Characters / Kinetic Adventures

A character list for the Web Serial Novel in the works by Metal Shadow X.

[Contains unmarked spoilers].

Major Characters (Star Alliance)

• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: A variation; Roxy has blond hair, Rio has black hair, Tom has brown hair, Claire has auburn hair, and Merle has crimson colored hair.
• Five-Token Band: The Star Alliance members are all multiracial; the following are merely their most visible lineages. Roxy is Asian, Rio is Hispanic, Claire Caucasian, Merle Indian. ^note As in both South Asian and Native American, and Tom Caucasian as well, though he also fulfills the "kid in a wheelchair" role later on.
• Rainbow Motif: Star Lass is golden-yellow, Willpower is bright red, Cannon Queen is green, Crow is blue, Sonic Servo/Servo Seer is silver-gray.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Rio, Merle, Roxy, Tom, and Claire in order from most to least emotional.
• Town Girls: Roxy is the cold but sweet femme; Claire is the smart yet cynical neuter; and Merle is the wild and energetic butch.
• Two Girls and a Guy: Roxy and Rio with Claire, after she joins them and before forming the Star Alliance. She also occasionally hangs out with Merle and Tom as their tutor and/or Mission Control around the same time.
• Two Girls to a Team: Two Guys to a Team.

Star Lass (Roxanne Kaizen)

The main character of the series, Roxy (as she's called) starts the series having just graduated from high school. Super-strong, super-sharp, and super-snarky, she's struggled with human interaction for years. That is until Rio came along; but his family soon moved away before he got through to her and she still ended up becoming an antisocial outcast until he returned at the start of her senior year. After admitting her true feelings for Rio and finally coming to terms with her insecurities, she becomes kinder and more willing to make friends.

Despite her Ice Queen-like personality, she is very optimistic and wants to make a difference in society; as Star Lass, she intends to do just that.

• Amazonian Beauty: Although she hides her muscles in public by wearing loose clothing.
• Anti-Hero: Type III, though she sometimes goes down to Type II.
• Author Avatar: Word of God gave her a personality much like his own.
• Brilliant, but Lazy
• The Cape: A Reconstruction.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: To Rio.
• Covert Pervert
• Deadpan Snarker
• Defrosting Ice Queen: After chapter 7.
• Dying Alone: Her greatest fear, though she would never publicly admit it.
• Expy: For Superman, at least with her Star Lass persona.
• Flying Brick: She has the three abilities that many Celestians possess:
  • Flight
  • Super-Strength
  • The Power of the Sun
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic I and II.
• Good Is Not Nice: Though she gets better.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Just because she eventually becomes nice, doesn't mean she goes any easier on criminals.
• Hand Blast: Her "Solar Blast" and "SMG (Sun Machine Gun)" attacks.
• Hates Being Touched: With a few exceptions.
• The Heroine
• Heroic Build: Although she's slightly more hefty and curvaceous than your average example.
• Heroic Neutral
• Humble Hero: The main reason she has a Secret Identity is not to protect her loved ones (as she knows they can do fine should anything happen), but rather to not be constantly praised by random people during her civilian hours when she helps people as Star Lass. In fact, even when being personally thanked as Star Lass, she acts rather Tsundere-ish about it.
• Ineffectual Loner
• Informed Loner: While she feels comfort in not being surrounded by people, she also doesn't want to be entirely friendless.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Only she's too afraid to open up to others out of fear that if she went through the trouble of making friends, they would eventually leave and emotionally hurt her. Rio's sudden departure is what made her recognize this.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• The Kirk
• Knight in Sour Armor
• The Leader: Probably between a type II and IV, although she has some traits of all four in some way.
• Light 'em Up
• Light Is Good
• Loners Are Freaks: Some people she met at high school often asked if she was this kind of person. She may subconsciously believe this, which is why she wants at least one person to consider her a friend.
• Loony Friends Improve Your Personality
• Meaningful Name: Her first two names (her middle one is Mitsuko) mean "light".
• Most Common Superpower: They're more noticeable when she's in her hero outfit.
• Naughty by Night: Despite her shy and dutiful personality, she is rather perverted and takes pride in having a healthy sex life with Rio.
• One Head Taller: Averted; she and Rio are almost the same height.
• Shrinking Violet: A downplayed example.
• Signature Hair Decs: Has a couple with her redesign to emphasize her femininity in comparison to the other two girls.
• The Snark Knight: Also downplayed.
• Socially Awkward Hero
• Stepford Snarker: As a kid, she used bitter sarcasm as a coping mechanism; however, once she gets over her problems as a young adult, she uses it in a much more playful manner.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality
• Sweet Tooth: She loves sweets, namely dark chocolate.
• Think Nothing of It: See Humble Hero.
• True Blue Femininity: Her Star Lass attire is indigo, rather close to blue.
• Unkempt Beauty: She hardly, if ever, keeps her hair tidy.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Claire, type 2.
• When She Smiles: Rio finds her adorable when she's happy.

