Since then, Velveteen has demonstrated the ability to adapt her powers to a wide variety of situations, and was instrumental in the defeat of Supermodel. Has recently completed a tour of service to the Seasonal Lands.
Default costume: Brown/burgundy leotard, brown tights, burgundy boots and gloves. Brown bunny ears on a headband. Assorted toys and dolls for animation.
Known alternate versions: Roadkill, supervillain, Earth C-5; Marionette, supervillain, Earth B-1; Marionette, anti-hero, Earth B-2.
YELENA “SPARKLE BRIGHT/POLYCHROME” BATZDORF
Assessed power level 3
Age: Twenty-five.
Age at time of power discovery: Eleven.
Appearance: Polychrome is a Caucasian female, approximately 5’9”, with blue eyes and short blonde hair. As Sparkle Bright, she wore her hair long and was rarely seen without makeup.
Power set: Photon manipulation, including self-powered flight, and basic construction of light-based illusions. She has shown the potential to create much more advanced illusions than she has demonstrated thus far in the field.
Profile: Sparkle Bright/Polychrome was acquired as a corporate asset shortly before her twelfth birthday, and proved to be an excellent subject. With the proper grooming and coaching techniques, she was trained to become a team leader, and filled this position with all apparent willingness until she came into contact with her former teammate, Velveteen, who had at one time been her closest friend.
It is unclear what gave Sparkle Bright/Polychrome the strength to resist her conditioning, but she began violating rules, carefully at first, and then with increasing boldness, until she left her position to join Velveteen in Oregon. Approach only with caution. She appears to hold a grudge against the corporation as a whole.
Default costume: Black body suit with rainbow sash.
Known alternate versions: Iris, hero, Earth B-6.
JACQUELINE CLAUS
Assessed power level 3
Age: Unknown.
Age at time of power discovery: Unknown.
Appearance: Jacqueline “Jack” Claus is a pale humanoid with white hair, blue eyes, and a tendency to glow softly in low light. She is approximately 5’10.” Her ears are pointed, as fits her general “Christmas” theme.
Power set: Unclear. She travels via enchanted snow globe, and has demonstrated various Christmas-themed attacks in combat, but her overall capabilities remain undocumented.
Profile: Jacqueline is the biological daughter of Jack Frost and the Snow Queen, current guardians of the Winter, and was adopted by Santa and Mrs. Claus at a very young age. She is often referred to as the “selfless spirit of Winter.”
Jacqueline is generous, loving, and a close friend of Velveteen’s. Recent events have indicated that she is being groomed to eventually become one of the protectors of the Winter Country. It is unclear whether this is something Jacqueline is actually interested in doing.
Default costume: Varies from appearance to appearance, but is almost always essentially Christmas-colored ski gear. Jackie does not wear a mask.
Known alternate versions: Snow Princess, superhero, Earth C-5; Frostbite, supervillain, Earth B-1; Jacqueline Claus, superhero, Earth B-2.
CARRABELLE “THE PRINCESS” MILLER
Assessed power level 4
Age: Twenty-four.
Age at time of power discovery: Eleven.
Appearance: The Princess is a woman of average height, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and abnormally clear skin. She is generally regarded as being very attractive, although this may be a function of her powers.
Power set: The Princess possesses a variable power pool of all abilities assigned by the little girls of the world to their ideal fairy tale princess. She has reliably demonstrated the ability to talk to woodland creatures, command birds, animate vegetables, talk to furniture, shrug off supposedly mortal wounds, sing enemies to sleep, break glass with high notes, find her way out of supposedly infinite mazes, and never smear her makeup.
Profile: The Princess’s powers activated during a visit to a popular theme park, triggering a musical number which swelled to involve 90% of the park guests and employees before reaching a crescendo. Birds flocked to her side, and the park’s management offered her an immediate contract. She currently resides in the Crystal Glitter Unicorn Cloud Castle, an impenetrable fortress constructed outside the boundaries of reality as we know it.
The Princess is polite to a fault, something which most people attribute to her Southern upbringing, combined with her position as conduit of the world’s children. Her attachment to Velveteen and Jackie Frost is really the only questionable thing about her.
Default costume: The Princess frequently goes into combat wearing impractical ball gowns which do not seem to impede her movement in the slightest. She is one of the only known heroines who actually prefers to fight in heels.
