Johnny is the Human Torch! The Thing Just Loves To Fight! Let's Play Questprobe #3

Here it is, the last of the Questprobe games. 12 were planned and even an X-Men one was underway before the series was cancelled with the end of Scott Adams company. BTW, if you don't know what I'm talking about, read [url=https://talking-time.net/showthread.php?t=20141]here and here for the two previous let's plays of the Questprobe series.

To put it simply, they are a series of graphic adventure games with Marvel Characters. This time, the heroes in question are the Thing and the Human Torch, two members of the Fantastic Four. So who are these knuckleheads?



Well, let's start with the Fantastic Four as a whole. The Fantastic Four is a superhero team that was a bit unlike any other superhero team at the time, despite taking a lot from many other teams that came before them. Let's start extra-textually with the creation of the comic itself.

At the time, DC was doing very well with their new comic "The Justice League of America", an update of "The Justice Society of America" featuring a team made up of the company's most popular heroes and Aquaman. Sorry, dunking on Aquaman is old hat but I just wanted to go with it. Anyway, pre-comic legend Stan Lee was told by his boss to make a superhero team for the company, who had put their superheroes aside for a while to follow the trend of monster comics. As Stan tells it (and I love him, but take all of his stories with a grain of salt), he wanted to leave comics forever to focus on "real writing" but his wife suggested to write the comic he would like to read, so he did. Jack Kirby who co-created (or just plain created, depending on who you ask) tells it a bit differently, that this was a comic he was working on already that Lee just added the dialogue afterward.

The Fantastic Four basically made the comic taking elements from other comics, such as the DC sci-fi adventure book Challengers of the Unknown (a comic co-created by Jack Kirby) and even the companies then popular monster books (supposedly, the book was designed so that it could be turned right back into a monster book should the superhero angle fail). But Lee gives a great amount of credit to Doc Savage, the pulp novel series that inspired so many superhero books before it. From it, Stan and Jack took some key elements such as the super-genius mad scientist adventure hero fighting mad scientists and dictators and the bickering between team members.

Of course, due to the Marvel Method, it wasn't always easy to tell who was responsible for creating what. The Marvel Method was as follows: someone writes a very loose script/synopsis, the artist draws it the way he wants and the writer comes back in and puts all the dialogue into it. It's a way of creating that just really isn't done anymore. Because the scripts are so loose, the artist could put in plot points or even add characters, such as when Jack just whipped up the Silver Surfer out of a story that didn't have him and a legend was born. Generally, knowing the two, I tend to believe Jack's claims over Stan's, though as Jack got older, his claims got a little more spurious, such as that time he claimed credit for Spider-Man because he drew his first cover appearance.

Anyway, Stan and Jack may not have always saw eye-to-eye (especially later in their careers) but they were a Hell of a team and made the Fantastic Four, a comic that became really popular, really quick. The company was renamed Marvel (from Atlas) soon after and the popularity spawned a multitude of extremely popular characters. And the X-Men. No, really, the X-Men were a flop when they first showed up and didn't get big until the 70's. Marvel was a hit and Fantastic Four was their crown jewel, helped probably by the fact that it included Stan and Jack's longest run together 102 issues.

OK, so that's the back story of publication. So what is the comic about? Well, brilliant scientist Reed Richards built and experimental rocket to win the space race for America (yay!) against the dastardly Commies (boo!) but for reason, it isn't going up in time. Reed then decides to steal the rocket and invites his girlfriend (Sue Storm), her baby brother (Johnny Storm) and Reed's old college roommate (Ben Grimm) to pilot it (to be fair, Ben was a pilot. No idea what everyone else was doing there). But it turns out impromptu flights to space has consequences and the four were bombarded with cosmic rays, sending them crashing to Earth.



They all survive and find they have fantastic powers: Reed has an elastic, shapeshifting body, Sue can turn invisible, Johnny can cover his body in fire and throw it around and also fly and Ben turns into a big rocky monster. The four agree, wasting no time, right there on the crash site, to use their powers to help humanity. Soon they become popular hero celebrities and a makeshift family. And being a family, there's often conflict: Reed was often cold, ignoring his girl to focus on his science. Ben also felt Reed was responsible for turning him into a monster (because he was) and Reed, feeling very guilty (as he should) works to find a way to turn Ben back into a human. And Johnny, a handsome, immature hothead, loves teasing the Thing about his looks. But at the end of the day, they are a family, even when Ben keeps threatening people with violence (classic Thing was an asshole).