Willpower (Macario Valdez)

Roxy's first actual and, for a time, only friend, Rio (as he goes by) has a near parallel personality to her: ostracized due to his scrappy attitude, eccentric quirkiness, and odd habits. Despite this, he and Roxy share a powerful bond as he was the first person she befriended on Earth. After moving away and coming back, Rio promised himself he would do everything he could to stop her from being alone again.

As the superhero Willpower, he differs from other Kinetics by not using visible strength, but what he calls Xi energy. With it he's able to jump at great heights, run incredibly fast, and can perform various other abilities.

• Adrenaline Makeover: He grows a goatee in the second half of part 1.
• Anti-Hero: Type I.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's a ton of fun, but don't deliberately hurt any of his friends (especially Roxy).
• Blithe Spirit
• Boisterous Bruiser
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Inverted. He's not very smart, but makes up for it by being a hard worker.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Roxy is aware of this, which is why she has faith in him despite being frequently loony.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Has various lapses into non-sequitur.
• Dare to Be Badass
• Deadpan Snarker: Every now and then later on; Roxy's (and Claire's) style of humor is a bit contagious to him.
• Death Seeker: Only at first. He wondered if his kinetic power would reveal itself if he was in danger of dying. As noted by Roxy, this is completely suicidal and he was lucky that he was right.
• Determinator
• Disappeared Dad: His father died two years before he met Roxy.
• The Empath: Only toward Roxy, and to a certain extent.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine.
• Fun Personified
• Genius Ditz
• Heart Is an Awesome Power
• Heroic Spirit
• Heroic Willpower: He's immune to Scaremonger's Mind Manipulation.
• Imagination-Based Superpower: His Xi allows him to do an assorted number of things if he puts his mind to it.
• In a Single Bound: His "Rocket Jump" technique.
• Jumped at the Call: Rather he "ran all the way to New York, then jumped over the Empire State Building" at the call.
• Keet
• Kid Hero: Started being a hero just a couple months before turning 18. However, even nearing his twenties, he still often acts like a kid.
• Ki Manipulation: He uses his inner energy (he calls it Xi^note pronounced like the letter "Z") as a foil to Roxy's solar energy.
• The Lancer: Of the Number Two variety.
• Laser Blade: Eventually learns to wield two of them with Xi energy.
• Let's Get Dangerous!
• Living Emotional Crutch: For Roxy, who was emotionally devastated when he unexpectedly left, but gradually warmed up again after his return.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Male variant.
• The Matchmaker: A non-romantic version for Roxy and Claire, whom he believed would make great friends.
• Meaningful Name: Macario and Espiridión (his middle name) mean happy and spirit, respectively, in Spanish.
• The McCoy
• Muscles Are Meaningless: He has next to none; justified due to using his Xi energy in combat.
• One of the Kids
• The Pollyanna
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Except he's (usually) incredibly friendly.
• Super-Speed: Although he has a hard time stopping.
• Triangle Shades: Often wears sunglasses as Willpower, although he's trying to invoke Rule of Cool.
• Understanding Boyfriend

Cannon Queen (Esther Claire Morlan)

A girl Rio befriends at school, Claire (she prefers to just go by her middle name) starts out as Roxy's inadvertent enemy for Rio's affection. Her personality being similar to Roxy, it allows her and Rio to get along just as well, with Roxy herself initially feeling threatened by her. It isn't until Roxy warms up that the two become best friends, if sometimes belligerent.

