Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2013 21:01:49 GMT -6
MY NAME IS { todd, mortimer, tolensky }
but some people know me better as { t o a d }
When people see me, they notice...
Todd doesn't look like a tall guy, given his natural tendency to slouch or crouch - but his long legs and torso make him tower over a lot of people. His big eyes also give him a bit of a threatening look, which might make him look taller to some people.
He has mutation-given green skin, which is slightly porous and not, like he's been asked countless times, 'sticky'. It's not scaley, either - it's mostly normal, if rough and green, skin. His hair is normal, if a bit greasy, brown human hair. He keeps it short for convenience's sake, although he used to let it grow down to his shoulders.
He has mutation-given green skin, which is slightly porous and not, like he's been asked countless times, 'sticky'. It's not scaley, either - it's mostly normal, if rough and green, skin. His hair is normal, if a bit greasy, brown human hair. He keeps it short for convenience's sake, although he used to let it grow down to his shoulders.
When they talk to me, though, they might make note of...
Todd has no love for humans, or human sympathizers. Given his history of homelessness and abuse at the hands of humans and fellow mutants, it's a wonder he can stand anyone. His old days of bad self-esteem causing him to be Magneto's toady are firmly in the past - since his first days of joining The Brotherhood, he's led half a dozen of his own teams, saved a few lives, gotten magical reconstructive surgery, and semi-retired. His sycophancy from his younger years has mutated into a vicious shade of ruthlessness, though his shyness still haunts the man every now and then. He's learned to get himself past that, however, and can lead a team, if not with his charisma, then with his logic and smarts.
And make no mistake; although most people think him an idiot, Todd Tolensky is actually quite clever in the fields of science and logic - he helped Magneto create the machine that would have awakened mutations in the human population, and he's led a dozen different Brotherhood teams to victory. When it suits his needs, he's also worked with the X-Men, gaining friendships with some of them, notably Scott Summers and Paige Gunthree.
And make no mistake; although most people think him an idiot, Todd Tolensky is actually quite clever in the fields of science and logic - he helped Magneto create the machine that would have awakened mutations in the human population, and he's led a dozen different Brotherhood teams to victory. When it suits his needs, he's also worked with the X-Men, gaining friendships with some of them, notably Scott Summers and Paige Gunthree.
Now, as for those people I'm related to, well, I've got...
Orphaned at a young age, Todd doesn't know of any blood relatives he may have. He considers Pietro Lensherr a brother, however, though they aren't related and he hasn't seen the speedster - or anyone else from what he calls 'the old days' - in years. Todd also has no children that he's aware of. The little the mutant knows about his background is that he is Scottish.
The things I'm good at? Glad you asked...
Todd has a talent for science and a logical eye for battle. He once helped Magneto make a device that would have activated latent mutation in otherwise normal humans - unfortunately, the plan was foiled by the X-Men and Toad was defeated, so he never got to see if it worked or not.
He's also got a talent - if one could call it that - for picking and choosing who to follow, and when to cut them loose. He's followed and left Magneto a dozen different times over the years, and done the same with the different versions of Brotherhoods he's joined. Some people would call it cowardice - Todd prefers to regard it as a honed skill in getting out while the getting is good.
His heightened reflexes also give Todd an edge in hand-eye coordination and video-games and very developed strength in his legs - he's also a fairly good pick-pocket.
He's also got a talent - if one could call it that - for picking and choosing who to follow, and when to cut them loose. He's followed and left Magneto a dozen different times over the years, and done the same with the different versions of Brotherhoods he's joined. Some people would call it cowardice - Todd prefers to regard it as a honed skill in getting out while the getting is good.
His heightened reflexes also give Todd an edge in hand-eye coordination and video-games and very developed strength in his legs - he's also a fairly good pick-pocket.
But, well, I'm not completely perfect...
Todd Tolensky has been called a coward by almost every other mutant he's worked with - he'll gladly switch teams when the opportunity presents itself, he will abandon teammates to save his own skin, and his odor is certainly not going to get him any points. He's also struggled with depression and self-esteem issues through his life - something that took getting experimented on by The Stranger to fix (more on that in the history section).
And although he's led a few teams on his own, none of them have lasted long. (Whether this was due to them losing against the X-Men, being arrested, or internal conflicts driving them apart differs from team to team.)
