Cloak Bio (With occasional mun commentary) -In Progress

2012-05-02T10:35:52Z

Name: Tyrone "Ty" Johnson
Age: About 22. (The comics originally listed his age as being 17 and they were stated a few years later to be the same age as the New Mutants. Tandy is still in college in their latest miniseries, but since Marvel has a slowly moving timescale, about a three real world years to one comic year in the comics timelines, it's been roughly five years since they first appeared on the scene. I decided it was good enough for RPing purposes.)
Height: 6' 1" (Fun fact: He was set to go to college on a basketball scholarship before he ran away to New York.)
Weight: 185 lbs. (Consistent in both forms.)
Current address: The Holy Ghost Church on 42nd Street, New York. (It was destroyed in the latest comic, but being a homeless superhero in addition to his other problems just was too mean to include.)

Powers: Cloak's powers revolve around a connection to a place he calls the Darkforce Dimension, given to him when he was injected with an experimental drug. It warped his body, turning it into something akin to a living shadow surrounded by his cloak. This has the added side effect of leaving him without the need to eat or sleep in this form. For many years, he was unable to shift back to his original human form without some external source, usually a supervillain that was able to find a way to depower him. Eventually, he gained enough control to shift on his own, though the energy required to stay in a human form depletes his light and makes him hunger for it quicker.

The first and foremost of these powers is his extraordinary teleporting ability, which takes him from Earth, traveling through the Dimension, and ending up back on Earth again. He's able to teleport both extreme distances, easily going across the United States in a few minutes. He is also able to transport a large amount of people, the most extreme example being the one time he teleported an entire train of people before collapsing immediately afterward. Most people experience a feeling of extreme cold and unrest while being transported. If left inside for more than short jump, they will experience the effects of of the Darkforce Dimension below. The only exception is Dagger, whose light protects her from the effects.

He can also absorb people into the Darkforce Dimension. Once inside, a person is subject to visions of their inner darkness, tormented until they are driven mad. Their light is absorbed from them and used by Cloak as a food source. If left inside long enough, they will die. It is very nearly impossible to escape once inside. People who have been able to do so are those of strong physical and moral character, possessing both the tenacity to survive and the will to get back out through the cloak, the only doorway available to them. Spider-Man is the only one shown being able to do so multiple times.

His powers, while formidable, come at a high price. Cloak needs to absorb light, in order to appease the hunger within. This can be absorbed from people, but the process is slow, painful, and if left long enough unchecked, deadly. Dagger's powers compliment his own, giving him enough light to keep the hunger satisfied. Much like a person, he can skip a meal, but will be all the hungrier the next chance he gets to eat. If separated from Dagger long enough, he reverts to a animal-like state, barely capable of human thought until he has satisfied himself with light.

Personality: At first glance, Ty is a very serious, solemn, and occasionally intimidating figure. Usually found in lurking in the background, he's content to let Tandy act as the mouthpiece of their team. While he doesn't try to be ignored, it usually turns out to be the case. People just prefer to talk to a pretty, vivacious blonde instead of trying to pull words out of a brooding, shadowy figure.

Once the layers start to get peeled back, a different side of Cloak begins to emerge. He's quiet because he's a introvert, extremely shy around anyone who he doesn't trust explicitly. This is mostly the result of a childhood stutter. Even after losing it, he still has a lot of trouble expressing himself through words. When he does, each sentence has already been carefully thought out. He's extremely socially awkward, unable to easily form friendships or even acquaintances.

While he is not an easy friend to get along with, being extremely controlling and prone to fits of moodiness, Ty does have his good qualities. He's extremely loyal to the few friends he does have and has a determined streak that serves him well in his role of superhero. While he tries very hard to do the right thing, Cloak's under no delusions he's a good man. But he'll settle for at least trying to be one.

Bio: Ty was born in the rougher area of Boston, the oldest of four siblings. He had a terrible stutter as a child, barely able to make himself understood to anyone but his best friend.

Random Facts:

+ His eyes can glow when he's angry or trying to intimidate someone.
+ His stutter is psychosomatic, coming back when he shifts from his shadow to human form.
+ He used to be barely literate. This has improved to a degree, but he's still not a big reader.
+ He views the world as being made up of light. People who are good have a lot, while criminals don't. He figures out where crimes are and how to stop them by looking for areas and people with a large absence of the glow.

Relationships: TBA

Verses: TBA

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Random Character Ramblings Are Random

2012-05-02T10:19:40Z

Okay. For those of you who follow comics, you'll know that consistency in canon is never a strong point for writers. The stuff that does stick tends to get retconned after about ten years, and that's not including any random personality changes that are made for the sake of making them more interesting. For most characters, this is a process that takes a while.

And then there's Cloak and Dagger. Now, I have the luxury of hindsight when looking back at all their issues. I've read about 90% of everything they've been in, minus some of the weird late 90s stuff and Runaways issues. They've NEVER had a writer who consistently wrote their powers and personalities. I wish I had the time to upload some scans from their issues, but just trust me on this when I say their issues were really, really weird, even for stuff from the eighties.

Now, while both of them got shafted in the personality department, Cloak really got the brunt of having his personality and powers all over the place. Even at the beginning, when they appeared in Spider-Man issues, it seemed like they couldn't make up their minds whether he was just a well-intentioned extremist who was still sympathetic or if he was one step away from being called a villain. Even his relationship with Tandy got flip-flopped every other issue. Sometimes he was just a teenager with a crush. Then there are issues where he's all but in an abusive relationship with Tandy. One issue ends with her going back to him while he cackles like a supervillain, I kid you not. Even up to today, their Dark X-men one-shot fully established them as finally being in a relationship, while their Spider-Island miniseries set them back about 20 years to Ty not being able to spit it out.

The point of all this is not to bemoan the writing style. In fact, I'm grateful that they went in so many directions with his personality and powers. Most of the time, I am leery of cherrypicking canon, but only when it is being done out of laziness. Picking X, Y, and Z while leaving out A, B, and C simply because you didn't like the storyline usually makes me mad. But in this case, it's a necessity. Why, do you ask?

In a short list, a few of what Cloak's powers have been over the years (+ marks are the usual, - are additions to the usual, * are wftness that were added in for one issue):

+ Being able to teleport.
-Alternately being limited to teleporting from here to the North Pole without trouble. Or barely being able to get across Manhattan without taking a breather.
+ Teleporting anyone without Tandy can kill them.
+ Teleports through a place called the Darkforce Dimension.
- It's a really big, dark place.
- It's a manifestation of a person's worst fears.
- A person can die from exposure.
- A person can stay in there indefinitely.
- People with something considered to be "strong enough" (personalities? Energy? Ummmm.....stuff?) can escape it.
- His eyes glow when using his powers, usually blue or white.
+ Always being "hungry for light."
*There's a physical monster inside that actually demands light. (This is possibly the worst offender of random powers.)
* He's immortal. Seriously.
* He's a demon. Again, seriously?!
*Can hover in mid-air, somewhat like flying, but not quite.
*Can phase through objects a la Shadowcat.
* He was a mutant who was supposed to have light-based powers. The drug he was injected with warped them into his dark-based powers.
-As of the last mini-series, he and Tandy swapped powers. They were back to normal by their next appearance

And that's just a list off the top of my head. If I re-read them again, trust me, there would be a lot more. And that's not going into his many, many personality changes. But the point of all this is that while it may be a pain playing a character with so many alternate takes, the nice part is being able to streamline him into something much more coherent.

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Tyrone "Ty" Johnson/Cloak

Cloak Bio (With occasional mun commentary) -In Progress

Random Character Ramblings Are Random