My Superhero University | Season 03, Episode 02: Maybe The Children Of A Lesser God
Mason: So Day all to ourselves, we wanna hang out together or do we wanna split off?
Mahvash: Now, hospitals are full of things both heartwarming and tear jerking but the point right now is those people are already in a facility, being cared for trained staffs and many many volunteers in climate controlled rooms. We are going out into the nitty gritty, because we can. And its one of your people's efforts at inclusive care. Don't think of this as delivery as much as finding the people in need of primary care and bringing it to them.
Benny: The so called "Superheroes" are now more or less violent, multi-culti thugs - if you so much as step out of line, bam, they kill you. They kill you dead. I TOLD you, dear viewers, Benny told you months ago that these brightly clothed nancy boys were gonna turn hostile to the values of the United States...
Ryuu: My heart won't break, so laugh at the world
Mikael: Looks like they got desperate. We probably can't fight through them all. But we know what they're here for.
Mahvash: The enemy have opened a large portal over Super City. Our city, and we're going to help you—help all of us keep it.
Martin (Narrative): They could have been helping people today, they should have been out making some small difference. Yet here they were, fighting a stupid battle that never needed to get this far. There should have been chances to stop this, an open dialogue, actual honest communication. But this was all that it came too, a bunch of idiots hyped up on their vision of the future to recognize how much harm they were doing in order to make it happen.
Evelyn: ...I think... I think we might be #$&%ed...
Finn: What is she saying? All of this gone in an easy instant...I mean....I would like for things to get better but....this sounds like a too good to be true scenario....
Selena: Do you remember when we first met? I mentioned that I was searching for an artifact. That is what holds the key. As well as others like it. Alone they are nothing, but together, they could give us the means to start anew. To create a world free of the sins of the one we have. But it is only possible if all of the artifacts are together. And as far as I can tell, the remaining artifacts are located here at this University. Without them, then it is merely a possibility. But with your cooperation and that of your classmates, we could make it a reality. Doesn't some part of you long for a world better than this one?
- Short Synopsis: The finale. And the GM explicitly said that he's ready to move on and get rid of everyone. What could happen?
- First Post: 21 July 2019
- Webcomic Time: 15 March 2020
Tropes - Unmarked Spoilers Below
- Back for the Finale: The Terrans return after being Out of Focus as villains for pretty much the whole series, only appearing once prior.
- Badass on Paper: The students of the university contain a smattering of veterans of the Gaea-Nazi attack. Very few are old hands who also defeated the Lethal Legion. More than a third of the active students are New Meat by comparison. They have one cohesive squad to carry out complex operations, one battering ram squad that only needs to be pointed toward the enemy, a Family of Choice that will find its way around, and a further grouping of more or less unaffiliated if powerful individuals. The IW are recovering from the abrupt departure of one of its members, the one who came up with the squad name in fact. Their closeness made the lineup change all the worse. Squad 4 is actually not that shaky from their disintegration being key to Tess's caper at the temple. But then they're still a mass of individuals.
- Individually, The Corruptible (as declared by Malhareff) students note have all been tested with mixed results. Vivian threw away her old body in a snap decision, becoming a robot note ... incidentally making herself more vulnerable to one of the students' opponents. OTOH, she shows fewer signs of crisis of confidence; though that may be because she's trying to convince herself that the change was a good thing. Sally bounced back after physical trauma and soldiered through further challenges but regressed after blaming herself for how Dante departed. Zach was defeated, leaving long with Yoko. Dante was also defeated, the pressure leading him to a terrible exit. Finn eventually stopped attacking himself (with some help from Martin) and began trying to work with his squad. Clay interacts with the people around him so well and rolls out of trouble so cleanly, one can almost call him well-adjusted. Evelyn explicitly declared that the Terrans' allies were right after an incident with her squad, but while shaken she did return to duty and avoided retreating back into her shell.
- Befriending the Enemy: The IW use mobile health programs to put oomph behind Martin's words to the centaur rioter back in The Birth Of A Song The Death Of A Dream. On the other side, Selena tries to use her first impression with Finn to make him sympathize with her side if not get him to make a Face–Heel Turn.
- Call-Back: Things start to come around again. The IW try to translate Martin's words into actions. Shane humbled Benny but he still has a voice and a following and comes out again.
- Capital Offensive: The students hold half of the artifacts. If the Guardians want to continue with their plan, they have to infiltrate/attack the university. Villains storming Saint University and even Super City is not the same thing as attacking the US capital. Indeed, Saint University has Swiss-Cheese Security, but, as far as the factions in this war, its the Students vs the Guardians vs the Terrans and the university is a very big target for forcing an endgame.
- Cutting the Knot: Mahvash bypasses the field battle first to keep free to move people free of a gel trap and second to go straight for Selena's artifacts.
- Death or Glory Attack: The above mentioned capital offensive is the Guardians' last chance for their plans. (The Terrans are kind of interlopers. Though a stroke of luck and claiming the artifacts would be nice, they have their own plans).
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: The named Terran threat in the field battle is Sommerset, who appeared for the last episode. Martin seems to know him. He is All There in the Manual, but is never mentioned before emerging form the portal.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: The villain, Sommerset appears in the last fight, apparently with the Terrans or at least Nathanial.
- Foe-Tossing Charge: Both Martin and Ryuu to get to Mahvash.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: Mahvash rallies Super City's community forces (police, Thomas+Selby, students not in the fight) into an ad hoc reaction force for propaganda reasons mostly. They'd make Fire-Forged Friends.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Its Luce. After making out with Mikael and helping fight off Renegade in his last appearance he appears at the school to try seizing the artifacts (Maybe). He shows more interest in Perry's lance.
- Misfit Mobilization Moment: The lessons Tess taught about coordination and spotting distractions come to the fore when squads 1-3 all predict the Guardians' target and realize the horde is both a distraction from the artifacts and an attempt to penetrate the school by brute force.
- Mutual Disadvantage: Martin tries this, dulling both his own and Sommerset's abilities to try to wear him down.
- No Doubt the Years Have Changed Me: Darkheart tries to pull this with Bozo. The latter doesn't engage.
- The Plan: Squads 1-3 immediately gather to handle the invasion and all of them have plans. Squad 1 covers the entrances, intending to ambush invaders as they enter. Squad 2 intends to cut off invaders as they advance and fall back to protect the artifacts while using the battle to start rebuilding public relations. Squad 3 intends to move the artifacts out of reach while meeting and thinning out the invasion force under withering firepower.
- Propaganda Hero: The IW spend some time helping mobile clinic services for community outreach, and, especially in Martin's case, for its own sake. Later, Mahvash uses the students who aren't on the front line for emergency response and police auxiliary.
- Propaganda Machine: Among others, Benny sounds the drums of war as tensions between varying genocidal factions and those 'merely' seeking cleansing of either supers or baseline humans hover at an all-time high. The Guardians of course have the popular support of most of the cryptid and enhanced peoples. The Terrans have inherited the Gaea sympathizers. Both have large, legitimized and publicly operating followings in the US.
- Scaled Up: Chibuzo, the dracolich, charges into the mass of invaders smiling as much as a dragon zombie can.
- Screw the War, We're Partying: Squad 1 spends the calm before the storm enjoying themselves and each others' company.
- Villains Act, Heroes React: In contrast to the prior saga, the villains initiate the final battle, in spite of earlier efforts to bring the fight their way.
- We Can Rule Together: Selena to Finn when she tries to get him to hand over the artifacts.
