Character Conversation #1: Silver Satin

[Akonkid]

Just contributing more to the Silver Satin thread.

There's been a lot of recent developments with her that I've been very fond of. For starters, her role as a techno-organic slave in Platinum Earth is surprisingly sexy and creepy, and yet it demonstrates some of the leadership potential she has when her shyness is stripped away.

Secondly, I loved the more "moral ambivalent" light that was shown on her in "Mind Over Magic". It focused more on her scientific side, less on her superhero one, and showed her making difficult, even unethical, decisions for the greater good. It's nice to see a heroine with the courage to make those tough decisions, even if they're the wrong ones for the right reasons. Someone mentioned it was a great parallel to Belinda, and I agree. They're both scientists and the end results, the "end justifies the means", approach is often the scientific school of thought. It was great to see that brought up in her treatment of Enchantress.

[leto17]

Yes, she was fantastic in Platinum Earth.I still think she makes one of the sexiest drones. Oddly enough, when it comes to making characters permanently evil, be it through brainwashing and robotification and the like, she isn't my pick. I think she should always, eventually revert back to Duddly-Do-Right form.

Well kinda.

Perhaps we should think gray, not black and white. One can be perverse without being evil.

Perhaps instead of being evil, she could be just a bit of a mad science perv. Who says Belinda has all the fun? Who says she can't have a counterpart on the Superheroine Squad? Someone from SS has to research MC tecnhiques and robotification, if only as a defensive measure. Perhaps "problem children" like Enchantress or even female criminals might get some "special programming" and cybernetic implants to make them less threatening, more docile, and by extension, more submissive to her darker desires. A sort of 'fight fire with fire' idea. Silver Satin may decide that the likes of Brunnhilda Krummpacher, the TrixTress, those bratty Wellington women like Babydoll, Dee Lisha, Madam Mynx, Lady Heartbreak, Troubalina, and on and on may need some experimental programming to make them bet fit into society and perhaps play tosome of her desires. She should still be really sweet and nice about it, but also real pervy. Perhaps keep the naughty aspects a secret on the side from the rest of the Superheroine Squad.

Perhaps Milkmaid could be turned into her and Mechana, or Ted and Crissy's sexpet (and as for Crissy Tanner, there are MANY, MANY options for changing her into a gray character based on her desires. Perhaps Ted is charged with dealing with her due to their shared sexual interests and he can help her control or channel or find a seuxally satisfying outlet for her impulses as they become more extreme over time).

You could go a little darker than that, too. For example, after the second defeat of Sentius, when much of the Superheroine Team was incapacitated and she was working on removing the implants, I always thought she might get off on being given control over all those helpless beautiful bodies and their owner's slumbering pliant minds. Imagine what a pervy Marcy would do to a Crissy Tanner!

Perhaps she might "fiddle with the wiring a little", implanting some 'harmless horny coding' so they might be responsive to some sexual play, or even have sex with Mechana as she examines her comatose or mind-altered patients and works on them,perhaps feeding some of the programming from their sexual interaction into her charge's minds to push them in the 'right' direction if they are already so inclined in terms of sexual orientation. Again, naughty and morally objectionable, perhaps hard to balance, but still basically Marcy.

[ach202577]

just go to platinum earth and you'll see her unsavory side one reason I don't read platinum earth

[Tecknophyle]

just go to platinum earth and you'll see her unsavory side one reason I don't read platinum earth

...so, you don't read a story because of stuff that's happening in the story. Which you aren't reading. How's that working out?

[Doctor Robo]

Here's an excellent example of the benefits - and perils - of sharing characters between writers. Not everyone is going to write Silver Satin (or any other character) exactly the same way, even though we try to keep the basic elements of her personality relatively stable. Sure, Sir Willoughby's take on the characters he has borrowed from the Metrobay Universe is certainly different than mine might have been, but that doesn't make it better or worse. Just different. The same goes for Trishbot, or Akonkid, or Finister Foul, or anyone else. This sharing of characters across multiple storylines allows us to explore different angles with them, because each of us writers has different ideas of how she might react in a given situation. With the help of my fellow writers and artists I am learning to embrace this, and I hope you all will too.

- Doc

[Akonkid]

I find it interesting to see the reaction Silver Satin in particular has generated based on all the different stories she's been in.

