Character Conversation #1: Silver Satin

[Doctor Robo]

Silver Satin/Marcy Smith is one of the more 'veteran' characters in the Metrobay Universe (in terms of when she made her debut and how many stories she's appeared in), and she seems to be one of the more popular heroines we have. So why exactly is that? Is it her girl-next-door looks and personality? Her unique superpowers? Her memorable debut?

Here is her Metrobay Encyclopedia entry page if anyone needs to brush up: http://metrobay.wetpaint.com/page/Silver+Satin

Let the discussion begin!

[Akonkid]

Alright, here's my opinions on Silver Satin, both good and bad.

First the pros; Marcy benefits greatly for being one of the very, very few heroines we actually see become a superhero. Other heroines like Ms. Metrobay, Valient Grrl, Alpha Woman, Snowflake, and others are born with their abilities, but Marcy begins as just an otherwise normal young woman who is forcefully turned into a superhuman. She was one of the first heroines we knew of that explained who she was prior to her life as a crimefighter, how she became a superhero, and why she joined the Superheroine Squad in great detail and I think more than any heroine before or after she became more "relatable" because of that. That's coupled with the fact that her conversation is considered by many, including myself, as the sexiest mind control scene yet of any character.

In terms of story, she's also been extremely prominent in almost every single storyline to the point that I'd dare call her the "main" character of the majority of the stories. She's often directly or indirectly involved in the rise or creation of many villains (such as Dr. Twisted, Sentius, Super Freak, and others) and often she is directly involved in their defeat. She benefits from having the widest story arcs and the most interesting and widespread relationships with other characters (such as Ted Twiss, an almost surrogate daughter relationship with Ms. Metrobay, and naturally her unique relationship with Mechana.)

My favorite aspect of Silver Satin, however, is her powers. They're genuinely unique. Technopathy is not a very common superpower, as opposed to generic super strength, flight, or healing factors. Her existence as a fusion of flesh and machine, of having a human brain that's essentially a living super computer, puts her in a unique position between the very strong themes of being human, like most superheroines, and being a machine, like Mechana or MilkMaid. She's the missing link between them both, and it's a theme that's been explored to great benefit. For the most part, she looks and acts normal, like an average human girl, but then there are those abrupt moments where she'll jack her head into a computer terminal and upload videos from her brain or talk with a machine like others might talk with a friend. She's an oddity, and a bit of a freak, but her powers have definitely proved essential and interesting.

Which relates to her personality. Often Marcy has been described as a girl-next-door type. She's not overdeveloped like Ms. Metrobay or sexually liberated like Pink Pussycat. Every sexual encounter she's been in she's acted naive and innocent, like it's her first time, which is in direct contrast to her maturity and comfort as a scientist with machines. She seems far more at ease and comfortable in laboratories or with a robot like Mechana than she is interacting with other human beings. She's one of the sweetest members of the team, but she's been shown to be inhumanly stubborn, courageous, resourceful, and determined, and has almost always defeated the bad guys using her ingenuinity and intellect. So, on one hand, she seems very down to earth and normal, but then she's also unlike any girl-next-door I've ever met. She just acts more normal than superheroic, but her actions speak louder than her words.

Now for her look. Marcy is cute yet homely looking, tapping in to that girl-next-door vibe. Her first appearance was in modest secretary attire. Now, she's running around in a steel bikini set. Honesty, I love her look and the skin she shows as much as the next guy... but my personal opinion is it needs a little mixing up, and by that I mean more than just a cape added.

I was thrilled when the first cover for Superheroine Squad came out and Marcy had a slightly different hairstyle. I was a bit disappointed when this never materialized. Marcy's had the exact same "style" since the first page she was in, wearing the exact same "CyberMarcy" outfit she wore since her assimilation. It may just be me, but I'd like to see her mix it up a bit. See her with her hair down, throw a dress on and have a night out on the town, or just ANY other look than the one she's sported for almost three years now.

I've also been a tad disappointed how Marcy is almost a walking "Ex Machina" (ironically). Many times now the odds have been stacked against her, she does something she doesn't understand or think will work, and suddenly the tide is turned. She's done this against Mechana, Blackout, and Sentius, and it's getting to where she almost seems indestructible or just has supernatural good luck, but it's starting to wear thin for me. Rather than having a more clever or interesting solution, or even one with a different character, Marcy can just show up and somehow, someway, fix the situation (by the power of her unending cuteness).

