PS238/Characters

The characters of PS238.

Staff of PS238
Herschel Clay (a.k.a. Mantium)

''Dagnab Cytocorp hardware! If I found out who's been ordering from that cheap-wad supplier¦ I might as well make my own EPROM chips if we're going to use this junk!''


 * Almighty Janitor: His job is quite a bit more than 'janitor', but he doesn't come across as 'teaching staff' normally.
 * He's the maintenance guy for PS238. Along with the guy that designed and built it.
 * Gadgeteer Genius
 * Reed Richards Is Useless: Averted, he modifies NASA equipment and is rich from selling some of his stuff via Clay Corporation.

Alfred Cranston, Principal of PS238

Even when you think you're doing the right thing, you might be going about it in the wrong way.


 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: He had used his telepathic powers to defeat political opponents, win elections, and get great deals on cars.
 * Our Presidents Are Different: Until the 'Cranston Incident' ended it in the Backstory.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Referring to his time when he was using his powers to be President. He's not sure whether he did anything wrong, but agrees that it was "the wrong way".

Doctor Positron


 * Do-Anything Robot: Subverted when he has trouble fighting off aliens without the weapons in his combat body.
 * Me's a Crowd
 * Uncanny Valley: Normally, Doc P appears pretty much human, but (at least when interacting with his other selves) can lapse into Uncanny Valley-ness pretty badly. The other teachers tell him to knock it off because he's so unconvincing it's creeping them out.

Vashti Imperia (a.k.a. Spell Syrin)

''Only you see my true appearance. To everyone else I look like Vashti Imperia, J. Crew patron.''


 * Master of Illusion

Coach Rockslide (a.k.a. Maximilian Krutz, Rockslide)

''I think that's our cue. Let's go stomp some aliens.''


 * Gentle Giant
 * Nigh Invulnerable: He's been driven something like four feet into concrete flooring by a blow to the head. It doesn't seem to have done much more than stun him briefly (and leave him stuck).
 * Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Max may be a massively strong, stone-tough bruiser that's more than seven feet tall, but he's pretty much stuck that way, which isn't much fun. He doesn't fit through doorways very well, can't move very fast and he can't even wear shoes, since they just kind of... burst.
 * Super Strength

Cristina Kyle (a.k.a. Micro Might)

"Victor Von Fogg: (to Zodon) You will pay for this, oh, yes... Miss Kyle: Let's keep the vendettas down to a dull roar, okay?"
 * Christmas Cake: She has had trouble dating.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Less than others, but she often resorts to snarky comments when things get too crazy.


 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse
 * Reasonable Authority Figure

The Human Alloy (a.k.a. Wayne Miller)

''I've faced down military-level ordnance, fought beings with laser-beam eyes, taken on the worst the underworld has to offer... but [teaching] scares me worse than Doctor Von Fogg's legion of mole-warriors on a mushroom bender.''
 * Chrome Champion
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Turned a door into gold once. The full extent of his abilities in this area have not been explained.
 * Even Heroes Have Heroes: For Wil Wheaton.

Other Staff:
 * Dr. Isadore Newby: School doctor, both superpowered healer and mundane medically trained.
 * Healing Hands
 * Alice Oberon: Teacher of the Rainmaker classes. Canonically completely powerless- why she's in charge of the Rainmaker students remains unexplained.
 * Roland Wooster: former Battle Butler for the defunct Union of Justice (a.k.a., most of the current teaching staff).

Students
American Eagle (a.k.a. Jenny Adams)

Age: 10

I'm in favor of blue - it's the same color of the skies, limitless and free, just like America.
 * The Comically Serious: During her tenure with Tyler's impromptu "superhero team".
 * Deadpan Snarker: Eventually. Congrats!
 * Patriotic Fervor
 * Winged Humanoid Wears a backpack above ground to conceal them.

Bernard Brenner

Age: 7

Bernard Smash!
 * Cute Bruiser
 * Hulk Speak

Captain Clarinet (a.k.a. Mo-Ron "Ron" Peterson)

Age: 8

''I wasn't sure I wanted to do this saving people and stuff. It felt good to help, but I still want to make my music.''
 * Break the Cutie
 * Does Not Know His Own Strength: Fears his own strength because of this. One day, he might forget.
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: Of course, it's also what makes him stand out among the "run-of-the-mill" Flying Bricks.
 * Fail O'Suckyname: His Argonian name is "Mo-Ron". He lives in dread of what would happen if his acquaintances on Earth found it out.
 * Flying Brick
 * Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad
 * Super Strength
 * Super Strength

Tom Davidson

Age: 10
 * Shout-Out: It is Word of God that his name was taken from two Doctor Who actors.
 * Time Master
 * Wise Beyond Their Years