As Cannon Queen, she uses her training under Tom and her self-made, multifarious weapon to become a force of nature without superpowers.

• Action Girl: After becoming Cannon Queen.
• Anti-Hero: Type III.
• Ascended Extra: Initially intended to be a Girl of the Week character, she instead becomes a tritagonist of sorts.
• Badass Bookworm
• Badass Longcoat
• Big Damn Heroes: In "Wedding Bell Blitz"
• The Big Guy: Despite physically being the weakest member, her weapons make her the one prone to doing the most damage.
• Celibate Hero: A variation; much like her inspired character, she isn't big on romantic relationships (early on) and has very little interest in sexual activity.
• Creepy Monotone: Well, more like uneasy monotone.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Emotionless Girl: Pre-character development.
• Expy: Based mainly on Daria Morgendorffer; she bears the physical resemblance and has a similar personality (though it's later deconstructed). She also shares some similarities to Iron Man; relying on her smarts and gadgets for her lack of superpowers (or, in Crow's case, the training to make up for it).
• First-Name Basis: Mostly averted, as nearly everyone except her parents and Roxy (she invokes the First-Name Ultimatum when she highly demeans or praises her) refer to her by her middle name.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Even more so than Tom, considering she made Gypsy.
• Good Is Not Nice: She trades the shyness Roxy has with even more hostility.
• Gunslinger
• I Call It "Vera": She calls her homemade weapon "Gypsy".
• Irony: She's regarded as the team's outcast, yet is the only thing linking Star and Willpower with Crow and Servo before they all meet.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although she often acts more like a jerk than Roxy.
• Meaningful Name: Her last name is an anagram for "normal".
• Muggle Born of Mages: Her father is Celestian, but she has none of the powers. Her sister, however, may have them.
• Not So Stoic: Her moments of these are often seen after Tom's accident.
• Redhead In Green
• The Smart Guy: To a lesser extent than Servo.
• The Snark Knight
• The Spock: Just replace "logic" with "common sense".
• Statuesque Stunner/Huge Schoolgirl: She's the tallest member of the team.
• Swiss Army W Eapon: Her homemade instrument, Gypsy, which can transform and be used as a variety of attacks.
  • Playing with Fire: Plasma Ray, the default mode.
  • An Ice Person: Frost Beam.
  • Shock and Awe/Power Fist: Electric Gauntlet.
  • Homing Projectile: Homing Missile.
  • Wave-Motion Gun/Hand Cannon: Neutron Cannon, requires a ten minute recharge.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Her kinder side only shows up mainly when she's under a lot of emotional stress, though it may briefly pop up elsewhere.
• The Team Normal: Only one out of the main five that isn't either a Kinetic or a non-Kinetic with special training.
• Teen Genius
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Roxy, type 2.

• Wrench Wench

Crow (Merle Dawson)

Merle is the only child of a young family of performing acrobats and a carefree one at that. Raised to be soft spoken and well mannered (although she may often not act as such), she prefers to stay positive in the face of adversity. In addition, she's quite popular with the boys in her school and has a talent in theater acting. After losing both her parents, she was adopted by her former babysitter Leila and, upon having learned her secret identity as Dusk Woman, wanted to follow in her footsteps as a superhero.

As Crow, she is highly agile and takes any opportunity to strike.