While Marcy has served as a great introductory character into the Superheroine Squad, every story she's been in, she's been a primary focus, often commenting on others and giving her opinions, but rarely are the tables turned. While I'm sure everyone likes Marcy plenty, nobody really knows for sure. She's been insular, sticking with Ted or Mechana, and I've been curious how others view her. Does Ms. Metrobay think she's an upstart young rookie and successor to Gadget Gal? Does Brown Sugar think she was a good pupil? Does Valient Grrl disapprove of her relationship with Mechana? Does Ted feel awkard working with a woman he once controlled to suck his cock? We don't get other people's opinions of her very much.

Wrapping up this essay, overall I think Marcy is a great character. I feel she's a bit overexposed and has a Batman-level sense of immunity and good luck, and I'm dying to see a new look, even temporarily, for her, but overall she is an essential part of Metrobay. She's cute, intelligent, brave, strong, vulnerable, sensitive, sexy, modest, curious, and incorrigible, and she represents arguably the peak of what the mad science of Metrobay can and should do. She's the perfect fusion of brains and beauty, with a CPU brain I'd love to upload some programming tweaks for.

[Northern Chill]

Silver Satin is kind of a walking conflict in many ways...she sorta had heroinism thrust upon her and seems to enjoy it. She's not crazy about the erotic situations she hears about but she seems to get into them regularly.

Oh, and she's auburn haired...that helps...

[Trishbot]

I'm not gonna write a novel (unlike some people, *cough*Akonkid*cough*), but I'll cover what I like and don't like too.

Like: Great personality; it's gentle and non-assuming, yet she's a hellcat when the situation calls for it. She's also one of the most resourceful heroines and far more than a typical bimbo heroine. I love her powers and I wish they were used more often, like to "communicate" with Mechana. I also love her relationship with Mechana, which is both gradual, full of curiosity, and a bit taboo. She's a greenhorn, too, which gives her that wondeful "golly wow!" side that only Crissy can pull off better. And, yes, that striking red hair makes her damn appealing.

Dislike: As someone mentioned earlier (*cough*Akonkid*hack, wheeze*), I'd love to see Marcy in something other than a steel bikini and a thong. I think it would be super if she did slip into something casual just to "fit in" with the human crowd a bit but had to contend with the fact that other people still notice her cybernetics and plugs. As "Silver Satin", she seems perfecty fine with that, but as "Marcy Smith", I'd love to see how she feels about being treated differently. Similarly, I really enjoy her brief but memorable working relationship with Ted Twiss. It's f***ing awkward, not just considering Ted's status as an ex-con but as a guy who did her in every possible sexual position known to man. I'd greatly enjoy more of that and some more playful banter between the two mega-geniuses. "Ted, this is wrong." "No it isn't." "I've gone over it twice. Your calculations are wrong." "What are you, a computer?" "Yes! I am!" "... Whatever. You sucked me off."

Favorite moment: besides her initial robotization? Beating the crap out of the sentry guards after Shelley wakes her up out of her trance. It was like "holy sh*t! Marcy's a badass!"

[leto17]

In addition to what has been stated above and that I pretty much strongly agree all of with, I think there are a few other things as well.

Since you guys have done an excellent job on her personality, I'll turn to more surface things.

Her transformation sequence in the early stories was one of the best and most memorable.

Marcy's appearance fits being mind controlled, roboticized, dollified, and transformed exceptionally well. Her lighter, often pale porceilin or light bluish or chrome metallic skin (depending on the story) fits the appearance of a robobabe perfectly. She looks fantastic with whitewashed or glowing eyes because of this. It adds to a sleek, streamlined, artificial, and machinelike appearance. This is especially in comparison to more tanned tanned characters. Add in her metallic suit, status as a cyborg with attractive implants, and a functional yet aesthetically pleasing ponytail and you have an excellent canndidate for a very sexy drone.

Marcy's brunette ponytail is a nice contrast with most other superheroines with the flowing and shoulder length black (or even more common if you work in all of Kelly West's family) blonde hair. There are other exceptions, such as RollerGirl, now Hypnotica, and Knyght Rider, but they are later additions and thus had less airtime and development.

I'm not that much of a fan of tan blondes and Marcy is really the antithesis of them in physical appearance. Not that I don't enjoy seeing all the superheroines controlled; that comes first of course

Physically, that makes her novel. Put another way, if you're the only blonde on a Brazilian beach or in Japan, everybody wants you.