84 (a.k.a. Julie Finster)

Age: 7

I'm sorry my powers aren't special or anything.
 * Character Development: Her growth as a hero, despite her generic powers. Taking on the name "84" is part of it.
 * Cute Bruiser: It certainly looks good when she stops mid-swing a guy whose gauntlets alone are almost the size of herself.
 * Flying Brick
 * Super Strength
 * You Are Number Six: F.I.S.S #84
 * You Are Number Six: F.I.S.S #84

Emerald Gauntlet (a.k.a. Kevin Kramer)

Age: 7

Let's blast it!
 * Generation Xerox
 * Green Lantern Ring

The Flea (a.k.a. Alejandro Torres)

Age: 8

Is now when you tell me to "stay out of trouble" and "go back home" and "it's too dangerous" and stuff?
 * The Beast Master/Speaks Fluent Animal: Talks to and commands insects. This is quite useful to him - flies make excellent bugs, and even high-tech powered armour can be inconvenienced by a big swarm of bees.
 * From the Mouths of Babes: Occasionally says facepalmiest things.
 * Fun Personified
 * Wall Crawl

Guardian Angel (a.k.a. Ambriel Valentine)

Age: ?

You can't touch me, you can't hurt me, and the more you try the worse it's gonna be for you.
 * Barrier Warrior
 * Blessed with Suck: Can't get hurt, can't get injured, can't get sick. The sucky part comes about because she never developed resistance to diseases.
 * Bubble Boy: What the Blessed with Suck aspects of her Barrier Warrior powers have effectively turned her into.
 * Guardian Entity: Assumed to have. It's not like they can chat or something.
 * Nigh Invulnerable

Malphast

Age: ? The son of a demon and an angel.

''To be honest, I didn't know I could do it. It sort of "happened." I think I need to learn more about what I am from Ms. Imperia.''
 * Captain Ersatz: Looks like Spawn. Has the origin of Genesis. Acts considerably nicer.
 * Power Incontinence: Accidentally summons a tentacled... thing while listening to music.
 * Reality Warper: Among others - part of his remit is that there hasn't been a demon/angel hybrid before, so no-one knows what he can do.
 * Me's a Crowd: Mentions that he built "a homunculus out of cafeteria food."

Absolute Powers a.k.a.


 * Flight
 * Power Incontinence
 * Reality Warper

Tyler Marlocke (a.k.a. Moon Shadow)

Age: 8

A normal boy with two very famous heroes for parents. They wonder why he hasn't got any powers, but he is sent to school "just in case".

''Look, I can't do any of the stuff you do. I don't have... you know... powers .'' "Tyler's diary: My parents put me here because they think I'll get powers someday. They don't seem to understand that if a blue boy who weighs a couple hundred pounds drops something big and metal on you, it doesn't matter if you were GOING to get powers someday."
 * Action Survivor
 * Badass Normal: In training at least.
 * Chew Toy
 * Grappling Hook Pistol: Tyler's still getting the hang of it. Hilarity Ensues. Interestingly, it's about the size of the Myth Busters model, and thus is worn as a sizeable forearm bracer rather than sitting in the utility belt.
 * The Jinx: A very directed and specific one, aimed mainly at Captain Clarinet.
 * Only Sane Man
 * Ridiculously Average Guy: It's right on the cover - Issue 03: The Amazing Adventures of the Uncannily Incredible Perfectly Ordinary Boy.
 * Shrouded in Myth: Amongst the PS238 students Moon Shadow gains a near-mythical reputation and huge cult following who equate him to the superhero version of Chuck Norris, including everyone thinking he has a ton of powers he doesn't really have. Tyler is understandably very confused about it..
 * Superpowerful Genetics: Subverted.
 * Un-Sorcerer: Despite being a son of two superheroes... both of whom are very powerful, very proud and now also gone a little too far into wishful thinking.

Murphy

Age: ?

''I am acquainted with all stories form this world and others as they form the tableau of what you quaintly call "reality." The dreams of all sentient beings come together to shape what we see when we walk apart from the realms of sleep, and the whimsical novels of which we speak give their small contribution to making whole that which we see as the universe.''
 * Anthropomorphic Personification
 * Captain Ersatz: Of Dream from The Sandman.
 * De-Power: The reason he's in an elementary school; he's been reduced to the child-sized "Prince of Daydreams."
 * I Have Many Names: How Murphy introduces himself.
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness
 * Wall of Text

Polymer (a.k.a. Poly Mekkis)

Age: ?

