Episode 79: Z-E-R-O
Takes place 27 December 2011-3 January 2012.
Mr Zoat's move from Sufficient Velocity to Questionable Questing occurred during this episode, after a dispute about his handling of transgender issues led to a forum ban.
Short version
Paul helps to track down the Hero Dial and restore a man who unintentionally used it to transform himself into a superpowered woman, but Truggs then fakes its destruction and steals it.
Longer version
After Paul makes his way back home from Hell, the Team encounter Mr Joe Hamill, who has been transformed into a woman with metahuman powers by a mysterious Dial. Mr Hamill was so shocked by the change that s/he immediately threw the Dial into the ocean and fled, making it difficult to diagnose and reverse the change.
With some assistance from his comic knowledge, Paul goes looking for information that might lead to the Hero Dial's owner. While doing so, he is attacked by an enslaved clone who holds a lesser Horror Dial, and who is trying to retrieve the Hero Dial for his master. Paul disables him, then takes him and his partner to visit Robbie Reed, the Hero Dial's previous owner. Unfortunately, Reed is heavily traumatised by his prior experiences, and while sympathetic, he is unwilling to participate in the search. Instead, they seek out Chris King, who uses his own Dial to gain tracking powers and locate the Hero Dial. With it, Mr Hamill is able to transform back.
Immediately thereafter, the Dial begins turning by itself. Paul takes it to a safe distance by the time it spells out M-A-S-T-E-R, and then it apparently self-destructs. The Team is left uncertain about what was happening, but with the immediate situation resolved.
An interlude is then shown from Nylor Truggs' perspective, accompanied by Circe. They have switched the Dial, which has now dialled 'Y' (completing the word MASTERY), for a destroyed copy that is apparently the remains of a Dial Truggs brought from the future. Circe is dubious about the Dial's usefulness compared to her own magic, but Truggs points out that he can't replicate her magic, and is privately excited about the prospect of empowering employees in a way that can be switched off when no longer needed or wanted.
The title refers to the Hero Dial, which is activated by dialling "H-E-R-O", and is a play on "From Zero to Hero", a song from the animated Hercules movie.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Mr Hamill is very keen to be rid of the Dial once he's transformed back.
- Compelling Voice: The Master, one of Robert Reed's alter-egos, apparently commanded a number of people to walk into incinerators, and they simply obeyed.
- Exact Words: Ted Kord expects a fight with his insurance company after angels burned down his building, even though he can prove that it wasn't an act of God.
- Gender Bender: The Hero Dial changed Joe Hamill into "Electro Lass".
- Gender Bender Angst: Mr Hamill is vocally displeased with the male-to-female transformation, and still claims to be a man. Paul asserts that Mr Hamill, while still a "Mister," has become a woman. Once the transformation is reversed, Mr Hamill considers the issue and decides that since Electro Lass was a woman, but wasn't exactly him, that means he was a woman, but he wasn't himself.
- Naked on Revival: Paul had to deal with this, although he was more concerned about the fact that his body was still 90% robotic and thus unable to properly digest food.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Iola answers her door wearing her baby and a loincloth, and doesn't care.Iola: And open your eyes. I am sure that I have nothing which you have not seen before.
- Superpower Lottery: The Hero Dial gives powers relevant to the situation, but the exact details are unpredictable.Robbie Reed: I once beat up a gang as a walking pinball machine. The application isn't always direct, but it ought to give him something he can work with.
- Telekinesis: One of the Master's clones transforms into the Scintillating Psionist, a giant flying brain, to attack Paul.