I think it's fascinating. As Doc mentions, Silver Satin's been written by three different authors in three different stories now, and every single one of them has left a unique mark on her character, but without it altering her character. Some people love how she behaves in one story but disapprove of her behavior in another, and yet when you step back and look at the larger picture, it truly does seem natural.

Under Doc's pen, she was created and evolved from a meek, shy, antisocial computer scientist into a confident, brave, and quite successful heroine. While I've bemoaned her "lucky streak" of victories before, her journey to where she is now remains very compelling. Few heroines have been granted origins stories, but Silver Satin's remains one of the best so far.

In Willoughby's hands, she's been shown as far more ruthless and controlling, and much more front-line offensive. When she's enslaved by the aliens in that story, her personality seems augmented and modified, but still 'her', such as her genius, infatuation and interest in Mechana, and cool, calculating brilliance. I found it interesting when she tried to dissuade Solaria from her mission by calling rank, even though Solaria's been a heroine far longer than Silver Satin ever was. Maybe that wasn't intentional, but if it was it's interesting to see how Silver Satin's more dominant and authoritative personality has surfaced.

She's been briefly seen in Trishbot's "Mind Over Magic", but even that little bit got people talking. Some were really quick to dismiss her as cold and uncaring in her treatment towards Enchantress, but you can't argue with the results. Silver Satin saved Enchantress, even if it was a risk to do so. And I thought it was great that even Silver Satin has somebody she doesn't like and can be mean towards if the mood strikes her. It was a little bit of moral ambiguity I loved.

And ultimately, like Doc said, all these different sides of her make her interesting. You don't have to like everything she says or does (curse her successful heroism!), but branching out exploring personality quirks someone else may not focus on helps flesh her, and others, out, and it's exciting to read and see develop. I feel the same sort of pressure in how I'm currently handling veterans like Brown Sugar and Jade Lightning in my story and having to think how these respected heroines would have behaved almost a decade ago before they had all the talents they currently possess. It's thrilling, and even if I make mistakes along the way, it's something different, something new, and at the very least someone else will find the new revelations to be worth a read.

[dumbtime]

I just liked seeing her nekkid. Any chance of that is a winner in my book.

[ach202577]

I think any idea of silver satin going back to what she was in megabaycity is nothing more than a pipe dream she has been changed to much that also goes for the rest that have been tainted by the hive- wasn't brown sugar given a whole new makeover? this isn't your nanobyte,collar, green hypno ray conversion ( this hasn't been done in megabaycity has it where a heroine has been thoroughly converted into a evil persona) I'll just wait and see the train wreck

[ach202577]

just go to platinum earth and you'll see her unsavory side one reason I don't read platinum earth

...so, you don't read a story because of stuff that's happening in the story. Which you aren't reading. How's that working out?

it's going really well sport how about you?

[madcap]

Doc, I don't know if you consider the Platinum Earth story to have officially happened in your continuity or if it's simply an "Elseworlds" kind of thing, but I would LOVE to see you further explore that dark side of Silver Satin in which she relished in the control over others. Seeing her corrupted into being a villain was fantastic (especially since though she was a mistress to her own stable of slaves, she was still a slave herself).

I know how you feel about the need to reset the status quo in these stories (and I do understand it myself), but the way I see it, you have a bajillion great characters and can always introduce more. It would be really cool and dramatic I think to have a few of them go through permanent changes in the story, and Marcy would be a perfect character to use for that purpose. Just my two cents.

[Doctor Robo]

Doc, I don't know if you consider the Platinum Earth story to have officially happened in your continuity or if it's simply an "Elseworlds" kind of thing, but I would LOVE to see you further explore that dark side of Silver Satin in which she relished in the control over others. Seeing her corrupted into being a villain was fantastic (especially since though she was a mistress to her own stable of slaves, she was still a slave herself).

I know how you feel about the need to reset the status quo in these stories (and I do understand it myself), but the way I see it, you have a bajillion great characters and can always introduce more. It would be really cool and dramatic I think to have a few of them go through permanent changes in the story, and Marcy would be a perfect character to use for that purpose. Just my two cents.

Hi Madcap. Thanks for the comment. I do consider the "Platinum Earth" series to be canon for the Metrobay characters. The events of the last few weeks in the Platinum Earth will most likely have some sort of repercussions for those Metrobay characters who were involved. But what will those repercussions be? I'll be honest and say I don't know... yet. I don't think any of us do. I suppose that's up to the writers of any future stories involving those characters. I would imagine some veteran heroines like Omega Woman and Alpha Woman might easily shake it off as 'just another day at the office', while younger characters like Snowflake or Silver Satin might have a little more trouble moving on.