Moreover, Marcy has really become a pair, being combined with Mechana, and the two work very well together as a couple with interesting contrasts and similarities.

The shift in personality from friendly bright, somewhat naive scientist to focused, controlled, and expert sex machine is also highly satisfying. Of all the characters she's most like the fantasy of some nice, friendly, bright, and sexy woman at the office who gets turned into a fantasy fembot.

On the other hand, I can see some who might find her boring because they want their vision of the perfect and explicitly phyisically bimbified blonde superbabe, which is fine. They can be nice to look at too:). They might even find her goody-goody personality to be off-putting.

I do think she'd look good in a suit-there is a cover of her wearing one in the early Twisted Saga. It looks fantastic!

[Doctor Robo]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I didn't expect to see so much interesting discussion so early on!

Like a couple of other Metrobay characters, Marcy was created as an homage to a real person, specifically a nice young lady who had read some of my short text stories years ago. Of course some details were changed, but for the most part the visual aspects of Marcy were designed with this friend in mind.

As for her personality, she was definitely created to be the antithesis of a couple of our first wave of characters: the amazonian strongwoman Valient Grrl and the blonde bombshell Alpha Woman. We were definitely going for the 'pretty girl next door' look, kind of like what Marvel does with Mary Jane Watson. Marcy is obviously attractive, but in a cute sort of way. At least she's considered 'cute' relative to the other female characters that she interacts with.

A couple of you have mentioned her wardrobe. While I don't disagree that she could stand a little variety in her closet, I have always thought of Marcy as a bit of a homebody and workaholic, and not much of a socializer. This only increased when she had those cybernetics thrust upon her and became a bit of a freak show - again, relative to those around her. You'll remember early on, "Carnal Knowledge" page 16 to be specific, that a fun night for her is a hot bath and a good book. At any rate, she is usually shown either in her townhouse or in her crime lab, and as such wouldn't have much of a need for formal office attire. Now I suppose that even the most dedicated superheroine needs to relax and have a little fun once in a while, so maybe we can find something different for her to wear if the storyline so dictates. We'll see what we can do.

Thanks again for the great discussion about one of my favorite Metrobay characters. Let's keep it going! If you have any direct questions to me regarding anything about her that you might want answered, please feel free to ask here and I'll answer as soon as I can.

Also, I'll start character discussion #2 in the next day or two.

[mctek]

Well from what i can take from her info page, she more or less the "tony stark with boobs" of the Metrobayverse. Now i know she has this cute girl next door persona, that like others have shown, i can love about her. Still alot of times she seems to full of random dumb luck rather at time rather then being more on the attack per say. Her powers are unique as well, but i think it would nice if she really play up that computerized brain part. Show how much smart she is now from her initial introduction. Lol i'm with Akonkid, a bikini top and bottom doesn't exactly inspire a great deal in protection in my head. Granted you're probably aiming to play up her sexual bits, i understand, still, a catsuit goes a long way if designed well...


MCtek~

[ashleychloroformed]

I agree with Trish and Akonkid, can't be comfortable in a steel thong and damn she is hot when cute.

By the way would love to see Mechana and Marcy get engaged.

Even if that's not legal, the mayor can legalize it

I would love to see Mechana's rival get jealous of her being with Marcy

[Doctor Robo]

Here's a concept sketch for a potential 'upgrade' to Silver Satin's costume.

http://www.mccomix.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=3978

Thoughts?

[Trishbot]

I actually really like that!

It does look like an upgrade, like Marcy augmented her wrist implants to be more combat functional and streamlining her outfit to be more active, functional, and flexible, as well as less prone to catching pnuemonia.

I like how her initially color scheme is kept intact, yet it still has a bit of a naughty streak to it with the unzipped top. She actually looks like a heroine in that get-up rather than walk-in from the redlight district.

The only minor things would be to make it more form-fitting. Hug her waist more to give her that hour-glass physique she shows off so well. But, other than that, I'd say it's a natural evolution of her current attire and look.

[begbie_rentonspud]

For me, I like the complete 180s the characters pull when they're turned into mindless slaves. Silver Satin is this prude who is almost physically sickened with the mere mention of the word 'sex'. Mindless, she becomes the perfect fuck doll, where the mere mention of the word 'sex' is a command.

