perfidy

Behold. Then go over there and read the comments. I expect your lists by Tuesday.

As many here know, I'm a longtime fan of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," and have been involved in the online fandom of the show fairly heavily for about four and a half years now. One of the things that always interested me once I started interacting with Buffy fans online is that the fandom cuts across all ages and political affiliations, and that their perception of what made the show good was different in many ways. Since this is a forum where we also have a fairly wide representation of political viewpoints, I'd like to try an experiment, based on a meme I saw on Live Journal, and which I've tweaked a little bit for the purpose. It is loosely based on the plotline of the recent movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and involves the following scenario:

You have just been made aware that a villian of considerable power is involved in an enterprise that threatens the very existence of the Earth. You have been granted the power and authority by The Powers That Be (whoever they are) to retain the services of a force of extraordinary beings to face that threat and defeat it. The rules are as follows:

1) You may go anywhere in time or space, in real life or fiction, to find these beings. The only restriction is that beings considered to be actual "gods" or who are otherwise godlike in power and toughness (Galactus, Angels of God, etc) are not going to participate. Superheroes are OK, as are supervillians (but see below as to potential problems there).

2) You can use anywhere from six to eight beings as part of your force. Beings with multiple personalities count as one person, unless the personalities can simultaneously manifest in physical form.

3) With the exception of real life persons, only one being per reality (a fictional "universe" set on planet Earth is one reality) can be recruited. The exception to this would be a pair of beings who were more or less "joined at the hip" as a matter of course (Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Batman and Robin, etc.). In such a case, you may select both, but they count as two picks.

4) You can choose any point in a being's existence to recruit them from, as long as they were alive at the time. However, his or her personality and memories will be as they were at that time (if you snatch King Fingolfin away during his fatal duel with Morgoth, he's going to be *really* mad at you, and not inclined to help). Furthermore, the being will have all of the weaknesses as well as the strengths that he or she had at that time, and any circumstantial vulnerabilities that they have will become part of your reality (if you recruit the Silver Age Superman who is strong enough to move planets, kryptonite is going to become as common as beach sand, and magic-using criminals will be setting up shop on every street corner). Any major enemies still alive at that point in their existence also exist, and might well show up in the adventure and be a hinderance to your mission.

5. Select at least one male and one female being (more of either are OK). Beings with no gender (or more than one gender) are OK, but not required.

6. If you select beings who have a natural reaction to each other (good, bad, or carnal), you're going to have to deal with it.

Supplementary Rules:

7. You can first obtain the services of a recruiter to help in locating and getting these people to work for you--the same rules apply as above for the limitations and possible drawbacks involved in selecting that recruiter.

8. Who would you think the villian is? What would the nature of the threat they posed be? Assume for these purposes that you are living in the world as it is today, that you are given this task on October 7th, 2003 at noon GMT, and that you have precisely one week to gather your team and brief them.

9. You have an unlimited budget for one single vehicle to transport the team (including capacity to carry smaller vehicles for short range travel), which may use any technology or other power that exists in any of the worlds from which you recruit your team--what is the vehicle, and what are its properties? Again, if there is a known counterforce to whatever you choose, it will exist and you should assume that the villian knows it does and how to use it.

I await your responses with interest (including whatever mockery comes to mind). ;-