History YMMV / AlphaFlight

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Done in the simplest possible way to remove the revelation that Northstar and Aurora were half-elven: that story came from Loki, and Loki ''lies''.

* MyRealDaddy: As noted above, Bill Mantlo made the characters beyond the {{flat character}}s they were originally and gave them depth.
** Which was the only thing he did, and even then, only with certain characters. He turned Puck into a magical midget whose only two character traits were his unrequited love for Heather and being an unpowered dwarf, had the obese paraplegic Bochs go insane before being killed off, explained away Aurora's SPD as being half-elf, and turned the closet homosexual Northstar into a literal fairy. Oh, and he killed off Snowbird and wrote out Shaman and Talisman along the way before replacing them with a bunch of punk kids. The man removed nearly all hints of diversity and cut out everything that made the book unique, and the constant angst and occasional painful dialogue didn't help. As far as some are concerned, Byrne is still the authoritative voice on Alpha Flight, with most of what Mantlo did -- Heather and Jefferie's characterization excepted -- being a hackjob.
** On one hand, Northstar being a literal fairy only happened when Bill Mantlo's original plan for the character was nixed by editorial. On the other hand, his original plan was for Northstar to die of AIDS. Make of that what you will.

* CompleteMonster: Vol. 2 issues #10 & 11: [[EvilOverlord Baron Zebek]], determined to restart the villainy of [[ComicBook/{{Micronauts}} Baron Karza]], commits a bloody conquest of the Antica region so as to enslave the population. Forcing the Antica to be used as slave labor and participate in brutal GladiatorGames, Zebek's most wicked act is to recreate Karza's vile Body Banks, subjecting the Antica to being torn apart piece by piece to [[WalkingTransplant use their bodies as merchandise]] to be sold to the highest bidder. Intending to eventually wipe out all Antica, Zebek then intends to spread his reign to other worlds, and, when beaten, spitefully tries to [[TakingYouWithMe set off a bomb]] that will engulf Antica and many more billions of lives in nuclear fire.

** Alternately, Canadians are very used to American media, and so tend to have a very negative opinion of American media portrayals of Canada and Canadian cultures (see WesternAnimation/DudleyDoRight). A newcomer to the comic would suspect that, since Marvel is an American company, Alpha Flight would be a continuation of those stereotypes. So, like any stereotype, best to be avoided, and certainly not a good basis for a comic series. It doesn't help that, in a lot of Alpha Flight's guest appearances in other books, all they do is play up those roles (when they're not unexpected antagonists). Plus most Canadians only like jokes about Canada when they themselves tell them.

** Marrina stopped being the woobie in volume four, when Fred Van Lente recast her as no longer giving a fuck about humanity after being brought back to life - complete with a new battle cry of "Die, human scum!" Whether this was a change for the better or CharacterDerailment is debatable.

** Marrina stopped being the woobie in volume four, when Fred Van Lente recast her as no longer giving a fuck about humanity after being brought back to life - complete with a new battle cry of "Die, human scum!". This was widely considered a change for the better.

** Probably has something to do with the fact that for whatever reason, Canada has almost always been depicted as unambiguously evil in the Marvel universe.

** Probably because Canada is evil in the Marvel universe.
** Alternately, Canadians are very used to American media, and so tend to have a very negative opinion of American media portrayals of Canada and Canadian cultures (see WesternAnimation/DudleyDoRight). A newcomer to the comic would suspect that, since Marvel is an American company, Alpha Flight would be a continuation of those stereotypes. So, like any stereotype, best to be avoided, and certainly not a good basis for a comic series. It doesn't help that, in a lot of Alpha Flight's guest appearances in other books, all they do is play up those roles (when they're not unexpected antagonists). Plus most Canadians only like jokes about Canada when we tell them (because we [[Radio/RoyalCanadianAirFarce do]] [[Series/ThisHourHas22Minutes it]] [[Series/TheRickMercerReport right]]).

* FlatCharacter: Creator John Byrne felt this way about the majority of the team, especially Mac, which is why Guardian was killed so early into his run. The only exception would be Northstar and Aurora and, to a lesser extent, Heather Hudson. This is also why many fans consider Bill Mantlo to be the real father of the series. The definitive take on the bulk of the cast were the result of Mantlo fleshing out the characters into three-dimensional people.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Bizarrely, Alpha Flight has historically been more popular with Americans than Canadians.

