Originally posted by Lone Wolf Legionnaire: I don't know if they count because most of them never made it into the Legion's comic book.
Dave Cockrum's Strangers: Tyr, Belladonna, the original Wolverine, Sidewinder and Manta.
And Dave Cockrum's Outsiders: Trio, Typhoon, Quetzal, Power Boy, Reflecto and Nightcrawler.
I didn't think it was worth making a new thread to discuss an obscure character, so I'm bumping this one.
Let\'s talk Trio! This character just inspires the heck out of me. What were her powers? I've read that Dave himself couldn't remember what he had planned for her!
Some ideas;
1 – Triple-Threat-Trio. In conjoined form has three times the strength, toughness, reaction speed, agility, intellect, senses, etc. of a highly-trained well-exercised Carggite. That may not sound terribly 'super' until one remembers that Karate Kid, Batman, etc. have *one* times the intelligence, strength, toughness, reaction time, etc. of a (well-trained, highly-exercised) person, and they get by just fine.
When she triplicates, Hellion’s strength and toughness triples again (making her nine times tougher than, say, the Huntress or Black Canary), Vixen’s agility and intellect triples again (reaction speeds fast enough to dodge gunfire and an analytical and deductive brain powerful enough to annoy Batman), and Spitfire gains the ability to fly by manipulating currents of hot air (or projecting fire behind herself like a rocket) and to project fire at people.
(Why does Spitfire get 'real powers' instead of triple physical or mental capabilities? 'Cause I ran out of ideas.)
2 – Psionic Trio. In conjoined form, has limited psychic abilities, of all sorts, and retains three minds, linked in psychic gestalt, talking in an eerie voice that carries telepathic echoes, making it sound like three women talking at once. Is a bit aloof and 'better than thou' in her conjoined form, and other Carggites react very strangely to her, with some considering her a freak, and others a prophet of some sort...
When she triplicates, Hellion becomes a powerful telekinetic (mostly touch-telekinetic, able to protect herself and mimic super-strength, with her power rapidly weakening with range), Vixen becomes a telepath (focused more on deception and illusion, only probing minds deeply at close range and with concentration, more prone to scanning surface thoughts to find people and anticipate combat actions so that she can pre-empt them) and Spitfire becomes able to levitate and set things on fire with pyrokinesis.
3 – Carggite-Animal-Powers Trio. In conjoined form, has normal Carggite ability levels, and the ability to speak with and control Carggite animal life. Can also understand non-Carggite animals (and manipulate Carggite plant life), but isn't nearly as good at these stunts.
When she triplicates, Hellion gains the strength / toughness of some sort of hairless purple-hided six-limbed four-horned bear-bull-centaur like creature native to Cargg and is occasionally surrounded with a purple animal shaped aura when she exerts herself, Vixen gains the stealth and swiftness of a hundred-spiny-limbed serpentine Carggite creature and sometimes has a greenish serpentine aura when she's moving flat-out or using the creatures chameleon skills to hide, and Spitfire can fly and project superheated ranged attacks, similar to a Carggite ‘bird’ that can launch poisoned quillions at prey. While flying, Spitfire appears to have red energy wings, and the fiery darts come from her energy wings. The actual animal’s venom causes the victim to become feverish and feel like they are burning up, although the animal itself is not super-heated.
4 – Emotional Spectrum Trio – in conjoined version, is a normal Carggite.
When she triplicates, Hellion becomes controlled by rage and is infused with red energy that boosts her offensive abilities, Vixen becomes supernaturally calm and is infused with green energy that boosts her intellect and coordination, and Spitfire becomes compassionate, yet fiercely protective of those she loves, infused with a purple energy that allows her to calm the emotions of others, soothe pain and reassure / inspire others.
The red energy strengthens Hellion’s body, the green energy focuses Vixen’s mind, and the purple energy ennobles Spitfire’s spirit. Despite these associations, and the obvious similarities to Geoff John’s emotional spectrum, Trio does not have any ability to manipulate the energy externally, like a Green (Red, Violet, whatever) Lantern, just receiving the appropriate upgrade to her body, mind or spirit, and the appropriate exaggerated personality traits.
5 - Trimurti Trio - When she triplicates, Hellion becomes the Destroyer, gaining the ability to destroy things she strikes (even with a thrown item, which she can charge with her destructive energy!), either by locating weak spots instinctively, or by weakening molecular bonds, with tougher materials taking more time and stronger blows to 'break down,' Vixen becomes the Preserver/Architect and gains the ability to transmute items to a limited extent (with solid/liquid/gas transmutations being easiest for her), and to repair stuff (even a living person!) that is broken or damaged, or cause incomplete items to reassemble, flying together telekinetically, and Spitfire becomes the Creator, able to conjure up simple items from loose particulate matter in the air or dust on the ground, etc. Spitfire cannot create any energy source more advanced than burning fire, and so cannot create a charged blaster pistol, battery or high energy explosive, and generally can't create anything with complicated parts, since she's pretty clever, but not able to hold the blueprints for a 30th century computer in her head.
Combining their powers, Hellion can reduce rocks or debris to dust, Spitfire can can create not-terribly-complicated components from this free-floating matter and Vixen can cause those components to assemble into structures or devices too large or complicated for Spitfire to have created by herself.
In her conjoined form, Trio becomes the Avatar, with some of the power of all three forms, but with the powers being limited to herself. In this form, she can grow to triple height, using the power of the Creator to add to her mass, reduce herself to a weightless gaseous mist, by 'Destroying' herself temporarily, and waft about as a misty ghost, and heal any injury she sustains at great speed with the power of the Architect/Preserver.
Whatever power she is using, the energy of destruction, creation or reconstruction/repair is represented as flames, greenish as Vixen, reddish as Spitfire, purple as Hellion and golden as Trio.
.
And that's where my creativity ends. Five different options, and I kinda like the emotional spectrum and 'Carggite animal totem' versions the best. The psionic version reminds me too much of Jean Grey and / or Xavier's son 'Legion.' The Creator/Architect/Destroyer one is too explicitly Hindu.
Anyone have other ideas for what three different powers the three different forms of Trio have?
I based my choices, more or less, off of some combination of their names (Hellion, Vixen, Spitfire), their colors (purple, green, red) and their stances (bold/resolute - suggesting strong and tough, curious/in motion - suggesting speedster, acrobat and / or detective, serene/aloof - suggesting flier, phaser or otherwise able to remove herself from the fray and act from a distance).
But, obviously, those are my preconceptions, and I'm sure others will look at the picture and have completely different ideas.
Indeed, I'm hoping so!
Let's have it!
What other sets of three could her powers be based on? Solid (Hellion turns to stone), liquid (Vixen turns to water), gas (Spitfire turns to mist)?
Is she a shapeshifter, with a land-based form (Hellion), a water-based form (Vixen) and a flying avian form (Spitfire)?
Did her Ambassador mother have three different husbands, from three different species, and her daughter was born with traits from these three races (Hellion - half-Braalian, Vixen - half- Titanian, Spitfire - half-Bgtzln?).
What an endless trove of possibilities!
that hung out at the Acadamy. You can't help but wonder what kind of powers it might have had, and what made him so valuable that Chuck and Lu felt the need to keep it around.
And of course there's this little fellow, a Giffen creation I believe, who you know, if you could hear his voice would sound just like Marvin the Martian.
I got really into the Legion are the same time this was published, and I knew by then that Gold Statue = Dead Hero. It was just cool to think about who these two were, what they could do, how they died, etc.
