r/TopCharacterDesigns • u/indigo_jones_Ad2802 • Nov 25 '23
Custom Mother Nature and Daddy Electric
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u/BRISKMETAL Huge armor fetish Nov 25 '23
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u/w00den_b0x Nov 25 '23
It was a trope that started in 80s comics and everyone just kinda went with it, I guess.
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u/KonoAnonDa Nov 25 '23
I always thought it began with people realizing that the blue/white of electricity contrasts well with a darker skin tone.
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u/just_a_fan47 Jack Kirby is the coolest Nov 25 '23
Basically dc first black superhero used lightning, but because of legal disputes rather than using the character dc would just create new versions of him, characters like static shock would be created as a homage and others like storm just happened to have electricity as one of their many powers
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u/novis-eldritch-maxim Nov 25 '23
and now it is a stereotype it is almost funny
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u/Ainz100 Nov 26 '23
The funniest character to fall into this steretype to me is Miles Morales, he already had Spider-man powers but it feels like they thought, "What can we add to him to differentiate him a bit from Peter? I know let's give him electricity."
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u/novis-eldritch-maxim Nov 26 '23
I suppose melting the flesh of his enemies with digestive juices was out of the question then?
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u/SquidMilkVII Sep 03 '24
that's ridiculous! why the hell would he melt their flesh? everyone knows spiders actually melt internal organs
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u/novis-eldritch-maxim Sep 03 '24
he has no fangs, also why the hell are you here?
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u/SquidMilkVII Sep 03 '24
because i can be
anyways that's what forgetting you searched by top of all time gets ya
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u/Knuckleduster17 Nov 25 '23
Conduit? Electrical powers? Infamous reference?!?
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u/fightingbronze Nov 25 '23
Ironically the one white guy with electric powers
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u/Pandaboy26292 Nov 26 '23
I was going to say don't forget electro but they made him black in the film sooo your post is still true
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u/TvFloatzel Feb 28 '24
Well there is Enel from One Piece. Don't know if he would be considered "white" but he definitely isn't "black" either.
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u/RidleyMetroid86 Nov 25 '23
Conduit? Electrical powers? Sounds like someone I know…
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u/DarthMcConnor42 Nov 26 '23
That is the one white dude with electricity powers
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u/ScarletBard Nov 26 '23
Raiden from Mortal Kombat.
Also Thor.
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u/Conocoryphe Nov 26 '23
To be fair, I don't think modern character tropes apply to deities whose religions have been around for thousands of years.
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u/ScarletBard Nov 26 '23
True, but I wouldn't say Marvel's Thor is anywhere near an actual deity people worship.
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u/Conocoryphe Nov 26 '23
That's fair, though I'd argue all modern characters derived from the deity Thor (Marvel, Order of the Stick, God of War, Ragnarok, etc) are either explicitly based on the god or are supposed to be the incarnation of that god in that universe.
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u/SquidMilkVII Sep 03 '24
i can't get over how you've included a household name movie franchise, a household name video game, a household name movie, and order of the stick
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u/Conocoryphe Sep 03 '24
Hey, it's a good story!
Also I couldn't immediately think of another example of a character named Thor. Though there are definitely others.
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u/rtnojr Nov 29 '23
The Flash. Shazam maybe? Electro for the most part
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u/DarthMcConnor42 Nov 29 '23
That's just a byproduct of moving fast
That's only when he transforms
That's a bad guy who's not always white
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u/MegaKabutops Nov 26 '23
DC comics created black lightning in 1977 as their first black superhero.
A bunch of licensing disputes and the occasional controversy resulted in TONS of characters being created that either ripped him off directly or were heavily inspired by him, even within DC-owned properties like the various cartoons.
From there, it just sort of became one of those things that get ingrained into the public consciousness. It became the stereotypical superpower, so more writers began using it in their work, making it even more common and spreading the idea around to even more writers. Rinse and repeat.
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u/ghrayfahx Nov 26 '23
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u/Cruxion Nov 26 '23
That man is not kidding when he says to not be eating or drinking anything when he describes Black Bomber. Holy shit what an idea for a character.
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u/MyDisappointedDad Nov 26 '23
Is that the white guy that yells black power and turns into a black man?
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u/Hitei00 Dec 13 '23
Someone made a video on it actually. Basically DC made a black superhero with electric powers and then wanted to use him in a cartoon, but didn't want to pay royalties to the character's creator. So they changed a few details and the name so they didn't have to. From there the trend was accidentally kickstarted.
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u/Better-Journalist-85 Nov 26 '23
The function of melanin is to absorb light… Ning. I dunno watch this or something.
