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Mutant Draft Board: Difference between revisions
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*** When the X-Men first met the Blob, Xavier ordered his students to attack him when he refused to join them.
** Also worth noting that the competing form of this was invoked in the ''[[New Mutants]]'' series between the New Mutants and the Hellfire school and its Hellions. The conflict was largely introduced when Xavier and Emma were feuding over who got Kitty Pryde.
*** Given what Emma did to her students in that era (modern readers, who are used only to the current version of Emma Frost after her [[Heel Face Turn]], might not fully appreciate what a mind-raping horror show of a supervillainess that woman used to be. Check out the original FIRESTAR miniature series if you can find a copy for more details), keeping Kitty from signing up with her was
** Usually they keep it strictly voluntary. In the sense that they will not stop sending people to bother a new mutant until he or she agrees to join out of reason, desperation, fear, or sheer annoyance.
*** Many versions ''do'' keep it voluntary, however; ''[[Ultimate X-Men]]'' has Professor Xavier asking characters no more than once if they would like to join up, then leaving them completely alone, even when they've fought alongside them in the past (Dazzler is a good example). He only seems to insist that they stick around if they've actually been official members of the team for some time (such as Beast). In the X-Men's second incarnation, Professor Xavier is seen offering several characters a chance to join up (including Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Wolverine), and although they all accept, nothing indicates he would have pestered them had they not done so. (In the case of Nightcrawler, for example, he isn't even physically present).
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* Averted in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] Season Eight''. While Buffy's Slayer organization tries to persuade new Slayers to join, they don't force them to do so, and allow them to slay independently or as an extracurricular activity. They're less nice about Slayers who misuse their powers, like Simone or Gigi, of course.
* A relatively benevolent form appears in ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' - any and all psychics found are rounded up and enrolled in the Academy of Law so that their powers can be used to fight crime. Those that fail to qualify are allowed to live as normal citizens, but must register as psychics.
* Defied in ''[[PS238]]''. The title is the name of Public School 238—a super-hero-run school, devoted entirely towards raising metahuman children. When the school's representatives are dragged in front of Senate, at least one senator raises his doubts about how the school won't end up like this, and the representative takes time to explain how that's not the case. It's repeatedly shown over the course of the comic that [[PS238]] is no more indoctrinating than most normal public schools (if anything it's even less so).
** Later in the comic the school gets an [[Evil Counterpart]] in the private Praetorian Academy, which is a lot closer to this trope. Which was revealed to actually be {{Spoiler|controlled by a shifty politician, and at in part intended for at-risk superpowered youth, making its "draft board" nature more like reform school or juvie. As part of its strategy for actually getting would-be juvenile supervillains to stay there, it doesn't actually ''admit'' its a reform school and instead pretends to be a supervillain-controlled facility.}}
*** Rather realistically, there are several very different interests behind it, all with their own ideas of what PA does and what it should do. Even the Headmaster may have multiple motives, which he hides behind smooth talk. his backers (he must have some allies, if only to cover up the excesses, and this can't be one-sided for very long). The semi-rogue AI through whom everything goes through, and that isn't exactly his faithful servant. The von Foggs (the principal plans to use them as [[Fall Guy]]s in case of troubles, but if senior von Fogg didn't understand [[Realpolitik]], he won't get away with supervillainy ''or'' sovereignty, let alone both, for this long - the rhetoric we have seen doesn't suggest enough differences that interventionists could be anathema in that [[Alternate Universe]])...
** The series also introduces two kid heroes, American Eagle and USA Patriot Act, who are both being raised from infancy (by rival political parties) as the intended replacement to the setting's Captain America [[Expy]], who is anticipated to be retiring within a decade. Both of those kids are indoctrinated so heavily that they start out almost entirely incapable of ''not'' talking in sound-bites and cliches, and its strongly implied that the only reason PS238 accepted them as students is because that is the only way they can gain any influence at all over these two kids' upbringing, get them at least partly away from their handlers, and inject some actual ''sanity''. So 'we hate the Mutant Draft Board' is definitely a consistent theme of PS238.