This potential new side of Marcy's personality is very interesting, and I think Sir Willoughby and Trishbot have done a great job in developing her past the naive rookie cop/heroine that I created her as. I guess I would say get back to me in six months or so and remind me about this, and we'll see how she has further developed (if at all) in the meantime.

- Doc

[Akonkid]

Silver Satin remains a character that could go so many directions at this point. She practically was the main star of the entire Sentius story, being both the beginning and end to the conflict, but she hasn't had much to do beyond that besides occasionally babysitting Mechana, accompanying her friends on missions, or inventing something.

Key to Marcy, I think, is Mechana. The android has never fully been "independent". She jumped from Belinda to Max to now seems to have imprinted on Marcy. She cares for her and is friendly with her, but how much of that is her "natural personality" and how much is that residual programming to have someone to serve and please? And yet, also, Mechana is not human. At all. She's 100% machine. And Marcy now is 50% machine. Being a technopath, I'd love to see their relationship explored more. They could literally hook up their brains and talk to each other at computerized speed. "Marcy" is the human Silver Satin will never be again, while Mechana I see as representative of the machine that she could become.

Which brings me to the interesting dynamic that's been brought up and explored. Both her short appearance in "Mind Over Magic" and her role in "Platinum Earth" have shown her to be acting far more "cold" and logical. Almost like Spock or Data from Star Trek. A few people passed that off as her being unkind or insensitive, but that's simply the way thoughts governed by algorithms and mathematical tests are displayed. But it's been shown she's at a crossroads, sort of fighting to hang on to her humanity without giving in to how much she enjoys her superiority over "normal" human beings.... very much like her "creation" Sentius. Going WAY back, she tried hard to make him "like her" and he, in turn, wanted to make her "like him", and that's become eerily relevant in her recent behavior.

Then there's Ted. The man that was chiefly responsible for her enslavement, robotization, and ironically her redemption as a heroine. He's now her partner. And it appears they get along great. If Ted didn't have such "issues" with the ladies (Belinda, Mechana, Crissy), I'd say she and him would make a perfect couple... despite the forced enslavement, serial recruitment, and prison blackmailing... I'd like to see more of them interact, though. They're very much apart of each others' lives, even as just friends and colleagues, but then again, Belinda and him were in the same scenario and that sadly didn't work out...

She looks and feels like an outcast. She's in the labs while the others are hanging out and having fun. And it's good to see her in action more, but she's the most rookie member on the team, really. Even Snowflake, Solaria, and Goldwing have "seniority" over her, so it's great to see even her brilliant plans and inventions fail and falter occasionally. Hopefully, she'll find something worth her time and interest to give her some direction and purpose, be it for good or ill, but until then it's great to see her in a more supportive role amongst the others.

[Northern Chill]

Silver Satin remains a character that could go so many directions at this point. She practically was the main star of the entire Sentius story, being both the beginning and end to the conflict, but she hasn't had much to do beyond that besides occasionally babysitting Mechana, accompanying her friends on missions, or inventing something.

Key to Marcy, I think, is Mechana. The android has never fully been "independent". She jumped from Belinda to Max to now seems to have imprinted on Marcy. She cares for her and is friendly with her, but how much of that is her "natural personality" and how much is that residual programming to have someone to serve and please? And yet, also, Mechana is not human. At all. She's 100% machine. And Marcy now is 50% machine. Being a technopath, I'd love to see their relationship explored more. They could literally hook up their brains and talk to each other at computerized speed. "Marcy" is the human Silver Satin will never be again, while Mechana I see as representative of the machine that she could become.

Which brings me to the interesting dynamic that's been brought up and explored. Both her short appearance in "Mind Over Magic" and her role in "Platinum Earth" have shown her to be acting far more "cold" and logical. Almost like Spock or Data from Star Trek. A few people passed that off as her being unkind or insensitive, but that's simply the way thoughts governed by algorithms and mathematical tests are displayed. But it's been shown she's at a crossroads, sort of fighting to hang on to her humanity without giving in to how much she enjoys her superiority over "normal" human beings.... very much like her "creation" Sentius. Going WAY back, she tried hard to make him "like her" and he, in turn, wanted to make her "like him", and that's become eerily relevant in her recent behavior.