** Marrina stopped being the woobie in volume four, when Fred Van Lente recast her as no longer giving a fuck about humanity after being brought back to life. Arguably the only redeemable thing from the Van Lente series many would argue.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Every Alpha Flight story after the original series, save for the brief Omega Flight series, which did it's best to undo Bendis's slaughter of the team by way of revealing Sasquatch survived "The Collective" and only stating outright, that the two least liked Alphas (James [=MacDonald=] Hudson and Shaman) were dead.

** Which was the only thing he did, and even then, only with certain characters. He turned Puck into a magical midget whose only two character traits were his unrequited love for Heather and being an unpowered dwarf, had the obese paraplegic Bochs go insane before being killed off, explained away Aurora's SPD as being half-elf, and turned the closet homosexual Northstar into a literal fairy. Oh, and he killed off Snowbird and wrote out Shaman and Talisman Snowbird along the way before replacing them with a bunch of punk kids. The man removed nearly all hints of diversity and cut out everything that made the book unique, and the constant angst and occasional painful dialogue didn't help. As far as some are concerned, Byrne is still the authoritative voice on Alpha Flight, with most of what Mantlo did -- Heather and Jefferie's characterization excepted -- being a hackjob.

** Which was the only thing he did, and even then, only with certain characters. He turned Puck into a magical midget whose only two character traits were his unrequited love for Heather and being an unpowered dwarf, had the obese paraplegic Bochs go insane before being killed off, explained away Aurora's SPD as being half-elf, and turned the closet homosexual Northstar into a literal fairy. Oh, and he killed off and wrote out Shaman and Talisman Snowbird along the way before replacing them with a bunch of punk kids. The man removed nearly all hints of diversity and cut out everything that made the book unique, and the constant angst and occasional painful dialogue didn't help. As far as some are concerned, Byrne is still the authoritative voice on Alpha Flight, with most of what Mantlo did -- Heather and Jefferie's characterization excepted -- being a hackjob.

** Which was the only thing he did, and even then, only with certain characters. He turned Puck into a magical midget whose only two character traits were his unrequited love for Heather and being an unpowered dwarf, had the obese paraplegic Bochs go insane before being killed off, explained away Aurora's SPD as being half-elf, and turned the closet homosexual Northstar into a literally fairy. Oh, and he killed off and wrote out Shaman and Talisman Snowbird along the way before replacing them with a bunch of punk kids. The man removed nearly all hints of diversity and cut out everything that made the book unique, and the constant angst and occasional painful dialogue didn't help. As far as some are concerned, Byrne is still the authoritative voice on Alpha Flight, with most of what Mantlo did -- Heather and Jefferie's characterization excepted -- being a hackjob.

** Poor Marrina. So, so much.
*** Marrina stopped being the woobie in volume four, when Fred Van Lente recast her as no longer giving a fuck about humanity after being brought back to life. Arguably the only redeemable thing from the Van Lente series many would argue.

** Though again, YMMV, as some still consider Byrne's work to be the pinnacle of the book and everything Mantlo did to be be an abomination that spat in the face of it, with later runs never surpassing Byrne's original vision for the series.
* TheWoobie: Despite his killing the previous team while possessed by Xorn and it being explicitly not his fault, the third Guardian is treated as if he's a psychotic criminal.

* FlatCharacter: Creator John Byrne felt this way about the majority of the team, especially Mac, which is why Guardian was killed so early into his run. The only exception would be Northstar and Aurora and, to a lesser extent, Heather Hudson. This is also why many fans consider Bill Mantlo to be the real father of the series. The definitive take on the bulk of the cast were the result of Mantlo fleshing out the characters into three-dimensional people.

* CreatorBacklash: John Byrne against his successor, Bill Mantlo. While he was never fond of the idea of putting Heather into Mac's battlesuit, Byrne was especially upset with the handling of Puck. Byrne had always intended Puck to be a dwarf naturally, due to achondroplasia, and the pain he suffered is a legitimate side-effect of that condition. Instead, Mantlo introduced the concept of Puck being a [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan mystic prison]] for a demon, and his dwarfism was the result of that curse. Though Mantlo [[MisBlamed shouldn't be held entirely responsible]] for the concept; Chris Claremont introduced the "curse" aspect (and Judd's "true" height) in the ''X-Men/Alpha Flight'' miniseries; Mantlo simply came up with the explanation for it.

