Two Teen Teams [Background]

So let's get a brief sketch of a couple other teen hero teams in the city. I feel like these guys need to be sketched in. The Junior Halcyon Hero League Well funded. Fantastic support staff. Great PR team. Currently doesn't have a lot of members with direct ties to the main League. At least not obviously. Kinetica - Wears a full-face-covering suit. Flies. Can 'charge' items with kinetic energy and throw them around, with predictable results. Source of powers unknown. Scraaseetotabobah ("Bob") - alien light being. Flies. Is literally flashy. Kid Kelvin - Cold powers. Star playbook. May or may not be related to one of the Gale's biggest nemesis. Certainly likes to imply he is. Ninjess - little is known, because obviously Stingray - Nautilus's son. Blonde. Handsome. Popular. (Aggressively not his dad in all these respects.) Makes fun of other supers who aren't on the JHHL. Total tool. Others? Rotating cast is really fine here. The "Dude They Don't Even Have a Name Yet?" team A-10. The "isn't is funny she's not in the JHHL?" hero. Probably should be. Probably no mystery why she isn't. Telekinetian. See here . "The Animal" - no one's ever seen this teammate as an actual person, or even anything vaguely humanoid. They're only ever a series of animals. Alloy - seems to be able to copy the material qualities of substances they touch? Maybe? (cf. Grunge from Gen13) Armiger - the kid who inherited the Excalibur mantle from Lucius. (Twitter trolls imply that the main reason these guys don't a name yet is because Telekinetian won't re-brand to an A-name.)

If anyone else really wants some teamed or solo heroes around (Jaguar is, for example, but she's not on a team at the moment), do chime in.

The second team is all named A-something. (Edit: dropped an entire sentence) I suggest "The A-Team". Titanium and/or Rebuild ( <a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/5386028/playbooks-system/?pageforid=5387509#post-5387509" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/5386028/playbooks-system/?pageforid=5387509#post-5387509</a> ) might make good additions to that team, to provide them with a tech base?

Flagging for later review and feedback. I think there's room for both some "team rivalry" hijinks and some trope subversion here, too.&nbsp;

One obvious question would be how the HHL have treated the DTDEHNYs. Or have they not yet had their "fighting a cosmic villain in mid-air over the city, juggling occupied passenger cars" moment (let alone their "shut down the airport in a stand-off with security" moment) as of yet? I mean, we've sort of formally declared ourselves a group (with AEGIS paperwork and everything!); the lack of a team name makes it sound a lot less official or organized than the Menagerie (if the latter is even possible). With both teams, it's likely that the individual perspective will have more public impact than any sort of official Team Commuinique. Stingray may be mocking and contemptuous of the Menagerie, with constant suggestions that they could clean our clocks, while Kinetica welcomes all who see to support justice and improve the lives of Halcyon's citizenry. The latter becomes the "official" stance for purposes of PR, though the teen supers mags see through the pretense. Meanwhile A-10 seems publicly neutral ("Whatever"), Telekinetian thinks it's cool there's another team in town (and maybe they should work together more), Alloy thinks we're establishment sell-outs and AEGIS stooges with all our "official paperwork".&nbsp; The Animal seems to have an opinion, too, but it's not expressed in ... a quotable fashion ("SHEEEEEEEEK! ACK-ACK-ACK!")&nbsp; But as a less formal group, there's no official Team Position.

Another question I don't think I've seen answered (before I transfer the above to the wiki), is what is the known relationship between the HHL and the JHHL? Besides the name? Are the JHHL funded and sponsored and (to some degree or another) actually controlled by the HHL? Does the HHL sort of let them use the name (and maybe some members support them financially), but there's always a little "The JHHL is not affiliated with nor covered by the insurance policies of the HHL" fine print in all their literature? Is it just a homage that the HHL members tolerate but roll their eyes over in private ("Go home, Buddy!")? Is there a fierce legal battle going on behind the scenes over the use of the HHL trademark? Again, our knowledge of that (from the papers, from Jason, and esp. from Harry) would potentially inform how we respond to the HHL's 'tude (whatever that may be).