Then there's Ted. The man that was chiefly responsible for her enslavement, robotization, and ironically her redemption as a heroine. He's now her partner. And it appears they get along great. If Ted didn't have such "issues" with the ladies (Belinda, Mechana, Crissy), I'd say she and him would make a perfect couple... despite the forced enslavement, serial recruitment, and prison blackmailing... I'd like to see more of them interact, though. They're very much apart of each others' lives, even as just friends and colleagues, but then again, Belinda and him were in the same scenario and that sadly didn't work out...

She looks and feels like an outcast. She's in the labs while the others are hanging out and having fun. And it's good to see her in action more, but she's the most rookie member on the team, really. Even Snowflake, Solaria, and Goldwing have "seniority" over her, so it's great to see even her brilliant plans and inventions fail and falter occasionally. Hopefully, she'll find something worth her time and interest to give her some direction and purpose, be it for good or ill, but until then it's great to see her in a more supportive role amongst the others.

All that being said, though, if there was a character who needs to get out of a sticky situation that is beyond her powers in a story, she's the prime candidate. No waving her hands, no thinking real hard to disrupt the machine...find herself in peril and get out barely and not without a time as a fembot to the whims of her captor. Maybe seeing a senior member save her from said predicament....

[vestia]

"An interesting idea poped into my head while reading and typing in this forum thread about how to get Marcy's innocence out of the way of some of the readers. What would happen if instead of being the goodie good superheroine and helping the Superheroine Squad, she actually became a villian and fought against them. Here's my thinking about it -"

"What if one day Marcy was surfing the net with her special ability and went to a website linked to a pop up that had a virus attached to it built to attack Windows 7. Lets say instead of seeking out the computer hard drive, it went after Marcy's cybernetic brain, Sentiusizing* her into thinking differently than she did. Now she sees herself as the dominate female because of her cybernetic postition and abilites and sees all other women as inferior, especially the SS. She catches the unexpecting Mechana and converts her into being her sidekick of domination. Then, she proceeds to start capturing and enslaving the members of the SS. The first few SS member fall easily to Anti-Silver Satin because they are caught offguard and Marcy has full knowedge of each SS member's weaknesses. "

I think Dummtime has a great idea. the idea of her being "corrupted" by a Mechenized process is well suited to her character creation. She is already part machine and when Sentius created her as his plaything she was Reborn and Plyable to his desires. She has since recovered and been taken to the dark side so many times it has to wear on her psyche. My vision is this.

Marcy experiences a romantic rejection and in her sorrow she becomes depressed feeling her Mechanical side is keeping her from living her full life. But she is stuck and it deepens her dark mood. In her state of mind the sub programming of Sentius begins to present it's self in a sort of Doppelganger vision only she can see. We see her more sinister machine version arguing with her explaining how her human side is causing her all this pain and she is better off without it. It is holding her back from real bliss and if only she will let her guard down and allow her computer programming to take over she will she can be complete and less conflicted. You have touched on this in past stories.
In her depressed state she lets down her guard for a brief second and she is overwhelmed by her robotic nature. You could show how she realized this to late as her internal conflict manifests it's self in a physical form. Long dormant nanobots or some other device implanted in her hard wear comes to life and we see a more savage, gleeful and I hope evil version of herself fully "Germinate" and a new sleek and sexy robot femme is born. How she converts the other women is up to your fertile mind. But anyone who can write D.T.A. can come up with suitable method.
As each of her friends try to help her they are dragged into her web and this can continue untill you see fit. I see a whole lot of good stories. But I hope the art work can show a more mechanical yet sexy version oh her former self.

[sohta123]

Marcy is to me very much like Jean Grey in Xmen or the Borg queen.
To me because of her integration with technology she should be driven by the need for order and organization with a hint of power in behind that (after all someone needs to lead the order).
I personally think her descent should be a roller-coaster ride in that at times she'll go very deep and others just a hint of a gentle twist.
I really believe she should at some point in the near future permanently change one of the more expendable characters (or a couple of new ones) and have to struggle with the fact that she was responsible for that (of course order should prevail).
It also might be nice to see her actually lose her mind (reformat?) at some point and have it restored later via a backup that has been made (maybe in MilkMaid, etc). Then that would allow some other programming to infiltrate her personality.