Known alternate versions: Vamprincess, superhero, Earth E-9.
TAD “TAG” SINCLAIR
Assessed power level 3/informed power level 2
Age: Twenty-five
Age at time of power discovery: Eight
Appearance: Tag is a Caucasian male of average height and weight, with brown hair and blue eyes. He does not display any visible deviation from the human norm.
Power set: Semi-autonomous animation of graphic representations of persons and animals, including minor transformation to grant access to species-appropriate weaponry. No known secondary powers.
Profile: Originally “Graffiti Boy,” Tag was acquired as a corporate asset following discovery by his second grade art teacher that he could bring chalk drawings to “life.” Early examination showed his power levels to be limited only by the resources available to him, although he has difficulty maintaining multiple manifestations for long periods of time. Because of this, Tag is the only known animus to be officially classed as a level three hero. He is listed in all publicity material as a level two support hero, maintaining the corporate policy regarding animus.
Tag integrated well with The Junior Super Patriots, Midwest Division, but was dismissed due to abuse of his powers (see Tag: Dismissal Report for details). He worked temporarily under the name “Street Art” before settling on the name “Tag.”
Default costume: Black body suit, utility belt, domino mask.
Current status: Missing, presumed dead.
VICTORIA “VICTORY ANNA” COGSWORTH
Power level pending assessment
Age: Unknown.
Age at time of power discovery: Unknown.
Appearance: Victory Anna is short, standing only 5’2”, with red hair which is customarily worn in sausage curls, blue eyes, and freckled skin. She has never been seen in what would be considered “street clothes.”
Power set: Victory Anna is a gadgeteer of currently unmeasured potential. Anything she can conceive, she can construct, and anything she constructs will probably begin trying to kill you in short order.
Profile: Originally from an alternate world where superpowers began appearing in the population during the Victorian era, Victory Anna was propelled into the multiverse following an unfortunate accident involving a broken time machine and a blackcurrant trifle. She became stranded in a transitory world for the next four years, where she established herself as an ally of the local supervillain community and entered a relationship with Polychrome, that world’s version of Sparkle Bright. She would probably have stayed there indefinitely, had the world not ended, resulting in her being propelled into Earth A.
Victory Anna is currently sharing a home with Velveteen, and seems to be quite bitter about the entire situation, although she has emerged on the side of the heroes in this dimension. Only time will tell if this continues to be the case.
Default costume: Victory Anna seems to have a limitless supply of what she calls “adventuring clothes,” and is never seen in the same outfit twice. She favors corsets, Victorian hunting jackets, impractical boots, and very small hats, to offset her very large guns.
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APPENDIX B:
SPIRITS OF THE SEASON
Spring:
Persephone: Animus, goddess of spring.
Lady Moon: Light manipulation, personification of Carnival.
Jack in the Green/Pan: Immortality, flight.
The Easter Bunny: We don’t really know; giant rabbit.
Geb: Something to do with geese.
Autumn:
Hailey Ween: Matter manipulation, Halloween Princess.
Scaredy Cat: Shapeshifting, Halloween guardian.
Scream Queen: Empath.
Trick: Matter manipulation.
Treat: Matter manipulation.
Mischief: Matter manipulation.
Winter:
Aurora: Unknown.
Lucy: Fire manipulation.
Santa Claus: Santa powers.
Jack Frost: Ice manipulation, cold generation, flight.
Snow Queen: Teleportation, mirror transport, ice manipulation.
Mrs. Claus: Unknown.
Jacqueline Claus: See file.
VELVETEEN VS. THE SEASONS
May 2016
Velveteen vs. The Seasons by Seanan McGuire was published by ISFiC Press, 725 Citadel Ct., Des Plaines, Illinois, 60016. One thousand copies have been printed by McNaughton & Gunn. The typeset is Adobe Caslon Pro, Adobe Garamond Pro, Comicraft Atomic Wedgie, Comicraft Atomic Wedgie Outline, and ITC Anna printed on 60# Nature’s Recycled. The binding cloth is Arrestox B Blue. Design and typesetting by Bill Roper of ISFiC Press.
Seanan McGuire, Velveteen vs. The Seasons
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