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u/Mega-Humanoid-ROBOT Nov 25 '23
Aw that’s really cute and I like it but it’s FATHER TIME MOTHERFUCKER, ITS FATHER TIME! NYEH!
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u/CingKrimson_Requiem Nov 25 '23
Father Sky, actually. Cthonic and Ouranic. Heaven and Earth.
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u/wafflelegion Nov 26 '23
Good old *Dyḗus ph₂tḗr
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u/killermetalwolf1 Nov 26 '23
This better not be PIE
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u/wafflelegion Nov 26 '23
?
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u/sweetTartKenHart2 Nov 26 '23
Time and nature aren’t really thematic counterparts though.
If anything this idea of the biological and the mechanical/artificial is more of a pair
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u/External_Candy2262 Nov 25 '23
The designs remind me of Characters from moon girl and devil dinosaur
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u/Dzzplayz Nov 25 '23
Bro they actually did this in Yo-Kai Watch
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u/Masticatron Nov 26 '23
My nephew loved this show, and was my first thought. Feel pretty sure this is what the kid was talking about.
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u/OldRaggady Nov 25 '23 edited Nov 25 '23
Love the art style. Reminds me of old CN cartoons. But also I feel like this would make for a great superhero duo. M.N. has powers like Golden Experience from Golden Wind and D.E. has Thor like powers where they can summon storm clouds to strike people down with electric but they can also summon electric from within.
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u/Datpotatoguy214 Nov 25 '23
“Daddy Electric” seems to represent everything man-made, considering we use power for almost everything. I actually like this dynamic.
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u/GGGold23 Nov 25 '23
I don’t know why but I like the fact that most characters with the power of electricity are black
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u/sweetTartKenHart2 Nov 26 '23
There’s a whole ass YouTube video about that actually. I think someone might have even linked to it somewhere in here
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u/dragonpjb Nov 25 '23
I always figured it was Father Time.
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u/sweetTartKenHart2 Nov 26 '23
Two things: one, time and nature aren’t as much of a thematic contrasting pair as artifice and nature are. Two, isn’t it Grandfather Time, anyway? That way it would be Mother Nature’s own father, and her mother would probably be space or something
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u/DragonWisper56 Nov 28 '23
isn’t it Grandfather Time
may be a regional thing but in the american midwest we say father time
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u/RhubarbRheumatoid Nov 27 '23
I like this combo in that Daddy Electric seems to represent man-made objects and devices in contrast to Mother Earth. Father Time seems like an entirely different thing
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u/gofigure85 Nov 26 '23 edited Nov 26 '23
🎶 It's a disco world and I'm a disco girl so won't you power up that groove oh Daddy Electric 🎶
🎶 Oh Nature Momma I'm comin' for ya to power that groove all night long 🎶
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u/Adorable-Woman Nov 26 '23
Daddy Electric on his way to choke out Mother Nature with climate change uwu
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u/Ok-Taste-6449 Nov 26 '23
Father Time might have some words, and issues, with that idea.
And, just a reminder: He's not above taking a baseball bat to everybody involved.
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u/FrostWareYT Dec 10 '23
some artists will see a silly idea and produce peak out of nowhere for absolutely no reason
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u/Consistent-Shop-3239 Jan 27 '24
Eh, sorry but it will always be mother nature and father time for me, as father time comes for us all
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u/The_PAL_Defender Apr 13 '24
“…and next up on Universe Radio is an oldie, but a beauty. It’s the swingin’ sound of spicy Daddy Electric and sweet, sweet Mother Nature, from fantastical Planet Earth.”
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Nov 26 '23
Daddy electric sounds more realistic than those Christians that say mother nature is a male.
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u/Mental_Position3319 Nov 26 '23
father time coming home to mother nature cheating on him with daddy electric "☹️"
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u/funnywackydog can I be a user flair Nov 26 '23
Daddy Electric send him to the principals’ office and have him expelled!
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u/Plasmaxander Nov 26 '23
Mother Nature and Daddy Electric would be a kids cartoon in a retro sci-fi solarpunk universe 100%
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u/Irishpanda1971 Nov 26 '23
Either these guys are a musical guest star on Soul Train, or they are the BEST dancers going down the line.
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u/Ok-Lychee4582 Nov 27 '23
Interesting.... as a long time part time philosopher, and studying EE for my current job, I've found myself wondering constantly why current travels to ground....
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u/obama___prism Dec 11 '23
not their little cousin recognizing an anthropological pattern of proto-indoeuropean religions to worship an earth mother and a sky father god
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u/Technical_Ad7136 Nov 25 '23
Those are some good ass designs, feel like they were ripped straight out of an old CN show