sending her a wallpaper with her face in "The Birth of Venus," Sonja reacted by posting HIS in… well, a less than flattering one involving goats and physical and genetic impossibilities. Use your imagination.

Didn’t help him that she posted copies of it all over the Net, and across the University.

Having received plenty of hazing and ridicule BEFORE he met her, the abuse Roger got then was totally unendurable. Locking himself away in NVU’s science building, he quickly zeroed out all records of himself on any database he could think of (birth certificate, Social Security Number, driver’s license, bank acccount, credit rating, you name it, he baleeted it). Then after wracking as much damage as he could against his ex-infatuation’s credit cards, credit rating, bank account, and bills, he went to an experimental matter transporter device, set it for random coordinates, and leaped in, expecting to either be dumped in a volcano, sent to the bottom of the sea, or scattered into component atoms in transit.

Naturally, this being a comic book, something went haywire.

The experimetnal transporter completely did a hexadecimal number on his body. It mutated it so he could convert it into pure digital information. He then realized he could transport himself into anywhere the Internet went: satellite, fiber optic cable, analog phone lines… it was all good.

Also, he learned that his clothes, pencils, and glasses went with him for his joyride, meaning he could carry almost anything… or anyone… with him.

His despairing humiliation was instantly reformatted into a thirst for revenge.

The very next day… Sonja got 24 hours of identity theft and fraud, stalking and terrorizing anywhere a computer entered her life. The police couldn’t help because they couldn’t find Roger anywhere… online or off.

The day after, Sonja disappeared. She’s now stored in a hard drive in a PC somewhere in… well, you ask Roger. I’m not.

Roger then dumped his old meatspace name, and now goes exclusively by Mr. H4X0R.

In supervillain mode, his body looks like it’s been covered head to toe by a coating of pure ones and zeroes, sorta like the Matrix. His color of the digits reflects his mood: green means he’s in a decent mood, blue means he needs space, and red… don’t ask.

He can manipulate any digital information with a thought, and he hasn’t seen a password request that can keep him out. He can transport himself instantaneously across the world via the Internet, and has a habit of kidnapping whomever he doesn’t like and downloading them in his "torture chamber."

He’s especially misogynistic, but is now above and beyond any attraction the female form ever had. Megabytes are what turn him on (drum rimshot).

He’s going to have a party with Dyna, especially with hijacking military vehicles, bases, airlines, trains, and nuclear reactors.

Quote: "Dy||4! 1 P|-|34r ||0+ j00r p3c5! J00 c4||||0+ pU||c|-| //|-|4+ j00 c4||||0+ +0uc|-|! Pr3p4r3 4 +0+4L p//||493!"

(Translated from 1337: "Dyna! Your muscles don’t scare me! You can’t hit what you can’t touch! Prepare for total ownage!")

[David C. Matthews]

Though I’m not as much into villainous femmes fatales as other folk are, how about a muscular female villain? DCM doesn’t have any of those…!

This is true. I was asked why by Lothaire for the interview that appeared in the online magazine FREYA (the link is to a PDF file) (these are the original question and reply in English:)

*****

[Question]: One thing is particular in your work (until now at least), among the numerous muscular characters you’ve created, none of them belongs to the "villains". Do you try to revert a general tendency (often met in comic books or in movies) where muscular means "nasty" for women?

[DCM]: Oh yes. That’s a trend I’d love to see reversed: that almost every time you see a muscular woman on TV or in a movie, she’s either the villain’s bodyguard/girlfriend/enforcer (or all three), or she’s the pyschotic ex-grilfriend. etc. I’m trying to counter that trend by creating characters who are muscular women who are friendly, kind, and gentle (until it’s necessary to be "not gentle", of course!)

Creating a villainous muscle-woman is almost inevitable; after all, just as She-Hulk has Titania to beware of, Dyna will have to face off against an evil muscle-babe eventually.

*****

So I certainly have no objections to a muscular female villain. I just don’t want to see it become a trend where every new villain is a muscle-woman. I’d like to see a variety of villain-types… so far I have created (or expanded on ideas started by others) for 1) a power-mad inventor of robots (BlackBox); 2) the God of War (Ares, brother of Dyna’s mentor Athena); 3) an ancient undead sorceror/Atlantis survivor who wants to destroy all life (Mezaros), even 4) a giant disembodied brain (the Master Mind).

So… what do you have in mind?