• Action Girl
• Ambiguously Brown: Kind of hard to tell her ethnicity, but she's a mix of Indian and Native American.
• Anti-Hero: Albeit a more friendly example.
• Badass Normal/Charles Atlas Superpower
• Butt-Monkey: Anytime where someone gets beat up for laughs, it's probably going to be her.
• Ethical Slut: As revealed when she wanted to sleep with Tom before they broke up because she didn't want Claire to feel cheated on.
• Fragile Speedster: Hits fast, but can't take much abuse.
• Glass Cannon: Hits hard, but can't take much abuse.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted; she always pushes her body near its limit to get stronger.
• Hidden Depths: Finds her talent in acting after participating (albeit against her will at first) in a School Play.
• Hormone-Addled Teenager: Very much one, with no help from her hedonistic view of life. Including, but not limited to, the following tropes (although she isn't as sexually explicit as most of the examples; ie, most of these are Downplayed)
• Improbable Age: She's had great acrobatic skills ever since she was 11.
• Kid-Appeal Character: A possible deconstruction.
• Kid Sidekick: To Dusk Woman.
• Little Miss Snarker: As time goes on, especially when hanging out with people like Roxy and Claire.
• Meaningful Name: Her middle name, Sarika, means (myna) bird in Sanskrit.
• Most Common Superpower: She has quite big breasts for a girl in her early and mid-teens (they developed sometime after she started being Crow)... not that she minds, of course.
• Technical Virgin: She's perfectly fine with getting to third base after dating a guy for a month or so, but will go no further... until she turns 17 ^note Which is the age of consent in Texas
• True Blue Femininity: Her primary color is blue.

Sonic Servo/Servo Seer (Thomas Richter)

A kid about Merle's age, Tom (as many call him) is a super-intelligent Kinetic with the power of sound/vibration. He led a rather normal life until he saved Merle from an abusive date, which she repaid him for by revealing her superhero identity. Near the end of part 1, he develops a romantic relationship with Claire and helps her become a hero.

As Sonic Servo, he uses his power both as shock absorbers and as a dangerous weapon. After being paralyzed from the waist down, he becomes Servo Seer, playing a new role as the team's Mission Control.

• Expy: For Oracle as Servo Seer.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Supine.
• Non-Action Guy: Subverted. He usually doesn't fight much after being in a wheelchair, but he will if he ever needs to.

The Anti-Squad

Anti Lass (Astra Null, real name Sable Kaizen)

A Celestian who came to Earth to find the Kaizens. Once she meets Roxy, she introduces herself and tells her story of when her cruel family left her behind some years ago. She later takes over OzCo and reinvigorates it into NullCorp. In truth, she is Roxy's believed-to-be-dead younger sister, who was forced to survive by learning how to become a no-nonsense entrepreneur/mogul and resorting to immoral actions.

• Affably Evil
• Arch-Enemy: To Star Lass, of course.
• Ax-Crazy: Somewhat, as Anti Lass, but it's just a ruse.
• Anti-Villain: Either that or an Anti-Hero, depending on whose side she's on at the moment.
• Blood Knight: Enjoys the fights with her sister.
• Cain and Abel: The Abel to Star Lass' Cain.
• The Chessmaster: She spends the second half of part 1 manipulating everyone, whether they know it or not.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Of sorts; while she and Dragon control an underground crime syndicate, she uses some of the money to benefit the city.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Averted.
• Dark Action Girl
• Flight
• Friendly Enemy
• Fun with Acronyms: NullCorp stands for the Neighborly Utilities for Local Living Corporation.
• Gravity Master: Her "Fourth Power".
• Light 'em Up
• Light Is Not Good
• Long Lost Sibling
• The Man Behind the Man: Although Biocide is unaware of this.
• Power Hair
• Super-Strength
• The Unfavorite: Sees herself as this.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Made sure to gain the trust of every major figure in the city the first week she became CEO of NullCorp.
• Worthy Opponent
• Younger Than They Look: Despite appearing to be in her early 20s, she's almost 2 years younger than Roxy.

