Macroman

Art by Dave Van Domelen, 3/13/96.

Macroman is a net.hero created by Dave Van Domelen.
Alter Ego:	Doug Ellis
Aliases:	Kid Macro
Primary Writer:	Dave Van Domelen
Status:	Member of Dvandom Force, reserve member of the LNH (Classic Team)
Usability:	Usable With Permission

History

Art by Dave Van Domelen, 7/31/94. Text below Rotanna's logo says "casts spells in rot-13 cypher" and that below Kid Macro's logo is "super-speed via predefined macros."

Macroman's history was shaped by a substantial number of in-universe retcons and revisions. Brace yourself:

During Retcon Hour, a mysterious hero named Kid Macro kept appearing and disappearing, claiming to be a member of the Secret Dvanders. Sig.Lad and Kopikat were drawn into the dreams of Doug Ellis, an individual in the Raiders Universe who was becoming Kid Macro in the Looniverse while he slept, and eventually into his waking life.

It turned out that in a previous timeline, Kid Macro had been a founding member of the Secret Dvanders. He had been removed from reality by Lord Ebon, changing history, but instead of being completely erased, he was retconned into a new existence. He returned to the Looniverse and re/joined the Secret Dvanders, who, not long after, became Dvandom Force.

Kid Macro served as a valued member of the team, fighting time travelers, giant robots, and time-traveling giant robots, until exposure to time-travel energies adjusted him to the timeline, giving him a new past in the Looniverse. This was revealed in the story arc Born To Be Run.

In this history, he'd grown up in the downwardly mobile town of Clue Valley with his Aunt Glory. He had gained his powers as a child as part of an experiment by the Sapster and become the kid sidekick of a superhero named Macroman – until the day Macroman disappeared. He tried to live a normal life, but the devices that had held back his powers as a kid were less able to control them when puberty struck. His secret revealed, he had to live in a specially-designed harness. For a time, he kept his head above water, but he slowly sank into a downward spiral – until the Robot Invasion.

   Basically, it seemed like the end of the world. Nothing could stop these monsters. Humanity had just been knocked from the top of the totem pole, and nothing could put them back.

   Then a funny thing happened. Here I was, a former hero who had spent the last couple of years industriously drinking himself into an early grave...and I didn't even think of just rolling over and letting the Robots win without knowing they'd been in a fight. I could have just gone back to the bar, broken in and started emptying the shelves. But I didn't.

  —Dvandom Force #65, "Born To Be Run Part 4 - Up To Speed"

He took up Macroman's wristcomps and destroyed the giant robot that was terrorizing the neighborhood. After it was over, he joined up with the LNH and got back into action as a net.hero.

Once these memories had returned, Kid Macro decided he was ready to take on his mentor's mantle and costume, becoming Macroman.

From Dave Van Domelen, 5/3/98: I took a Prince Talon action figure from the Flash Gordon line and built it into this Macroman toy. After removing the blades from forearms and knees, the wing-attachment pegs and the dippy ponytail, I built up the wristbands, helmet, kneepads, belt and harness with Sculpey. I decided to turn the unremovable bits on the back into a backpack and leave the jets on the calves, to represent Macroman merging elements of his Robo Warriors suit with the "classic" Macroman costume. The figure remains full mobility at all joints (shoulders, hips, waist, neck) although repeated movement will probably cause some paint to rub off near the seams.

The next foe Dvandom Force fought was the mysterious Warlord, who turned out to be deeply connected to him. Macroman had sought out aid from Kopikat in better mastering his powers, allowing her to inferface with his artificial nervous system. However, Kat, isolated and desperate for intimacy, took advantage of him and entered into his erotic memories, forming a forced psychic/sexual link. This act of psychic violation had disastrous consequences: she inadvertently created a new mind within his artificial nervous system, a being called Jubatis – the speedy cat.

Jubatis, assuming the identity of Warlord, then enacted a fairly complicated time-warping plan to get revenge on his parents, separate himself from Macroman and retroactively make the Looniverse more ordered. Macroman phased into Jubatis's time machine to shut it down, sending him back into the past... where he assumed the identity of Alan Berry, becoming the hero who had inspired him in the first place. He jumped ahead in time from his apparent past death and defeated Jubatis.

During the time he'd spent as Macroman in the past, he'd come to terms with much of his pain and forgiven Kat, even though he knew many of his teammates (especially Anna) wouldn't. He chose not to press charges, and she remained on the team, under close supervision.

He went on to repair his strained relationship with his Aunt Glory and started revisiting Macroman's old hometown of Keystroke City, until the Century Pact's manipulations led to Keystroke passing an anti-net.hero law. The law was never truly repealed, but now he had a new place in Dvandom Force, and remains with them to this day.

Personality

Is a good boy. Has a lot of feelings and deals with a lot of insecurities, but is pretty good at keeping his head pointed in a heroic direction.

Powers and Abilities

Always-on superhuman speed without the reflexes to control it. Wears "wristcomps", programmable systems connected to his nervous system, on his wrists, controlling his speed via preprogrammed commands ("macros").

One of his distinctive super-speedster tricks is the "time pop":

I can actually jump ahead a second or two in time at will, and if I'm moving at the time, I travel in space while I'm missing in time.

—RACC Presents Volume 1 #1

Appearance

As Kid Macro, wore an amber costume with green trim and technical-looking wristbands. As Macroman, it became a green costume with an amber chevron over the chest; amber knee, shoulder, and elbow pads; amber belt and boots; technical-looking wristbands; and an aerodynamic green helmet with an amber visor.

Appearances

• First Appearance: Constellation #30
• Constellation #31-36
• Dvandom Force #37-100
• RACC Presents Volume 1 #1, 4