[Anonymous]

I’d also been thinking of this… Mr. H4X0R.

How do you pronounce that? (I know next to nothing of that strange code/lingo/whatever.)

But the character and concept are very intriguing! My only criticism (at first glance) is that the set-up looks to be rather involved, and (IF the story is told linearly) threatens to take up a lot of space at the beginning of the story. (Although a flashback later in the story, after Mr. H4X0R has gone on a couple of capers, could be a good place for this exposition.)

I can see Sonja* as a key element in the defeat of Mr. H4X0R, providing Dyna with the cyber-expertise necessary. Dyna is no dummy, but she can’t be expected to be a Doc Savage-like expert in everything, and isn’t at all too proud to call on any help she needs. (And Sonja will certainly have the motivation to help Dyna bring down Roger/H4X0R.)

Let’s keep incubating this concept and see where it leads.

* I think I want to change this character’s name… there’s already a brainy-girl type named Sonya (with a "y") in the Tetsuko series, and I fear there’ll be confusion between the two characters.

[David C. Matthews]

Okay, for some reason my log-in expired before I could post the previous message and it got posted as "Guest", but that was me expounding on Mr. H4X0R and Sonja.

[Vic]

Mr. Matthews, I like your trying to change the prevailing attitude towards muscular women (not all of them turn into raving psychopaths). Unfortunatly women are just like men in this respect, there are men of conscience and there are men of ego (i.e. do whatever you want, whenever you want). Women of the second type have been seen most recently in Iraq, although the worst may have been in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. All in all I applaud your depiction of women of conscience, IMO, the impact would be stronger if you occasionally have them defeating a muscular female villain.

[JimmyDimples]

How do you pronounce that? (I know next to nothing of that strange code/lingo/whatever.)

It’s pronounced, "Mister Hacksor." Reading 13375p34|< ("leetspeak") isn’t as tough as you think. The numbers and characters look like letters if you squint at them properly.

j1|/||/|y|)1|/|p135 = JimmyDimples

5|-|3 9r3//! = she grew!

93+ 1+? = get it? 🙂

A little reading of the older stuff at http://www.megatokyo.com should help. http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=9 is a nice starter.

But the character and concept are very intriguing! My only criticism (at first glance) is that the set-up looks to be rather involved, and (IF the story is told linearly) threatens to take up a lot of space at the beginning of the story. (Although a flashback later in the story, after Mr. H4X0R has gone on a couple of capers, could be a good place for this exposition.)

Good thinking. Maybe if does a few capers at first with a few minor hijackings with vehicles just to show off his power and get revenge on the guys that tormented him in college. Maybe at a few college football games? Or something with military stuff with New Vista U’s ROTC?

Or maybe there’s a ten-year-old neighbor apartment who Mi5+4 H4X0R "befriends" on a game site on the internet. And with a few "freebie"/embezzled gifts his family couldn’t afford, Deena starts asking a few questions… And when the boy starts saying he can’t accept any more ill gotten goodies… Mista H4X0R shows his true colors, and demonstrates he can be his bestest buddy… or a very dangerous enemy.

I can see Sonja* as a key element in the defeat of Mr. H4X0R, providing Dyna with the cyber-expertise necessary. Dyna is no dummy, but she can’t be expected to be a Doc Savage-like expert in everything, and isn’t at all too proud to call on any help she needs. (And Sonja will certainly have the motivation to help Dyna bring down Roger/H4X0R.)

Let’s keep incubating this concept and see where it leads.

* I think I want to change this character’s name… there’s already a brainy-girl type named Sonya (with a "y") in the Tetsuko series, and I fear there’ll be confusion between the two characters.

Okay, fair enough on the name Sonja. And I read you loud and clear on the "not Queen, or even Jack in all trades" thing.

The one hitch is, I did want a little sympathy toward Mr. H4X0R. The girl formerly known as Sonja was supposed to be a twit, especially in his response to Roger’s declaration of love, and it did push him over the edge. There are nicer ways to say, "sorry, I don’t feel the same way" than what she did. Maybe Deena has a friend that who’s concerned about "Sonja" disappearing? Maybe even a fellow geek guy who gets a thing for Dyna/Deena, and she has to figure the right way to gently decline?

Are we any closer to hatching this baby?

[Axel3.14]

What are Mr. h4X0r’5 weaknesses? EMP blasts and electromagnetic fields?

[Author]

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