[madcap]

I LOVE Silver Satin; she, along with Brown Sugar, is my favorite character to see controlled. It's the fact that she's so innocent and "girl next door" and kind of nerdy, and then to see her change into a fucktoy is a huge and wonderful contrast.

I also like that she is the only one (unless I'm forgetting someone) who was actually physically altered in a permanent way with those implants. They are here to stay, part of her now, and I always kind of like the idea that they could be used by a villain to gain quick and easy control over her. They're kind of a strength and a weakness at the same time in that way. I like that her experiences have resulted in a permanent change, whereas most of the other characters are not noticably different after their trials and tribulations.

At first I was going to say that I like the steel bikini (it's ridiculous, but still kind of sexy) though after seeing the new costume proposal (though I agree with Trish about how it should hug her waist more) I'm all for a change. That new design is super sexy...I say keep the more revealing steel bikini stuff for when she is being controlled, and her master wants her in something more revealing and her comfort is not any kind of concern at all. Having that contrast between what she chooses to wear and what she is forced to wear would be better anyway (it always was a little odd that she chose something so revealing for a costume after her experiences, given her personality).

So in summary, she is definitely one of my favorite characters, I love the implants and I wouldn't mind seeing those come back to bite her again someday, or have them result in more permanent changes in the future (perhaps her thought processes could one day become irreversibly "computerized").

[Akonkid]

Not a bad change for her outfit. I think it works quite nicely, especially with her "upgraded" wrist consoles.

I always liked how she showed alot of skin, yet I agree it didn't fit with her perceived "prudish" nature. And the circumstances surrounding it struck me as odd. It was like if an ex-con continued to wear his striped uniform. That costume concept is pretty good since it keeps her sort of sci-fi techno “edge”, streamlines it to be more heroic, and yet remains pretty sexy.

As someone else mentioned, I love how her conversion was permanent in many regards, but what I liked about that is since it’s a permanent and drastic change, and Marcy basically made lemonade out of lemons, it should be a constant reminder to her and others about how the life she had is gone forever. She can’t be “normal” ever again, and I think that could be exploited more. When she dreams, does she dream in digital? Does she occasionally think in binary? Is it overwhelming to have a whole library of digital knowledge stored in your head? Does she experience slowdown and have to defrag her brain? I think it’s easy to think of her as a human with some nifty tech powers, but the reality is she’s a genuine human robot with a computerized brain and a perfect synthesis of flesh and metal. She acts human, but she’s not human, and she’s not a robot either. She’s stuck in the middle. That’s great, and I think either costume works well to prove that point.

[ashleychloroformed]

Better looking costume, there won't be a metallic thong riding up

[dumbtime]

I'm a guy that likes Star Trek, but I'm a far shot from every being branded a trekkie or a trekker. My favorite Star Trek series was Voyager, probably because it was Star Trek with out being Star Trekkie. One of my favorite characters on the show was Seven of Nine, and yes Jeri Ryan was a BIG reason. The premise of her character was that she was assimilated as a child, turned into a walking computerized drone, and grew up that way. She was later freed by Janeway and hence had all the cybernetic bulk removed so you could see her femininity, and boy did I like seeing that. She still had a lot of Borg qualities that they couldn't remove. The nanobyte tubes along with the nanobytes she still carried inside her meant that she could interact with machines and computers in a way that the normal humans couldn't. I see Silver Satin as a similar character to Seven of Nine, but a lot more naive about what she can do because she didn't grow up as a cybernetic superhero. That is pretty much obvious in the way she acts when it comes her 'superheroine actions.'

I like the new costume but, I didn't mind the old one. It showed more pixilated skin. I do think that you should keep the cybernetics simple like they did with Seven of Nine, because, I believe, the whole purpose of Silver Satin is to have the sexy but simple girl next door personification in a anti superhero type character. The bulk stff is to ‘bulky.’

When she was completely under the control of Sentius and Ted, there was no evidence of her 'prudish' nature, it was overcome with programming. I like to understand it now that, as 'Silver Satin,' she doesn't see her current self as prudish because of the changes Sentius made in her cybernetic brain but, with her free will, she still interacts and responds 'prudishly' because its who she was/is. To me, Sentius changed Marcy, physically and psychologically, and that’s why I voted a 4 for her. If she became just a super Marcy, I would have giving her a 2 or 3.