Katherine H. said: Yeah, there are is the Junior HHL and the Justice Kids of America. Both very big names that end up getting young superheroes, once they outgrow the teams, funneled into the various superhero teams, depending on how well you did. Which leads to some tough competition in there, as no one wants to get stuck in the "Legion of Losers" as one group is fondly called. I think we found a couple possible names for the other team... If I were HHL and wanted to ensure a legacy, I'd hire a team of lawyers, donate a bunch of money, let them run it as a blind trust, and have that money go to recruiting, training, and support for a junior team. While the juniors would be in no way required to come work for HHL as they matured, in practice, there's no other game in town, and being mentored by one of the big heroes looks really good. So no formal legal relationship, but definitely a peer/adult pressure situation that works informally (and may or may not have been challenged in court). The trust itself is kept funded through licensing arrangements for spinoff tech, basic physics or chemistry research into JHHL members' powers, or any number of other profitable schemes.

I like. Question is, is that a collective action by the HHL (and/or supported by the whole team or just a majority), or more of a smaller action by certain HHLers who portray it as something more benign to the other grups? I don't see the&nbsp;DTDEHNYs as the "Justice Kids of America" -- that's a national group, awkwardly (and controversially) sponsored by a number of corporate interests across North America who like to groom young metas for good publicity now, compliant corporate reps later ("read the fine print on that student loan, Captain Graduate -- you owe your soul to the company store"). (We haven't talked a lot about supers outside of Halcyon City -- it, like NYC in the Marvel U, is established the largest focus of metahuman activity in North America, if not the world*, but hardly, I'd imagine, the only one. Major powers -- Russia, China, the EU -- and regional powers and alliances would put together their own teams, and corporate groups would likely hire them as bodyguards, enforcers, couriers, etc.) I don't think the JHHLers who would cop such a snarky attitude would even grace the&nbsp;DTDEHNYs with the term "Legion of Losers," except in a collective for all &nbsp;under-age / non-pro supers who aren't in the JHHL (looking at you, Stingray and, perhaps, Kid Kelvin). ------ * And, someday, we might just learn if that's a social phenomenon, or something more metaphysical.

Pick your position on the sliding scale of cynicism: The whole team got together and agreed to it A few key members of the HHL knew the future needed protecting too, and the others didn't care enough to stop them Members of the HHL were worried that Modern Generation supers might turn villain without proper guidance The group was making too much money and wanted a charitable outlet that gave them something useful The HHL wants cannon fodder, pawns, henchmen, or other expendable young heroes in case some really big threat comes up

Couple thoughts: The HHL isn't really empowered to do anything to any other super groups unless they get out of hand and have to be stopped. So... for example, they may not like the airport thing, but they aren't likely to DO anything to the team about it - the public story has been told, and they aren't going to throw down against AEGIS over something like that. That said, it's kind of like being a new actor in Hollywood when a whole pile of super-famous actors and producers and directors invite you over for a chat after you screw up on your first red carpet. They can make your life super(heh) hard, and while they don't have the authority to disband your team, they certainly have the influence to make staying a team really difficult. Generally, the HHL tends to sort of publicly ignore 'lesser' teams, though you can be damn sure they keep track of everyone. The fact you're being called in is either good, or really bad, or maybe both at once. (Or, to hear Harry sum it up, really bad, twice.) A10s team hasn't done much of anything yet as a team. They've individually stopped muggers and other low-level folks and a few 1 on 1s with modern age villains, but that's about it. A10 mentioned to Harry that mostly their 'boss' just has them training right now - "how do you have time for training sessions... you don't ... do that, do you?" So whoever has the reigns over there (not the HHL, for all that A10s uncle is IN the HHL), they haven't had them in the field yet, even if they could handle it. The JHHL is the exception to the HHL ignoring lesser teams. They treat it like their a AAA 'farm' team - an analogy no one makes anymore, after people starting calling the JHHL "little leaguers." In theory, it might be a mix of young and b-level older supers, but in practice it's almost always kids with some veteran adult calling the shots (very much like Avengers Academy comics, with Ant-man and Tigra in charge).&nbsp; Comet's been in charge of the JHHL before, a couple times, but it never sticks.&nbsp; For that matter, the JHHL isn't always active - it wasn't all through the 90s, and only got rolling again within the last 10 years or so. No one knows who's calling the shots over there right now, which leads Brickwatch to guess Vigil is.