Due to his low self esteem issues in his younger years, Todd has and still has a tendency to obey - or at least be more amiable towards - someone who is kind towards him. Flattery goes a long way with the Toad whether it's from a friend or a foe.
And although he's led a few teams on his own, none of them have lasted long. (Whether this was due to them losing against the X-Men, being arrested, or internal conflicts driving them apart differs from team to team.)
Due to his low self esteem issues in his younger years, Todd has and still has a tendency to obey - or at least be more amiable towards - someone who is kind towards him. Flattery goes a long way with the Toad whether it's from a friend or a foe.
I guess you want to know about what sets me apart from most of the population, huh? Well...
Most of Todd's mutant powers seem to be centered in his legs and skin - he has massively powered legs, superhuman in origin and helped along by bench-pressing and other exercise. He can jump long distances; about 24 feet straight up, and 36 feet in a horizontal leap. He's also very flexible in addition to being able to climb walls - it's little surprise he turned to villainy.
In addition to his super-human strength and agility, Todd also has adhesive mucus. He can secrete it from his hands and shoot it from his tongue at will, and it can either be sticky - allowing him to cling to walls and ceilings - or a slick, slippery substance.
His skin is an obvious mutation as well, green and webbed between his fingers and toes.
In addition to his super-human strength and agility, Todd also has adhesive mucus. He can secrete it from his hands and shoot it from his tongue at will, and it can either be sticky - allowing him to cling to walls and ceilings - or a slick, slippery substance.
His skin is an obvious mutation as well, green and webbed between his fingers and toes.
Awesome, right? Well, not all the time...
The major weakness Todd's mutation inflicts on him is his looks - even given what amounted to magical plastic surgery, the man is still green and, well, toad-like. He can't wash with soap, like everyone else, ether - his skin prevents it, breaking out it rashes if he tries. It's become something of a call-and-response - now even the smell of most soap makes his nose wrinkle and his skin get goose-bumps. That doesn't mean that the man doesn't bathe - nobody wants to smell, after all, not even so-called 'bad guys'. Todd simply uses oils and lotions instead of soap and water; they work almost as well, although his hair is thin and limp even when washed as well as he can get it.
Despite his great lower body strength, neither his upper body nor his tongue are very strong. Prehensile though it might be, the Brotherhood members' long appendage isn't extremely useful - mostly, it freaks people out, scares or startles them enough to let him get away - or get closer, and kick 'em where it hurts. Besides the lack of stength in his tongue and arms, Toad was also once shot in the kneecap as a measure to keep him out of a fight, and the wound still bothers him on occasion.
(MarvelWikia helped a bunch with this section.)
Despite his great lower body strength, neither his upper body nor his tongue are very strong. Prehensile though it might be, the Brotherhood members' long appendage isn't extremely useful - mostly, it freaks people out, scares or startles them enough to let him get away - or get closer, and kick 'em where it hurts. Besides the lack of stength in his tongue and arms, Toad was also once shot in the kneecap as a measure to keep him out of a fight, and the wound still bothers him on occasion.
(MarvelWikia helped a bunch with this section.)
If you see me out in the street, you'd notice I wear...
From shoulder pads to leather jackets, Todd has seen a lot of styles in costumes - and normal clothes, for that matter - come and go. Right now, he's settled on a mash of his old costumes; whatever fits, really, as he hasn't been active, really fighting for 'the cause' for a decade or so. Currently, if he had time to suit up before robbing a store, he'd wear black spandex pants and shirt, with a dark green jacket and belt - it's amazing what kind of things one can find in a bargain bin...
As for his 'regular' clothes? The Brotherhood member wears whatever is closest to the top of his pile of clothes - usually jeans, a long sleeved shirt, maybe a jacket, and some old tennis shoes he's had for a couple of years. Nothing fancy; what's a guy like him need fancy for?, Todd figures.
Maybe some of that comes from my past...
Todd was orphaned in England as a baby - growing up, he was bullied and tormented for his looks; back then, nobody but a dozen government officials even knew about mutants were. He wasn't considered bright even as a child - besides his physical deformities, Todd was a very shy child; between his awful grades and a severe lack of positive association with 'normal' people, it wasn't a surprise when he dropped out of school very early. If asked, he'd ballpark it at junior high; he prefers to not think about his childhood if at all possible.
