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Post by dans on Mar 11, 2024 17:08:08 GMT
is there a definitive picture of the Hero Dial? I think in one story, one of the holders of the Hero Dial was able to dial 'Villain', which suggests it had all the letters on it. (Actually, he dialed HORROR, I think, which matches the letters in hero and suggests that the dial only had 4 letters...) On the cover of the Dial H comics, it was shown as 10 holes and only 4 of them had letters. I found the image below which is apparently canon for the 'New 52' but it doesn't have ANY letters on it. If it was modeled on a rotary phone, it is interesting that when you dial a particular number, the dial can figure out which letter you mean. HERO is 4 3 7 6, but so is HERM and GERM; and you can make a lot of nonsense words, like IDRO IFSO GDRN, etc from just the letters for those 4 numbers in that particular order. And if the numbers are lettered the same way they are on a rotary phone, and you change the order of those 4 numbers, you could spell HEROINE or HEROIN or NOSE or HOSE... etc What would happen if Robbie had dialed OREO?  |
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Post by redsycorax on Mar 11, 2024 23:47:29 GMT
As a matter of curiosity, is there a Dial V for Villain dial over on Earth-Three with exactly the opposite moral compass?
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 11, 2024 23:51:00 GMT
As a matter of curiosity, is there a Dial V for Villain dial over on Earth-Three with exactly the opposite moral compass? Not yet, but there should be. |
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Post by dans on Mar 12, 2024 0:02:15 GMT
As a matter of curiosity, is there a Dial V for Villain dial over on Earth-Three with exactly the opposite moral compass? I guess if the E1/E2 Hero dials only have the letters HERO on it, then the corresponding device on Earth 3 would have the letters for Villain on it. I wonder what would happen if Reed Robert dialed Alvin instead of Villain? If the dial is really an old-style phone dial with 10 cut-outs and letters corresponding to the ten locations, I still wonder how the dial knows Robby is dialing HERO instead of GERM? And, I wonder what happens when you dial 0, do you get the operator? |
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Post by dans on Mar 12, 2024 0:04:53 GMT
Hmm... would the Earth 3 counterpart of Kiku be Kuki?
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 12, 2024 0:52:38 GMT
If the dial is really an old-style phone dial with 10 cut-outs and letters corresponding to the ten locations, I still wonder how the dial knows Robby is dialing HERO instead of GERM? And, I wonder what happens when you dial 0, do you get the operator? I don't think so, since it's not an actual phone. It just looks a bit like one. It varies in appearance between various artists. I don't remember it looking at all like the above picture. |
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Post by johnreiter902 on Mar 12, 2024 0:53:23 GMT
There are, or have been, three different HERO dials on Earth-1
the first Dial was found by Robby Reed in a cave near Littleville. It is the one that looks like a rotary phone dial. He translated the writing on it (which was later revealed to be Interlac, the common language of interplanetary commerce, and of Earth in the 30th century) and found that they were the letters of the alphabet. He dialed HERO, and became a superhero. Later, a criminal used it to dial VILLAIN.
Later, Robby Reed dialed the word DIVIDE and split into two beings, called the Wizard and the Master. As the Wizard, he created two new Dials, which he arranged for Chris King and Vicki Grant to discover. He put more limitations on these dials. The transformations would wear off after an hour, and the Dials only had the letters H E R and O.
It was eventually learned that there was a connection between the original Dial (and the others based on it) to an amateur comic book artist named Nick Stevens. All the heroes were ideas he had come up with at one time or another. No explanation has ever come up as to who made the original Dial, or where it came from, or why it was somehow linked to Nick's imagination
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 12, 2024 0:53:46 GMT
As a matter of curiosity, is there a Dial V for Villain dial over on Earth-Three with exactly the opposite moral compass? I guess if the E1/E2 Hero dials only have the letters HERO on it, then the corresponding device on Earth 3 would have the letters for Villain on it. I wonder what would happen if Reed Robert dialed Alvin instead of Villain? If the dial is really an old-style phone dial with 10 cut-outs and letters corresponding to the ten locations, I still wonder how the dial knows Robby is dialing HERO instead of GERM? And, I wonder what happens when you dial 0, do you get the operator? Earth-X has an H-Dial as well. I introduced it and "destroyed" it in a Freedom Fighters story, causing two characters to be stuck in their transformations. |
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Post by johnreiter902 on Mar 12, 2024 2:37:30 GMT
I guess if the E1/E2 Hero dials only have the letters HERO on it, then the corresponding device on Earth 3 would have the letters for Villain on it. I wonder what would happen if Reed Robert dialed Alvin instead of Villain? If the dial is really an old-style phone dial with 10 cut-outs and letters corresponding to the ten locations, I still wonder how the dial knows Robby is dialing HERO instead of GERM? And, I wonder what happens when you dial 0, do you get the operator? Earth-X has an H-Dial as well. I introduced it and "destroyed" it in a Freedom Fighters story, causing two characters to be stuck in their transformations. Which story was that? I may need to re-read it |
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Post by redsycorax on Mar 12, 2024 2:51:30 GMT
Or perhaps an Earth-C version- Dial A for Animal?