Biocide (Ashley Ozborn)

A ruthless Corrupt Corporate Executive who, due to a corrupt childhood, has found pleasure in causing pain and suffering while profiting from it. Having been dumped in nuclear waste, she has obtained the power of poison and uses it to bring further misery to others.

• Acquired Poison Immunity
• Arch-Enemy: To Crow.
• Ax-Crazy
• Bald of Evil: After the nuclear incident caused her to permanently lose her hair.
• Big Bad
• Card-Carrying Villain: Once in Stupid Evil territory.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: So, so very much. At least until she loses the company to Anti Lass.
• Dark Action Girl
• Disproportionate Retribution: Puts a hit out on Merle's entire family because her mother bullied her when they were in school.
• Enemy to All Living Things
• Faux Affably Evil
• For the Evulz
• Lean and Mean: Suffers from anorexia as a mutation side-effect.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast
• Poisonous Person
• Radiation-Induced Superpowers: The cause of her powers is due to falling into an unstable nuclear vat.
• Shadow Archetype: She's Dusk Woman's moral opposite.
• Shapeshifter Weapon: After becoming a Kinetic, she can turn her arms, hands, and/or fingers into sharp blades. They're usually tipped with poison.
• Sickly Green Glow: Double Subverted. The nuclear waste that caused her transformation was blue, but it turned her skin green.
• Smug Snake
• Technicolor Toxin: In both green and purple.
• Would Hurt a Child

Scaremonger (Luther Pen Dragon)

An alien with the ability to shapeshift between human and dragon forms. He's capable of breathing out different elements depending on what he eats and possesses hypnotic eyes that makes his foes experience their greatest fears. He befriended Astra as she made her way to Earth.

• Affably Evil: Possibly even more so than his boss.
• Arch-Enemy: To Willpower.
• Breath Weapon: Depending on what type of food he eats:
  • Spicy: Playing with Fire
  • Minty: An Ice Person
  • Sweet: Non-Elemental
  • Liquid: Making a Splash
  • Sour: Shock and Awe
  • Bitter: Extra-ore-dinary
  • Salty: Dishing Out Dirt
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Cares deeply for Anti Lass.
• The Brute
• The Dragon: Taken as figuratively and literally as possible.
• Emotion Control
• Genius Bruiser
• Hypnotic Eyes
• Large and in Charge: Subverted when it's learned he takes orders from Anti Lass.
• Lightning Bruiser: His dragon form.
• Noble Demon: Has no qualms of committing crimes, but draws the line at senseless killing and going against Astra.
• Our Dragons Are Different
• Scaled Up
• Undying Loyalty: While they were in space, Astra saved Luther's life. He feels indebted to her to do as she wishes.

Dr. Brain (Brutus)

A rather incompetent villain who relies only on brute force. Although, this is just an act to fool the public as he works with Anti Lass. He's a skilled doctor and an even better scientist.

• Arch-Enemy: To Cannon Queen.
• Dumb Muscle: Subverted.
• Evil Genius
• Gadgeteer Genius
• Genius Bruiser
• Hulk Speak: As part of his brainless brawn persona.
• Mad Doctor
• Mad Scientist
• Mecha-Mooks: Starts using these later on as cannon fodder.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: He was a nuisance that was easy to handle with Roxy, but after revealing his true colors, he becomes more than just that.
• Robot Master

Other Characters

Dusk Woman (Leila Ross)

A young cosmetic prodigy who, in just 5 years, became a millionaire in the fashion industry. However, beneath her desire to help people look as good on the outside as they are on the inside, she felt compelled to search for her parents' murderers and find the motive behind it. However, after taking custody of a newly orphaned Merle, she realized how pointless it would be and gave up her quest to help raise her foster child, who wants to become a superhero as well.

As Dusk Woman, she prowls the night streets and blends with the darkness to stop criminals.