Out on the streets, he quickly developed skills as a pick-pocket - and a inferiority complex. That wasn't helped when he was picked to be a part of Magneto's then just-budding Brotherhood of Mutants. Through the years, Toad took the abuse and rare praise from the Master of Magnetism as well as his other teammates - including Wanda Maximoff, Erik's daughter, who didn't return his feelings, and was less than gentle about letting him know so.
After the Brotherhood was captured by The Stranger, Toad was left behind by Magneto when the older man escaped, changing the way the amphibian-like mutant regarded his 'leader'. It didn't take much more time for Todd to decide he wanted to go solo - not that that ended up very well. He had a brief spat of attempting the woo the Scarlett Witch again, all of said attempts failing. About that time, he formed a separate team of the Brotherhood, the first that he'd ever led, which fought a few battles then disbanded.
A handful of years after that, he was used by Prosh, as well as a handfull of other mutants, to stop a global threat. Meeting with The Strangers' technology again, it adjusted his deformities and amped Toad's mutational powers - straightened his back, made him better looking, and granted him his prehensile tongue. Some time after he was granted his new look, Todd met up and joined the latest incarnation of Magneto's Brotherhood - not as subservient as before, and still treated with derision. When Magneto - a shape shifter at that point, although none of them knew - was attacked, Toad went to help, and was shot in the kneecap for his trouble; it still bothers him occasionally.
Around that point, M Day happened, and Todd was one of the few who had been left their powers. He took a surviving young mutant to the Xavier Institute, and was accepted in himself. In between the laws being passed about mutant rights and the Sentinals flying around and wreaking havoc, Todd met and fell into a short relationship with Paige Gunthree, the X-Woman known as Husk. It was short lived; she invited him to come along with her to the Hellfire Academy, and he took offence at quickly being relegated to janitor.
After leaving the Academy, he traveled around, occasionally stealing here and there. Lately he's been feeling nostalgic as well as inspired, so he's back in New York, looking for young talent and keeping a close eye on the new and old faces at Xaviers'.
(Wikipedia helped tons here.)
Out on the streets, he quickly developed skills as a pick-pocket - and a inferiority complex. That wasn't helped when he was picked to be a part of Magneto's then just-budding Brotherhood of Mutants. Through the years, Toad took the abuse and rare praise from the Master of Magnetism as well as his other teammates - including Wanda Maximoff, Erik's daughter, who didn't return his feelings, and was less than gentle about letting him know so.
After the Brotherhood was captured by The Stranger, Toad was left behind by Magneto when the older man escaped, changing the way the amphibian-like mutant regarded his 'leader'. It didn't take much more time for Todd to decide he wanted to go solo - not that that ended up very well. He had a brief spat of attempting the woo the Scarlett Witch again, all of said attempts failing. About that time, he formed a separate team of the Brotherhood, the first that he'd ever led, which fought a few battles then disbanded.
A handful of years after that, he was used by Prosh, as well as a handfull of other mutants, to stop a global threat. Meeting with The Strangers' technology again, it adjusted his deformities and amped Toad's mutational powers - straightened his back, made him better looking, and granted him his prehensile tongue. Some time after he was granted his new look, Todd met up and joined the latest incarnation of Magneto's Brotherhood - not as subservient as before, and still treated with derision. When Magneto - a shape shifter at that point, although none of them knew - was attacked, Toad went to help, and was shot in the kneecap for his trouble; it still bothers him occasionally.
Around that point, M Day happened, and Todd was one of the few who had been left their powers. He took a surviving young mutant to the Xavier Institute, and was accepted in himself. In between the laws being passed about mutant rights and the Sentinals flying around and wreaking havoc, Todd met and fell into a short relationship with Paige Gunthree, the X-Woman known as Husk. It was short lived; she invited him to come along with her to the Hellfire Academy, and he took offence at quickly being relegated to janitor.
After leaving the Academy, he traveled around, occasionally stealing here and there. Lately he's been feeling nostalgic as well as inspired, so he's back in New York, looking for young talent and keeping a close eye on the new and old faces at Xaviers'.
(Wikipedia helped tons here.)
You want to meet me? It's your lucky day - here's a sneak peek...