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Post by DocQuantum on Mar 12, 2024 7:02:39 GMT
Earth-X has an H-Dial as well. I introduced it and "destroyed" it in a Freedom Fighters story, causing two characters to be stuck in their transformations. Which story was that? I may need to re-read it |
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Post by redsycorax on Mar 13, 2024 2:15:12 GMT
So, if there were a Dial V for Villain dial and ensemble of characters, how would they get on with the Crime Syndicate? Would the Syndicate (a) welcome the Dial V for Villain character ensemble as an enhancement of their own capabilities? (b) experience division over it, with Ultraman threatened by the possibility he wasn't the strongest person on Earth-Three but Owlman welcoming the prospective new recruits as an opportunity for some specialised aggrandisement? How would Superwoman react if there was another female on the team? (c) regard the Dial V for Villain ensemble as rivals and try to get their own hands on the dial due to their personal greed? (d) get Owlman to deconstruct and reverse engineer the dial so they could use their own version? (e) destroy it because it's too great a threat to their unstable and challenged dominion over Earth-Three? or (f) what if it falls into the hands of one of Earth-Three's heroes and gets subverted so it can be used against the Crime Syndicate?
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Post by jonclark on Mar 13, 2024 7:42:42 GMT
So, if there were a Dial V for Villain dial and ensemble of characters, how would they get on with the Crime Syndicate? Would the Syndicate (a) welcome the Dial V for Villain character ensemble as an enhancement of their own capabilities? (b) experience division over it, with Ultraman threatened by the possibility he wasn't the strongest person on Earth-Three but Owlman welcoming the prospective new recruits as an opportunity for some specialised aggrandisement? How would Superwoman react if there was another female on the team? (c) regard the Dial V for Villain ensemble as rivals and try to get their own hands on the dial due to their personal greed? (d) get Owlman to deconstruct and reverse engineer the dial so they could use their own version? (e) destroy it because it's too great a threat to their unstable and challenged dominion over Earth-Three? or (f) what if it falls into the hands of one of Earth-Three's heroes and gets subverted so it can be used against the Crime Syndicate? I'd guess it would fall into two categories. If the Syndicate members could use the dial- there's be a war over who got possession of it. If the Syndicate members couldn't (or wouldn't) use it, then they'd be out to destroy it. I mean imagine you are Johnny Quick confident in your speed to deal with all challenges. You get your hands on the dial and upon use you become See-Thru Sam- with the power of invisibility (but no faster than anyone else). Does that seem like a decent trade-off or not? Sure you might get more powerful the next time you dial- but is that likely? And if you don't want to use it, can you risk Joe Nobody (or worse yet Owlman) possibly dialling up someone faster than you? And in Ultraman's case would you rather power-up with Green K, which so far has never removed or reduced a power, or with some dial that is a crap shoot as to what powers you gain and lose each time? |
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Post by johnreiter902 on Mar 13, 2024 13:50:53 GMT
So, if there were a Dial V for Villain dial and ensemble of characters, how would they get on with the Crime Syndicate? Would the Syndicate (a) welcome the Dial V for Villain character ensemble as an enhancement of their own capabilities? (b) experience division over it, with Ultraman threatened by the possibility he wasn't the strongest person on Earth-Three but Owlman welcoming the prospective new recruits as an opportunity for some specialised aggrandisement? How would Superwoman react if there was another female on the team? (c) regard the Dial V for Villain ensemble as rivals and try to get their own hands on the dial due to their personal greed? (d) get Owlman to deconstruct and reverse engineer the dial so they could use their own version? (e) destroy it because it's too great a threat to their unstable and challenged dominion over Earth-Three? or (f) what if it falls into the hands of one of Earth-Three's heroes and gets subverted so it can be used against the Crime Syndicate? Well, lets see
First, on Earth-Three, the Crime Syndicate are major super-criminals, but do not rule the world. Robby Reed on Earth-1 is a fairly local hero, who rarely interacted with others. Therefore, Robby Reed-3 would probably be a small-time villain, at least at first, and it would be a little while before the CSA crossed paths with him
I would bet on either Ultraman or Owlman learning of his existence first. They would immediately covet it's power. Best case scenario, if they can gain complete mastery over it, they can give themselves any superpowers they wish. Worst case scenario, even if it remains random, they can create armies of superpowered minions to help them (similar to what the Master planned on Earth-1). If Luthor learns about it, he would see it as vital to capture the Dial and keep it away from the Syndicate, and maybe as a way to create more heroes for Earth-3
This could be the genesis of a great plot. A small time crook finds the Dial on Earth-3, and uses his new powers for a wave of robberies, reveling in his power without considering the consequences or having any real ambitions. Then, suddenly, he's on the run, as the members of the CSA try to hunt him down and take the Dial from him. Meanwhile, Luthor and the Society of Super-Heroes are after him too, to arrest him and put him in protective custody while they confiscate the Dial. Robby might try to join the Syndicate, but I think even if they agreed, it would only be a ruse to get the Dial from him
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Post by lawrenceliberty on Mar 13, 2024 15:28:35 GMT
Good idea.
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