Kat

Art by Dave Van Domelen, 9/10/96. Kat's new costume, which debuted around Dvandom Force #74-75, plus another view of the Panzer Cycle (and yes, the Panzer Cycle looks like a cat's head from the front).

Kat is a net.hero created by Dave Van Domelen. See also MechaKat.
Alter Ego:	Kathryn Anders
Aliases:	Robot Girl, Kopikat
Primary Writer:	Dave Van Domelen
Status:	Member of Dvandom Force, reserve member of the LNH (Classic Team)
Usability:	Reserved

History

Art by Dave Van Domelen, 2/15/94. Circa Constellation (series) #20, back when she went by the name Robot Girl.

Origins

Kathryn Anders was born in the RoboMACs 2163 universe, decades after most of humanity had been wiped out and the self-aware artificial lifeforms known as RoboMACs took over. She fought as a rebel against those who were trying to protect humanity, largely to show humans were still relevant. She was seriously injured and saved only by having her mind scanned into a RoboMAC shell, taking the name Kopikat. She served with the Guardians for several years, until a traumatic incident where she was infected with a nanotech agent, after which she abandoned them to become a freelance spy. Eventually, she was hunted by both factions, escaping only by sneaking her way into the Looniverse when Acton Lord paid her world a visit.

The Legion

She joined the LNH as Robot Girl, taking the persona of a human who could turn into a robot. She latched on to Sig.Lad as a protector, since he was one of the more powerful LNHers, yet not so powerful he could see through her imposture, and may have developed a genuine crush on him as well. (She certainly just about crushed him when she tried to dance with him at the Valentine's Ball.)

After the Robot Invasion began and her true nature was discovered, she aided him and his small subgroup, the Secret Dvanders, against the MACers. Unfortunately, when the Dvanders crossed newsgroups to seek the help of the Guardians, Thresher called her out, and she fled – ending up stranded in alt.transgendered. Eventually, she was rescued by Lass Lad, and came back to the LNH and the Secret Dvanders, since she didn't have anywhere else to go and they were reasonably soft-hearted.

Art by Dave Van Domelen, 10/19/95. Circa Dvandom Force #58, with Skysabre's non-Projector form included for scale.

Dvandom Force

As tensions between the Dvanders and the rest of the LNH built up – partially due to Kat's own temperament – they broke off and became Dvandom Force and moved to Sig.ago. Kat stepped into her role of the designated newbie who had things about the Looniverse explained to her so the audience could hear.

When the Super Molder Serum that gave Sig.Lad his powers started destabilizing...

Dvandom Force made a last-ditch attempt to save him using Kopikat's nanites. But this backfired horribly – she was absorbed into Sig.Lad and became part of the being known as DeFacto V. With the help of Skysabre, the team broke the time loop that created DeFacto V and prevented him from taking over the world – at the cost of Sig.Lad's death, another in the long series of losses that defined Kopikat's life.

Life with Dvandom Force went on; she defeated DeFacto V alongside them and Team M.E.C.H.A. during the Grand Tour, using her Mac-Smasher program to attack his mind. She bonded closely with Team M.E.C.H.A.'s Summer, who unknown to Kopikat had been mutated by her own nanites.

Kat Screws Up

Shortly after helping destroy DeFacto V, Kopikat started helping Macroman gain better control over his powers by means of a mental interface. But secretly...

she was abusing his trust to assauge her own loneliness, and this led to not only the creation of Jubatis, another pawn of Master Workload's, but also caused the rest of the team to ostracize her. At the climax of Workload's final attempt on reality, the nanotechnological agents in Kopikat's body, which had been creating a new body for themselves within her, were "born" as the new host to the Sig.Force, known as sig.ma. As a parting gift, they restored her to human form before leaving to take over the duty of balancing Lord MUDD and Master Workload.

Afterwards

Kat was put under house arrest in the Dvandom Force HQ, because the nature of her crime against Macroman was so bizarre that normal channels weren't viable, and because Macroman had insisted on not pressing charges. She was allowed to remain on the team under close supervision. She built a new power armor and tank for herself to continue net.heroing as a human, and singlehandedly took down Coppermane when he invaded the new Dvandom Force HQ and had defeated the rest of the team.

Though Kat's place in Dvandom Force was troubled and uncertain, she soon grew close to its newest member, Kid Pocky. When she was tormented by her own guilt in a dream-simulation of Dante's Inferno (see Mark Dante), he came to her rescue. She soon figured out...

...that he'd been the original Acton Lord, but didn't press the point because if he knew she'd picked up on that, he'd know she'd have noticed his intense attraction to her as well. But when Kid Pocky took back the identity of Acton Lord to defeat the Century Pact, she revealed the truth to her teammates. They chose to accept him after everything he'd done to atone for his past.

Kat and Kid Pocky continued to grow hesitantly closer to each other as they battled the remnants of the Century Pact and the Death Duck. By now, Kat's teammates, even Anna, had grown to accept her and were helping her work through her pain. Kat was no longer an outcast who had no side to call her own but a hero who was cared for by her team.

Personality

About a century old, but looking in her early 20s, she has a lifetime of experiences, most of them bad. She tries not to get too close to anyone or leave herself vulnerable emotionally, and is trying to work through decades of guilt. She covers this up with a sarcastic attitude most of the time.

Powers and Abilities

Once Kat was a human mind scanned into a powerful, shapeshifting robot body, but she has since been restored to human form. As a robot, she had, along with standard RoboMAC abilities, enhanced shapeshifting and a limited ability to subliminally infuence others.

Since being restored to human form, she used her knowledge of futuristic science to create a powersuit for herself that generates a protective forcefield, increases her strength and speed, and can generate energy "claws". In addition, for times when this isn't enough, she built a fast attack vehicle named the Panzer, capable of high maneuverability and speed on all but the roughest terrain. It has one big spherical wheel and uses a modifed Shirow-style drive system (like on the plastic tanks in the anime Dominion).

Has a strong strategic sense built up over many years of being a mercenary in a war-torn reality, which allows her to analyze others.

Appearance

• 

  Art by Dave Van Domelen, 10/19/95. Close-up of Kat's face from the above drawing, since the detail all washed out in the full image.
• 

  Art by Dave Van Domelen, 9/10/96. This sleek vehicle is one of the things Kat built after becoming human again. It has one big spherical wheel and uses a modifed Shirow style drive system (like on the plastic tanks in Dominion v1). Capable of high maneuverability and speed on all but the roughest terrain.
• 

  Kitbashing and photography by Dave Van Domelen, 2/20/98. A Dale Arden (Flash Gordon animated series) action figure kitbashed into Kat.
• 

  Art by Dave Van Domelen, 8/23/12. How Kat looked before she got so badly injured that she had to be scanned into a MAC format to save her life, about a century before she joined the LNH. Shown here taking a break from trying to build her own Robo to pilot.

Relationships

When DeFacto was defeated, some of Kat's nanites were expelled from his body into 000SUPERGUY, where they ultimately mutated Team M.E.C.H.A.'s Summer, making Kat her mom in a weird kind of way. She didn't know this when they met, but Summer was nonetheless one of the few people who could easily connect with her.

Appearances

• Constellation #17-36
• Dvandom Force #37-100
• Kopikat Special
• LNH Triple Play #3
• CAW #2
• Limp-Asparagus Lad #6
• Cover Gallery #35i