One time I grabbed our mailbox when Mom was driving to the mall, and when we got there, my arm was- "Poly Mer: I'm glad I don't have to worry about costumes. Julie: You don't? Poly Mer: Nope. (beat) Poly Mer: What? Julie: Nothing. Just... nothing."
 * Fun Personified: Her powers are the source of many a funny Fridge Logic moment.
 * Magic Pants: Funny in-universe example, with a dash of Late to the Punchline:


 * Rubber Girl

Prospero

Age: Unknown

''This is a sample of DNA that came from what you call a "cafeteria". It has evolved several times since I constructed this device. I have concerns for those consuming it.''
 * Expospeak Gag: Once his dialogue is translated.
 * Foreign Queasine: His attitude about the cafeteria food.
 * Gadgeteer Genius
 * Intelligible Unintelligible: (Only to Angie.)
 * The Unintelligible
 * Prospero's dialogue is actually written with a font in which every character looks more or less the same. This font *is* decipherable, and reveals his dialogue for the first issue to contain nothing but comments from the author and Monty Python references. Later issues become slightly more in-character-esque.
 * Wingdinglish: Prospero's walls of text in his introductory chapters starts off with "If you can read this" and goes on with Monty Python quotes, a recipe, etc, to avoid heavy spoilers, but in the rest of the series, his utterings are often hilarious.

Angie Sinthousy

Age: 11

'' Ha! Never fails! You got owned, Dude! Now let's finish da Acessorizin'.'' "I rigged up dis hologram robot-thing o' my bad self to sit at my desk an' give da same wise-crackin' answers I usually do. Does it work? It spends most of its time in da principals' office, so I guess so."
 * Bungling Inventor: Her gadgets are built literally from junk, so they tend to be either unreliable (like that Body Double robot) or more often habitually over-engineered (to compensate?) - in which case they work, but too powerful. Tim Taylor Technology is her style.
 * Catch Phrase: Knowhatimsayin'?
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Hinted that some of her more fantastic creations only work right when she's using them, or at least in the vicinity.
 * Deadpan Snarker:


 * Gadgeteer Genius: In some ways more than Herschel
 * Totally Radical
 * Wrench Wench

Suzi Fusion (a.k.a. Suzanne Finster)

Age: 6

Doctor Positron says my internal body temperature can melt lead!


 * Gas Leak Coverup: Tends to prompt these.

USA Patriot Act (aka Dillon Fillmore)

Age: 10

''The Defender of patriotism has arrived! And he's here to hone his skills and fight injustice!''
 * Patriotic Fervor
 * Super Soldier
 * Super Strength: And it's been growing, lately...

Victor Mycroft Von Fogg

Age: 8

Join Von Fogg or be vaporized from space. "So yes, we saved the planet. Again. Do I get a t-shirt if I do it a third time?"
 * Big Bad: It's what he's striving for)
 * Enemy Mine: Without asking, even.


 * Gadgeteer Genius: Though not on the same level as some of the others.

The Whiz (a.k.a. Franklin Springer)

Age: 8

''Let's play kickball! Me against everybody!''
 * Power Incontinence: He has to have his hair and nails trimmed multiple times a day to keep others from noticing how fast they grow.
 * Super Speed

Zodon

Age: 5

''My brain is going to hemorrhage. If I wasn't given the chance to do independent study in the labs, I'd go ape-.''
 * Big Bad: In training.
 * Butt Monkey
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Jerkass
 * Unusual Euphemism: Due to the Barry Ween chip. When he really gets going, it switches to Show Tunes.

Others
Ultima and Sovereign Powers

""To even think otherwise is to defy the will of the Universe.""
 * Smug Super: In case their chosen names don't tell you something about the pride level. Other than this, they seem to be decent (if scatterbrained) people, however.
 * Stage Mom: Tyler's parents are utterly convinced they can micromanage their son into becoming the World's Greatest Super Hero (when they aren't ignoring him). He is destined for greatness -

Atlas (a.k.a. Ul-Ron)


 * Expy: Of Superman.
 * Flying Brick: The brickiest among the Argosian nobility, which consists entirely of Flying Bricks.
 * Genius Bruiser: He has a mental boost implant, then was manipulated by a supervillain in childhood, grew up on a planet with very chaotic history, and for a while had to fight a trickster god every year. Some people both on Earth and on Argos think he can make a nice puppet just because he's polite and a bit too enthusiastic...
 * Rightful King Returns

Charles Brigman

Age: 12-13?
 * Jerkass

Cecil Holmes

Age: 8


 * Badass Longcoat
 * Conspiracy Theorist: He actually gets pretty close to figuring out the truth about PS238, but Tyler derails him with alien stuff.
 * Also, the reptiloids are up to no good... just not in his school.
 * I Just Want to Be Special: Cecil is itching to participate in something great, which is how he got into those "alien investigations". And reacted with enthusiasm on things like being told some of his memories are gone, or seeing his body shape becoming unstable. Of course, that's also why he sucks at secrecy. And.
 * Kid Detective
 * Meaningful Name
 * Nosy Neighbor
 * Only Sane Man: But only regarding Paper-Thin Disguise.
 * Properly Paranoid
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Doesn't know the school secretly has superhero students, so is convinced it's being infiltrated by aliens in disguise.
 * Properly Paranoid
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Doesn't know the school secretly has superhero students, so is convinced it's being infiltrated by aliens in disguise.

