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Sunday, February 13, 2022

1 is for 1001001 in the 2022 campaign creation challenge

 1001001's construction at the behest of eccentric Canadian billionaire Kellingley Laws was with the intent of her being purely a sports mascot for his new hockey franchise, the Hamilton Electrics. Backed with functionally limitless money the designers went kind of overboard, constructing an ambitious modular android with a unique, fan-friendly design and wings. Wings! Laws was thrilled and backed multiple extra modules to make it even more impressive. He even licensed his favorite Rush song to use as a name and game music.



Their original programming of Asimov's first law had to be reduced as during her first practice match she kept pulling the skaters apart and chastising them The reduced directive – that she had to intervene to protect people who were in danger (due to something other than organized sport) and she could not initiate hostilities, was put in place instead. They hadn't quite thought that through as 1001001 quickly started acting as a local super-hero. There wasn't much by way of super-crime, but the Hamilton authorities didn't complain about the assistance with emergency services. 

With Kellingley's death his heirs cared little for the newly created hockey franchise and sold/transferred it to Haven to replace/resurrect the long lost Whalers. 1001001 went with them. Her prior skin of the gold and blue of the Hamilton flag was replaced with either the blue with seal of the Connecticut flag or the white and green of the Whalers logo, depending on the day and whether there's a game on the ice. 

She still acts as a super-hero (her programming won't allow her not to), and its still mostly emergency services work. She really only fights super-villains when she teams up with the other Haven heroes. 1001001 has gotten much smarter since she was created and her AI improves with experience. 

Creation Notes

Since February has 28 days and the alphabet only has 26 letters I knew I was going to need two numerical entries. Since this one came up with Android Body it was logical, and then the dice told me she was from Canada and the name became clear. Then the dice told me this Canadian Android was skilled in Broadcasting and Sports and I could not get the idea of an android hockey mascot out of my head. So 1001001 is a bit goofier than the other heroes, but that's part of comic book's charm. I leaned into it, keeping the ice powers device I was originally going to drop because hocky. The throwing pucks and collapsible hockey stick battle staff were entirely due to Moon Knight coming out and "Random Bullshit Go!" 

I was happy with her design of the skeletal android covered with pressurized inflated skin that kept her circuitry at optimal conditions but could be altered or expanded or even used to cover people. I've always been a huge fan of the Vindicator/Guardian literally wrapped in the flag costume design, and happily borrowed it here for a new Canadian hero, albeit in a goofier way. The idea of her heightened agility being an enormous database of flight and cheerleading routines fits surprisingly well, and her ice powers device being rerouting of the cryo plant needed to counteract her plutonium core again makes sense, for certain values of sense. 

She's the first of our heroes who is team based rather than having her own book, so her villains will actually be all team villains.


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