* FlatCharacter: Creator John Byrne felt this way about the majority of the team, especially Mac, which is why Guardian was killed so early into his run. The only exception would be Northstar and Aurora and, to a lesser extent, Heather Hudson.
** This is also why many fans consider Bill Mantlo to be the real father of the series. The definitive take on the bulk of the cast were the result of Mantlo fleshing out the characters into three-dimensional people.

** Alternately, Canadians are very used to American media, and so tend to have a very negative opinion of American media portrayals of Canada and Canadian cultures (see DudleyDoRight). A newcomer to the comic would suspect that, since Marvel is an American company, Alpha Flight would be a continuation of those stereotypes. So, like any stereotype, best to be avoided, and certainly not a good basis for a comic series. It doesn't help that, in a lot of Alpha Flight's guest appearances in other books, all they do is play up those roles (when they're not unexpected antagonists). Plus most Canadians only like jokes about Canada when we tell them (because we [[Radio/RoyalCanadianAirFarce do]] [[Series/ThisHourHas22Minutes it]] [[Series/TheRickMercerReport right]]).

* FanonDiscontinuity: Every Alpha Flight story after the original series, save for the brief Omega Flight series, which did it's best to undo Bendis's slaughter of the team by way of revealing Sasquatch survived "The Collective" and only stating outright, that the two least liked Alphas (James [=McDonald=] Hudson and Shaman) were dead.

** Alternately, Canadians are very used to American media, and so tend to have a very negative opinion of American media portrayals of Canada and Canadian cultures (see DudleyDoRight). A newcomer to the comic would suspect that, since Marvel is an American company, Alpha Flight would be a continuation of those stereotypes. So, like any stereotype, best to be avoided, and certainly not a good basis for a comic series. It doesn't help that, in a lot of Alpha Flight's guest appearances in other books, all they do is play up those roles (when they're not unexpected antagonists). Plus most Canadians only like jokes about Canada when we tell them (because we [[Radio/RoyalCanadianAirFarce do]] [[Series/ThisHourHas22Minutes it]] [[Series/TheRickMercerReport right]]).

* UnfortunateImplications: Right wing writer James Hundell's first arc (Alpha Flight #66-70) revealed that the Dream Queen was evil because she was the product of rape and had Snowbird make a guest appearance to cure Sasquatch of his transgender problem, by magically restoring his male form.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Every Alpha Flight story after the original series, save for the brief Omega Flight series, which did it's best to undo Bendis's slaughter of the team by way of revealing Sasquatch survived "The Collective" and only stating outright, that the two least liked Alphas (James McDonald Hudson and Shaman) were dead.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Omega Flight.
** The time Alpha Flight got killed in one panel to just make the New Avengers seem that much more badass.
* FlatCharacter: Creator John Byrne felt this way about the majority of the team, especially Mac, which is why Guardian was killed so early into his run.

* UnfortunateImplications: The arc that revealed Puck's dwarfism was caused by ''DemonicPossession'' that also gave him eternal youth; by the end of the arc, the demon is exorcised and Eugene becomes seven feet tall and eighty years old in the blink of an eye. And all his friends are just peachy with this.

** Only by the fans.

** Alternately, Canadians are very used to American media, and so tend to have a very negative opinion of American media portrayals of Canada and Canadian cultures (see DudleyDoRight). A newcomer to the comic would suspect that, since Marvel is an American company, Alpha Flight would be a continuation of those stereotypes. So, like any stereotype, best to be avoided, and certainly not a good basis for a comic series. It doesn't help that, in a lot of Alpha Flight's guest appearances in other books, all they do is play up those roles (when they're not unexpected antagonists). Plus most Canadians only like jokes about Canada when we tell them (because we [[Radio/RoyalCanadianAirFarce do]] [[ThisHourHas22Minutes it]] [[TheRickMercerReport right]]).

** Alternately, Canadians are very used to American media, and so tend to have a very negative opinion of American media portrayals of Canada and Canadian cultures (see DudleyDoRight). A newcomer to the comic would suspect that, since Marvel is an American company, Alpha Flight would be a continuation of those stereotypes. So, like any stereotype, best to be avoided, and certainly not a good basis for a comic series. It doesn't help that, in a lot of Alpha Flight's guest appearances in other books, all they do is play up those roles (when they're not unexpected antagonists). Plus most Canadians only like jokes about Canada when we tell them (because we [[RoyalCanadianAirFarce do]] [[ThisHourHas22Minutes it]] [[TheRickMercerReport right]]).

** Poor Marrina. So, so much.