Toad stretched, glancing down the sidewalk. He strolled down it some more, glad to feel the sun on his skin, even it was weak, struggling to shine through the clouds. It looked like rain, maybe snow. The former thug wondered idly if the weather witch who had such control over lightening still lived at the academy. Not that, he was certain, she'd make the snow go away. No, not any of Xaviers' goodie-goodies. They were all so concerned for the right way of things, not upsetting nature - or anyone else. Any humans. He scoffed at the thought, kicking an errant stone that had worked its' way loose from the sidewalk. He'd read the notice they'd put out to the press, the same as everyone else who'd been paying the slightest bit of attention to the news when the school had re-opened after Xaviers' death. They wouldn't train anyone to be an X-Man, they claimed. Those days were over, they'd said. The green skinned man wondered, with a vicious delight, how soon after he got a new team together - how soon after that would the precious 'good' mutants be eating their own words?
Not that he had a team yet. Not even the inkling of one; just himself, and his last years of solo thieving hadn't ended well. Not that anything much ended well when he was involved, Todd admitted. He just had that affect on things, he'd come to accept. But hope always did spring eternal, so the former Brotherhood line-up member kept an eye out, uncertain what he was looking for but sure that he would recognize it when he found it. What had Magneto looked for? Pulses, mostly, and slavering loyalty, the amphibian-like mutant thought. But why, what had he needed? They had made their mark on the world, the Brotherhood of Evil, somehow. What had that magic been? Certainly not loyalty; members of the Brotherhood had changed almost weekly, at Todd's recollection. Skill? They had had trained assassins on the team, but mostly they were simply a group of determined, driven twenty-somethings when Toad had still been a member. Good leadership -- it wouldn't hurt, even if Magneto had been distinctly less than fair or encouraging at times.
Leadership, he could do. He'd run his own teams, Todd encouraged himself. Surely it wouldn't be so much harder if those teammates were teenagers now, instead of his own age? No, it couldn't be that hard, he decided. The thought added a pep to his step, and the casually dressed man crouched into the step and leapt, body soaring through the air with familiarity and enjoyment. He wondered if any of the X-Dorks were watching; he didn't care about civilians. Landing a good five feet away from where he'd taken off, Todd ran a hand through his hair - one of the few things the years had let him keep, thank God - and hopped again, shoes crunching against the gravel and a laugh falling out of his mouth, a grin plastered onto his face as he decided to see if he could defy the odds, bring that boring, lower-class human race to its' knees where Erik Lensherr had failed.
He could do it. With the right team.
[/font][/div]Not that he had a team yet. Not even the inkling of one; just himself, and his last years of solo thieving hadn't ended well. Not that anything much ended well when he was involved, Todd admitted. He just had that affect on things, he'd come to accept. But hope always did spring eternal, so the former Brotherhood line-up member kept an eye out, uncertain what he was looking for but sure that he would recognize it when he found it. What had Magneto looked for? Pulses, mostly, and slavering loyalty, the amphibian-like mutant thought. But why, what had he needed? They had made their mark on the world, the Brotherhood of Evil, somehow. What had that magic been? Certainly not loyalty; members of the Brotherhood had changed almost weekly, at Todd's recollection. Skill? They had had trained assassins on the team, but mostly they were simply a group of determined, driven twenty-somethings when Toad had still been a member. Good leadership -- it wouldn't hurt, even if Magneto had been distinctly less than fair or encouraging at times.
Leadership, he could do. He'd run his own teams, Todd encouraged himself. Surely it wouldn't be so much harder if those teammates were teenagers now, instead of his own age? No, it couldn't be that hard, he decided. The thought added a pep to his step, and the casually dressed man crouched into the step and leapt, body soaring through the air with familiarity and enjoyment. He wondered if any of the X-Dorks were watching; he didn't care about civilians. Landing a good five feet away from where he'd taken off, Todd ran a hand through his hair - one of the few things the years had let him keep, thank God - and hopped again, shoes crunching against the gravel and a laugh falling out of his mouth, a grin plastered onto his face as he decided to see if he could defy the odds, bring that boring, lower-class human race to its' knees where Erik Lensherr had failed.
He could do it. With the right team.
And the person behind the curtain reveals themselves...
I'm Apollo, the admin, and Ilmarinen.
And we got here by...
Creator of KE!