Pick your position on the sliding scale of cynicism: And bullet 1 might be true because of varied selection of bullets 2-5.&nbsp;

For option 2 (a few key people), a personal motive exists, because these people also have kids, nieces, etc. and either want to look after them, give them a peer group, or otherwise support them. Having unrelated kids in the same team is the cost of doing that.

Doyce T. said: A10s team hasn't done much of anything yet as a team. They've individually stopped muggers and other low-level folks and a few 1 on 1s with modern age villains, but that's about it. A10 mentioned to Harry that mostly their 'boss' just has them training right now - "how do you have time for training sessions... you don't ... do that, do you?" So whoever has the reigns over there (not the HHL, for all that A10s uncle is IN the HHL), they haven't had them in the field yet, even if they could handle it. I uh, I feel that we need to schedule some sparring sessions between that team and ours. Let their members get to know ours through close interaction. It's for training. Yeah.

Bill G. said: Doyce T. said: A10s team hasn't done much of anything yet as a team. So whoever has the reigns over there (not the HHL, for all that A10s uncle is IN the HHL), they haven't had them in the field yet, even if they could handle it. I uh, I feel that we need to schedule some sparring sessions between that team and ours. Let their members get to know ours through close interaction. It's for training. Yeah. OMG YES.

Doyce T. said: I uh, I feel that we need to schedule some sparring sessions between that team and ours. Let their members get to know ours through close interaction. It's for training. Yeah. OMG YES. For bonus points, A10 suggests it to Adam-as-Harry with "hey, remember when we talked about training" and Adam plays along like "yyyyeah?" and A10 says "so we should train together as teams" and Adam thinks "that sounds logical" and agrees. But we'll see what actually happens.

"Huh," A10 mused, looking over a training session which was rapidly turning into a rout. "I thought these Menagerie folk knew their stuff, but they're literally &nbsp;falling over each other, like they've never even used their powers before. Weird. Even Harry, though at least he seems to have gotten that phase-through-walls thing finally working."

Doyce T. said: If anyone else really wants some teamed or solo heroes around (Jaguar is, for example, but she's not on a team at the moment), do chime in. Vape -- Can assume a gaseous form that bewilders and befuddles those around her. Operates solo, both for the obvious reason, and because she is partially addicted to the vapors she, herself, exudes, and suffers from motivational issues. "Yeah. I should be out fighting crime. Heh. Yeah, I'll get on that. Yeah." Kid&nbsp;MAGA &nbsp;-- Defender of truth, justice, and all that is right and good about America (hence his red, white, and blue outfit). He's strong, fast, and likes thumping the bad guys. Folk have suggested that his record shows he tends to thump on bad guys who are immigrants, of color, or are otherwise targets for conservative ire; other folk have dismissed this (and he actually got a tweet of support from the President), but his bid to be a part of the JHHL has been declined on repeated occasions, with counter-accusations in certain media of appeasing "political correctness". Prior to the 2016 known as "Kid America." Anarky -- Possesses probability-warping powers of significant effect. Also highly politically active as his name implies, making him PR poison for any group out there. Vault &nbsp;-- Staff-wielding martial artist. Has worked with the JHHL, but tends toward secretiveness and independence. The JHHL has suggested that Vault is, on occasion, a bit extra-legal in his vigilante application of force. Geo Young -- Earth elemental powers, associated with the plot of land that his great-great-grandfather purchased and built a house on in 1925. Works with the JHHL on missions that are Halcyon-based, as his powers fade the further they extend from that locus. Cloak Dagger -- Someone has, perhaps, been binge-watching/reading too many Shadow references, but she (?) has both control over darkness and unerring accuracy in the stun-rods she throws at miscreants. Not a formal member of the JHHL, but a frequent partner. Word is that the association with the group was contingent on replacing the throwing knives she previously used with the stun-rods she now (usually?) employs.&nbsp;

Doyce, you created this wiki page: wiki.menagerie.team/Armitage Was that meant to be Armiger? If so, I can move the page as an admin.

Yes, sorry. Screwed that up.

<a href="http://wiki.menagerie.team/Armiger" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.menagerie.team/Armiger</a> has been renamed and re-linked from A10, I also filled in my PC Q&A as a starting point for the page. Change as you like.

I broke down and gave A10's group a page: <a href="http://wiki.menagerie.team/That_Other_Team" rel="nofollow">http://wiki.menagerie.team/That_Other_Team</a>