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* [[Push]] practically exemplifies this trope to the letter; it's the entire basis of the movie.
* The Jedi Order in ''[[Star Wars]]'' averts this trope. Not all Force users are expected to join it, and leaving is allowed, though their indoctrination from childhood means that only twenty masters have (legitimately) left over the thousand generations of the Order's existence. (Of course, Dark Jedi and Sith aren't counted as having left "legitimately", and no information is given on Knights or Padawans.)
** YMMV, the recruits, post-Ruusan, are harvested at infancy, cut off from ''all'' family ties, put through [[Training
** In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], during the time of the Sith Empire's war with the Old Republic, all Force-sensitives in the Empire are by law required to be given over to the Sith Academy to be trained to serve [[The Emperor]] under the pain of death. The attempt of one droid-maker to keep her daughter out of the hands of the Sith is a major plot point in the novel ''Fatal Alliance''.
* The NSA (in this case meaning "National Supers Agency") from ''[[The Incredibles]]'' is another example of a benevolent version of this trope, since they take Supers and give them a common altruistic objective, equipment, training, and a support network, while largely respecting their autonomy. When superheroes were outlawed, they were reorganized to provide a means of allowing Supers to quietly reintegrate into normal society, particularly cleaning up after breaches of [[The Masquerade]] and relocating the Supers and their families in such event.
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** Similar to a [[Real Life]] test for a radio operations job back in the old days when Morse code was a necessity: applicants were told to go to a particular waiting room, and they would be called in. So they went and waited, listening to the piped-in muzak. Except that buried within the muzak, several decibels lower, were Morse-code instructions to leave and go to a ''different'' room. Testing for Morse competency and picking out signal from noise (or even worse, signal from signal) at the same time!
* The Psychology Service from James H. Schmitz's Hub stories uses a semi-voluntary version of this, similar to the above. The Service ostensibly exists in order to tag and control all telepaths, but is actually another arm of the Overgovernment. In order to maintain its semi-monopoly on telepathy and psionics, telepathic machines are installed in all spaceports, and if the device gets a response from a telepath, the telepath is tagged and implanted with a compulsion that strongly suggests the individual in question seek out the Service to learn about themselves. A few, such as Telzey, are able to overcome the compulsion, and the Service will generally leave them alone (or actively work with them) if the telepath has demonstrated that they know the rules and will not muck things up.
** And the rules are actually very permissive. The Psychology Service routinely turns a blind eye to psis who use their powers to enrich themselves, even to the point of felony
* The Bondsmagi of Karthain from the [[Gentleman Bastard Sequence]] series are part this, part criminal family. The whole venture started when one powerful mage went to a less-powerful mage and said, "Join or die." The two worked their way out to three, and so on. They have an exclusive monopoly on sorcery in the world, and if they find anyone practicing who doesn't want to join with them... well, they aren't going to be practicing much longer.
== Live Action TV ==
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== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[Warhammer
** Though the ones who are used for said purpose are actually apparently the best treated psykers in the Imperium, being sacrificed to preserve the life of a [[Physical God]] is apparently treated by the Imperial Priests similarly to [[Martyrdom Culture|martyring oneself to help the Imperium]].
* While the core ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' game doesn't usually invoke this trope, the spin-off Paragons universe has it in spades including two competing Christianity-based cults, multiple mercenary and terrorist groups, and even the Paranormal Professionals Society, which is a combination legal fund and temp employment agency for paranormals complete with a Las Vegas trade show. The degree to which the various groups [[Gotta Catch Em All]] is, of course, up to the GM.
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* [[White Wolf]] 's ''[[Aberrant]]'' has Project Utopia, who do this very subtly - they're just helpful folks who want to teach you how to control your superpowers and use them for good. Except that they also sterilize you so you don't make more little superhumans and (largely out of ignorance) persuade you to overuse your powers, causing bad mutations and insanity.
* ''[[Traveller]]'' : Averted. It is illegal in the Imperium to have a psi school and presumably one can't accidentally develop psi powers to the point where they are dangerous. Among the Zho, psis are an oligarchy and don't need such things. An [[Alternative Character Interpretation]] might be that they are a Mutant Draft Board that existed so long that it is the essence of the ruling class.