• Cool Big Sis: Wants to be one to Merle, but comes off more as both this and a mother figure.
• The Cowl: A more lighthearted example.
• Culture Equals Costume: Her Dusk Woman costume is a stylish hijab she made herself that is also ideal for combat. She chose this due to her belief that it does well to hide her face (especially on the off-chance she needs to fight in the daytime) and out of respect for her late mother.
• Dark Is Not Evil
• Decoy Deuteragonist
• Expy: One for Batman. She shares the tragic backstory, rich civilian persona, and taking custody of an orphaned child.
• The Fashionista
• Flight
• Intangible Man: But it requires a small amount of concentration, so she can't use it right away while in trouble.
• Lady of War
• Older Than They Look: She's 24 in her debut chapter (27 as of Spring 2011) yet looks no older than 18.
• Out of Focus: Eventually retires to focus more on her company.
• Parental Substitute: On behalf of Merle's parents and honored to be mentioned in their will, Leila became her legal guardian.
• Team Mom

Necromancer (Scott Macbeth)

Leila's friend, whose parents took her in after Leila's were killed, Scott was intrigued by magic ever since he could remember, which was due to his then-dormant Kinetic power of magic. Having left after high school to train, he meets up with Leila 8 years later and takes up her offer on becoming a paranormal detective. Though initially planned to help find the spirits of her parents, she allowed him to help any soul that needed it.

As the Necromancer, he deals with the arcane oddities that lurk within the city.

• Arbitrary Skepticism: Brushes briefly with this, unsure if things like ghosts and aliens exist. Leila shows a short savvy side just to point out the flaw in his belief.
• Badass Bookworm
• Black and Nerdy
• The Comically Serious
• Ethnic Magician
• Expy: Of Dr. Orpheus (ability wise) and the Demoman (ethnicity wise; unintentionally at first, but Word of God decided to keep it).
• Put on a Bus: Eventually goes across the country to train spellcaster Kinetics.
• Neat Freak
• Necromancer: Naturally.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Most characters have wide, animesque eyes◊, Necromancer's look like these◊. This is fairly common with Kinetics who possess the ability to cast magic.
• The Red Mage: Skilled at healing and attack magic; however, he’s unable to attack while casting, also leaving him a...
  • Squishy Wizard
• Soul Brotha: Averted, despite how appropriate it would be.
• Soul Power
• The Stoic: Most of the time.
• Team Dad
• Vancian Magic

Killspot (Caitlin Cassidy)

An assassin hired by Ozborn to kill the Dawsons to settle a petty grudge she had against them. Despite her line of work, she comes off as incredibly friendly in her civilian persona due to Caitlin and Killspot actually being different people.

• Alliterative Name
• Anti-Villain: Type I.
• Crazy-Prepared
• Dance Battler
• Even Evil Has Standards: Killspot's a ruthless psychopath, but she still felt deeply ashamed after causing Merle to become an orphan.
• Expy: To Deadpool, sans the fourth wall breaking.
• Fiery Redhead
• Friendly Sniper
• Healing Factor
• Heel–Face Turn: Is asked by Crow to make one at the end of chapter 4.
• I Am Legion: The two both use first person plurals unless something is only directed at one or the other.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast
• Only in It for the Money: The only reason they took the job of killing the Dawsons was because Ozborn would have paid them a large amount of money, but they turn down the offer after refusing to kill Merle.
• Professional Killer
• Psycho for Hire
• Shout-Out Theme Naming: Caitlin's real name is based on Cletus "Carnage" Kasady, while her alter ego's is based on Deadpool's.
• Split-Personality Makeover: As Killspot, Caitlin wears a half-black, half-dark pink mask and puts her loose hair in a ponytail.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Caitlin would barely harm another person let alone kill them. Killspot, on the other hand, terminates her targets without hesitation, but her one rule is to spare any child under the age of 16.
• Wild Card: Further enforced when they decide to defect and become neutral.

Simone Valdez

Rio's elder sister.

• Cool Big Sis
• Expy: Partially one for Simon, due to her name and drill power.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Her first words in the story
• This Is a Drill