Something I’ve always thought would make for an interesting discussion in the Letters Page (but I’ve never really know which episode exactly to ask it) is why do the super hero teams of Sentinel Comics seem a lot more static than ‘real world’ comics?
I mean, some Marvel teams like the Avengers or Xmen have been through huge team changes over the years, but I can pretty much sum up the line up changes to the major Sentinel comics teams in a few lines each:
Freedom 5
- Line up change (more of a reboot than a change of characters) at the end of the Golden Age
- Change of name from Freedom 4 when Absolute Zero joins the team (really early)
Prime Wardens
- Broke up for a few years
Dark Watch
- Mr Fixer Joins early after the first 3 form the team
- Harpy joins the team
- Nightmist leaves the team
South West Sentinels
- Changed name to Void Guard
So why are these teams so stable? Did no new creative team come in and want to shake up these decades old line ups?!
Sounds like a Letters Page letter! :D
Yeah, but for what topic? Maybe I’ll try and ask it for the shipping episode- it’s not exactly right, but it does speak to the long term relationships between these characters...
You can always post it under one of the team names or Other
Crush your enemies, drive them before you, and laminate their women! - Guise, Prime Wardens #31
Let’s not forget that SPOILER ALERT FOR RPG STARTER KIT
[spoiler]In the Sentinel Comics Universe the new Prime Wardens consists of Argent Adept, Fanatic, Anubis, Visionary and Haka (Arataki) which is 3 new members (ok so 2 and a female alternate universe counterpart of 1)[/spoiler]
I'd like to hear C&A comment on this, but until then there's my take:
I think this is a result of the way the Sentinels franchise was created and developed. Even though the team made efforts to simulate comic-book excentricities and long backstory into the universe, it's still a franchise managed by a small team for some games that is younger than a decade (compare to various teams working on more than 30 titles for multiple decades). So things are bound to be simpler than if Sentinel Comics was a real company, not only teams would've changed more but we'd have way more teams (At least three Freedom 5s working at the same time, with a "Teen team" around way before Daybreak).
The practical answer is probably: the comic books exist in service to the card game. The card game covers the entire era from about the 60's to today. It would be extremely confusing for the Freedom Five to consist of 10 members (e.g. the Fantastic Four have temporarily included Medusa, Luke Cake, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Ant-Man just off the top of my head). The X-Men alone, counting its spin-offs, has had more members than the entire SotM card game.
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My question is why didn't the freedin five or something go Unlimited? You know, when the ranks expand dramatically to include tons of heroes. Like in the Jutsice League cartoon
His name is Sephiroth but his friends call him Sephie.
That is known as the Sentinels RPG, I believe.