Bart Allen/"Impulse" (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fasterthanthought) wrote2007-06-14 07:30 pm
fasterthanthought) wrote2007-06-14 07:30 pm
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Background and rundown: Impulse's bio
Bart Allen, alias "Impulse," is one of the cult favorites from the DC comic universe. His involvement spans the Flash books, his self-titled run, inclusion in "Young Justice" and now is part of the reformed Teen Titans. Various characterizations of him have been "canon" for the different versions, but the major traits have been his naivete, his complete lack of an attention span, his blatant disregard for the rules of reality because he was raised in a VR world, and the fact that he is utterly adorable. This gives his player the excuse that good days will have Peter David and Mark Waid-esque humor, semi-funny will be Loeb or Dezago, and all failed jokes will be blamed on Geoff Johns.
For the purposes of this rp Impulse is chronologically halted before his mentor, Max Mercury, was absorbed into the Speed Force in Impulse #83 (too much angst to think about), although he has memories of Young Justice after that and nothing past Young Justice #54 (again, lots of angst regarding Secret's turn to evil and the waaaaay too serious nature of "Graduation Day"). The Teen Titans version of Impulse/Kid Flash doesn't exist because he's not written funny or particularly in character by those standards and mature!Bart makes Impulse fans sad. So he's not going to be, never will be, "Kid Flash" even if meta-jokes are made.
Bart's general background is that he was born in the 30th century with a hyperspeed metabolism that rapidly aged him. Because no cure could be found they put him in a VR machine to "grow up" in time with his speed so although he looks fourteen he's technically three/four years old. And he acts like it a lot of the time. His entire life of virtual reality with no consequences and no real-time matters left him without a sense of cause-and-effect or patience. Only when his grandmother, Iris Allen, sent him back in time to the present day so the current Flash, Wally West, could "fix" his speed metabolism and set it to normal did he start living in the real world.
Bart is part of a speedster legacy. His grandfather was the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen: the famous one responsible for forming the Justice League, earning the respect of his conclave of villains, the Rogues, as well as dying heroically in "Crisis of the Infinite Earths." He left behind twins in the 30th century with his wife during the time they were trying to escape the troubles of their present time brought on by Barry's twin brother, Malcom Thawne (known as the villain "Cobalt Blue"). The Thawnes and the Allens had a long standing feud (Hatfield and Macoys, yep) that culminated when Melodi Thawne, Bart's mother, married the son of Barry Allen, Don Allen, Bart's father, and the shit hit the fan. Bart is caught as a pawn between both factions, had to deal with his own personal Thawne clone/cousin-Thaddeus Thawne a.k.a. "Inertia"-as well as the interesting keepin' it in the family theme. Bart also has a canonical crush on his cousin, Jenni Ognats.
At home in Manchester Alabama his mentor, Max Mercury: the Zen Master of Speed, had the patience of a saint to deal with him. Max became the father figure Bart never had and together they fought crime before bedtime. Reoccurance of the incest theme came when Max's time-swept daughter, Helen, ended up living with them only after flirting with Max and realizing belatedly that he was her father from a different time. Again, comics proving taboo topics better than shoujo manga. Besides that, Bart was popular in school and had an almost-girlfriend named Carol, who was wisked away to avert a disasterous future run by the Thawnes and leave poor Bart without any romantic interest. His other friends: Preston, Rolly, Mark, Wade and even "Evil Eye" Eddie made up a fun dynamic of what all teenage boys do. Act stupid. Beside that, Impulse was one of the founding members of Young Justice along with Robin and Superboy (OT3! OT3!). He became good friends with all of the members, taking particular semi-crush interest in Arrowette. Secret was his partner in mischief. And he always loved to bug either Robin or Superboy in a good-natured "whoopie cushion on the seat that accidentally triggers a bomb oops" way. Most of his heroics are in the good-natured "oops" way. It's why Batman named him Impulse, more as a warning than as a gift.
For the purposes of this rp Impulse is chronologically halted before his mentor, Max Mercury, was absorbed into the Speed Force in Impulse #83 (too much angst to think about), although he has memories of Young Justice after that and nothing past Young Justice #54 (again, lots of angst regarding Secret's turn to evil and the waaaaay too serious nature of "Graduation Day"). The Teen Titans version of Impulse/Kid Flash doesn't exist because he's not written funny or particularly in character by those standards and mature!Bart makes Impulse fans sad. So he's not going to be, never will be, "Kid Flash" even if meta-jokes are made.
Bart's general background is that he was born in the 30th century with a hyperspeed metabolism that rapidly aged him. Because no cure could be found they put him in a VR machine to "grow up" in time with his speed so although he looks fourteen he's technically three/four years old. And he acts like it a lot of the time. His entire life of virtual reality with no consequences and no real-time matters left him without a sense of cause-and-effect or patience. Only when his grandmother, Iris Allen, sent him back in time to the present day so the current Flash, Wally West, could "fix" his speed metabolism and set it to normal did he start living in the real world.
Bart is part of a speedster legacy. His grandfather was the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen: the famous one responsible for forming the Justice League, earning the respect of his conclave of villains, the Rogues, as well as dying heroically in "Crisis of the Infinite Earths." He left behind twins in the 30th century with his wife during the time they were trying to escape the troubles of their present time brought on by Barry's twin brother, Malcom Thawne (known as the villain "Cobalt Blue"). The Thawnes and the Allens had a long standing feud (Hatfield and Macoys, yep) that culminated when Melodi Thawne, Bart's mother, married the son of Barry Allen, Don Allen, Bart's father, and the shit hit the fan. Bart is caught as a pawn between both factions, had to deal with his own personal Thawne clone/cousin-Thaddeus Thawne a.k.a. "Inertia"-as well as the interesting keepin' it in the family theme. Bart also has a canonical crush on his cousin, Jenni Ognats.
At home in Manchester Alabama his mentor, Max Mercury: the Zen Master of Speed, had the patience of a saint to deal with him. Max became the father figure Bart never had and together they fought crime before bedtime. Reoccurance of the incest theme came when Max's time-swept daughter, Helen, ended up living with them only after flirting with Max and realizing belatedly that he was her father from a different time. Again, comics proving taboo topics better than shoujo manga. Besides that, Bart was popular in school and had an almost-girlfriend named Carol, who was wisked away to avert a disasterous future run by the Thawnes and leave poor Bart without any romantic interest. His other friends: Preston, Rolly, Mark, Wade and even "Evil Eye" Eddie made up a fun dynamic of what all teenage boys do. Act stupid. Beside that, Impulse was one of the founding members of Young Justice along with Robin and Superboy (OT3! OT3!). He became good friends with all of the members, taking particular semi-crush interest in Arrowette. Secret was his partner in mischief. And he always loved to bug either Robin or Superboy in a good-natured "whoopie cushion on the seat that accidentally triggers a bomb oops" way. Most of his heroics are in the good-natured "oops" way. It's why Batman named him Impulse, more as a warning than as a gift.