** Since you cannot legally exist as a psi in Zhodani society without accepting 'intendant' status and the accompanying training and incorporation into the social order, that is a valid interpretation. Of course, since the status in question is a massive upgrade from 'prole' to 'aristocrat', virtually no one sane ever declines the offer.
* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' has this trope gone mad...rather like everything else in Alpha Complex. Mutations are officially treason, however a mutant may confess their mutation and become registered - they must wear a yellow stripe on their uniform and effectively become second class citizens, passed up for promotions and scapegoated for any number of treasons. {{spoiler|By the way, if you're a player character, you're a mutant. Oh, and since Alpha Complex is run by The Computer, the Machine Empathy mutation is cause for immediate execution and probable erasure.}} There is, of course, PSION, the pro-mutant Secret Society that wants to put the mutants in charge, and are therefore [[Nineteen Eighty-Four|doubleplus]] treasonous.
== Video Games ==
* The Terran Ghosts in ''[[
** The ever-practical Arcturus Mengsks restores the Ghost Academy upon crowning himself the Emperor of the Dominion, knowing the value of psychic assassins to be used against his enemies.
** Also, as mentioned in the ''StarCraft: Nova'' novel, all psychics slated to be Ghosts (some weaker psychics act as "sniffers" of rogue telepaths) are mind-wiped in order to ensure their past experiences will not interfere with their duties.
* After the Vell-Os (a psychic offshoot of humanity) were defeated in ''[[Escape Velocity]]: Nova'', they were enslaved by the then-government of most of humanity, the Colonial Council. This was kept up through the collapse of civilisation and reconstruction all the way to the start of the game, although at some point the official stance became that they were willingly serving the Federation. It is made clear in the Vell-os storyline that you ''aren't'' one, but as you are an unregistered (and, at first, unaware) telepath the Bureau that has jurisdiction thinks you are one and enslaves you.
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', Kaidan, a member of humanity's first generation of [[Mind Over Matter|biotics]], reveals that when news of the [[Bizarre Baby Boom]] first went public, a military corporation called Conatix "[[Double-Speak|encouraged]]" all human biotics to go through [[Training
** Cerberus still kidnaps and experiments on biotic children.
* In ''[[Dragon Age]]'', all mages are required to join the Circle or be killed by [[Knight Templar|templars]]. The reason for this is twofold: first, because mages who are not formally trained are prone to suffering [[Demonic Possession]], and second, because the Chantry still remembers that the ancient lords of the Tevinter Imperium acted [[A God Am I|very irresponsibly]] with their magic.
** This does not stop Apostates and mercenary mages from being dreadfully common, and sometimes absurdly more powerful than mages with formal training (either due to the use of [[Blood Magic]] or by becoming abominations). Additionally, several members of the Circle are semi-openly cooperating with the illegal mages.
** It should be noted that each nation has their own Circle and templars, except for the remnant of the [[Vestigial Empire|Tevinter Imperium]]. It is also not the case with the Dalish elves, but only because they're always on the move and damned hard to find. They don't see mages as evil, but only their Keepers are trained in the use of magic.
*** Dragon Age: Inquisition reveals that the Dalish are less benevolent than they seem; if they have 'excess' mages beyond a Keeper and their apprentice (i.e., beyond what they can practicably keep under control), they deal with the excess by dumping them out of Dalish society and letting the civilized nations deal with the problem. As the 'excess' Dalish mages are abandoned as small children, it usually doesn't end well for
*** Even Tevinter still has both. The difference there is that the Circle was eventually used to bring the Magisters back to power, and the templars are under their control.
*** In this case the Draft Board ultimately falls during the events of [[Dragon Age II]] after centuries of oppression and purges against dissident mages. The catalyst is {{spoiler|Hawke defeating Knight-Commander Meredith after her attack on the Circle of Kirkwall}} which causes the mages of every Circle to [[Late Arrival Spoiler|rise up against the Templars and start a war]]. [[Foreshadowing|Years before this happens]] one Templar even notes the recent increase in mages means they are too numerous to police properly.
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