Dr. Philippe Von Fogg

What kind of world is it where a man who can build a zeppelin-mounted death ray can't even operate a simple camcorder?
 * Shout-Out: Has an uncanny resemblance to a certain other webcomic writer, and then there is his flying castle.

Alexandra Von Fogg

Von Foggs do not humble themselves.
 * Daddy's Little Villain
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Just as smart as her brother...
 * Manipulative Bitch: ...but more ruthless and manipulative

Harold Nelson (a.k.a The Rainmaker)

''The government wants to know how superpowers work, so they poke and prod the folks with powers that can't fight back. Like us.''
 * Power Nullifier
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist

The Revenant

I sometimes think access to cash is the greatest superpower of all.
 * Badass Normal
 * The Chessmaster
 * Crazy Prepared: He has a box under the seat in his jet just in case he suddenly needs to go into space.
 * Crimefighting with Cash: See the quote.
 * Expy: Of Batman (minus grim and dramatic sides, plus connections everywhere).
 * I Have Many Names
 * Kinda Busy Here: Every time Tyler or others call him for advice. But he's so badass he can whomp supervillains and give career counselling simultaneously without breaking a sweat.
 * Combat Uninterruptus: Happens all the time.

Blockbuster Micro Might's former sister-in-arms. Now looks after law and order in Las Vegas. Appeared on two pages.


 * Fair Cop: She's easy on the eye in an uniform. So far it remains a mystery how she looked younger, air-dancing in some sort of tight outfit - this usually comes with the territory, doesn't it? - and maybe with a better hairdo, but there's always hope for more Union of Justice' flashbacks.
 * Flight: Of what we have seen. Other powers remain unknown.

Paradox

Age: several millennia, according to himself.
 * Cosmic Plaything: He has appearance, voice and knowledge he's "supposed to" have at the moment.
 * Mr. Exposition

High Lord Dax-Ra

Forak's former boss, on a mission to ensure the Rightful King Returns... which would make him the real power behind the throne.


 * Evil Chancellor: He expected Atlas/Ul-Ron, raised on a backward planet, will be a fish out of water and would make a nice figurehead.
 * Flying Brick: Like all Argosian nobility.
 * Jerkass: Infamous on his planet as a "tin-pot stiff-neck" and for having "odd priorities".

Brian Holland (aka Victorious; later "71")

''Sorry if I'm being too big a fanboy. I'm kind of nervous.''
 * Flying Brick / You Are Number Six: FISS #71.
 * Otaku Surrogate: Among the active fans of Julia.
 * Punch Clock Hero: Working in Heroix is not quite as glorious as it sounds. It's worse when he is forced to admit this.

Forak

Age: late teens?

My royal blood is about as thin as toilet paper, and that's not the only similarity, in my opinion.
 * Butt Monkey: When we first meet him, poor chap stands right under a thick hatch door about to be explosively removed. Upon being extracted from under its bent remnants, he is hit with Shrink Ray and captured. Then gets out right in time to be irradiated with an Argonite crystal. Then he ends up marooned on Earth. His luck doesn't improve too much or for very long after that.
 * Flying Brick: Technically. Just enough so that he counts as one. And had little to no flight practice.
 * Otaku Surrogate: He's a natural-born fanboy. Which helped him to distract one Man Child, but.

Veles

Age: ancient

I know I'm being a bit of an A-type personality, but that's godhood for you...
 * Friendly Enemy: He challenges a "champion of Earth" to yearly contest, and even did some trash talk. But in the end, it's a fate thing rather than his fancy, and he likes having a Worthy Opponent... and maybe getting some perks out of the deal.
 * Horned Humanoid
 * Slavic Mythology: He used to fight Perun all the time; now apparently Perun is absent, so he needs to find another opponent.
 * Stealth Mentor

Phlogiston

''It was one of the names that weren't taken. It was either that, or Miss Miasma.''
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * The Smart Gal: She is know-it-all and the brain of the team (according to herself, at least) in Plasma Pack.