Now let's go into the two leads of this game. First, Johnny Storm, probably my least favourite member of the Fantastic Four. Granted, he has more personality than Sue and Reed put together, but it's also because he has a lot of notable unlikable qualities: he's a hotheaded glory-hog who is constantly belittling a deformed man for being deformed. If anyone is going to fuck up a plan for the Fantastic Four, it's the guy who acts without thinking. As mentioned, his power his all about fire (and flying). He's often seeking fame and fortune and since he's handsome and personable, he is often the team's most popular member to the public.

Over the years, he has matured a bit and despite his sometimes off-putting behaviour, he is never afraid to put his neck out for other people.



The Thing is easily my favourite member and close to being my favourite Marvel character. The character started out as a big jerk but over the years mellowed into more of a curmudgeon. He's grumpy about his situation and while he can be prone to anger still, most of the time he pretty chill about his life circumstances and is kind-hearted, if very sardonic. He's constantly provoked not only by Johnny, but also the Yancy Street Gang, an unseen group of kids who are constantly pranking him (later it would turn out it was because he was a former member of the gang). He eventually gets a girlfriend, the blind sculptor Alicia Masters, whose sincere gentleness often plays against the guarded and self-deprecating Thing. And the two are finally about to get married in an upcoming FF comic. Yay!



I love the Thing. So much. He's a guy who got stuck with a bad life situation but dealt with it with humour. He still suffers from low self-esteem (not only for his looks but also his own bad attitude) but while many other villains who have endured trauma and humiliation have turned them bad, he bears it with his strong heart and keeps going. He isn't the strongest or smartest hero around, but his humanity and refusal too take injustice lying down make him one of my favourites.

Here he is winning a fight even when he can't.




It was a comic so great, Genndy Tartakovsky just copied and pasted it for an episode of Dial M for Monkey (BTW, Macho Man Randy Savage as The Champion/Rasslor? Brilliant)

So, why only two of the Fantastic Four? Well, even though HT and the T are members of the FF, they also have quite a few solo adventures. The Human Torch had solo adventures in Strange Tales and even a series in the early 2000s where he's incorrectly outed as gay or something (I never read it, so don't ask). The Thing has had an even more successful quasi-solo career, starring in Marvel Two-in-One, a comic where he teams up with a different character month. He had a couple of his own series, but even in those, he did a lot of teaming up because The Thing is a really fun character to team up with other characters. Like Spider-Man, there's an everyman quality to him and they both tend to make smart-ass comments towards whatever character he's teamed up with, usually a God or an alien or someone who talks in a purple prose-y or exposition-y manner.



And of all of the two FF members, Torch and Thing have the most chemistry. They bicker a lot but them bumping heads is much more interesting than any other character combo because of how different they are. Also, it helps that they have clear, defined personalities that aren't "exposition" and "woman" (or "mom"). I mean, I'm sure a lot of later writers have done great things with Sue but I haven't read that many FF stories and those I've had... She's the member who I can't some up their identity in one word without sounding sexist.

So I'm hoping for at least SOME banter. But this isn't a realistic hope. I think we are going to get more gem collecting and "YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO GET MY GEM!" As for other hopes? Not as many as Spider-Man. Neither of these power sets are as interesting as Spider-Man's and as far as characters go, these guys would actually fit into vague domeland, since they are constantly going into strange places. Looking forward to seeing if Scott's improved his system and has found a way to make playing two heroes work for the game. We'll see pretty soon.

Enough yakking! Let's turn on the game and see what we get.



Glorious!



Also good. It looks like the Grand Inquisitor Chief Examiner is actually going to be in this one. Is this something I actually care to see?



Yes. Yes it is. Look at him there, back at his little desk. In his little office. Looking like he's going to press an 80's intercom and ask "Cheryl, can you get me, Fire Man and Captain Boulder some coffee, please?"

I will say, most cosmic entities don't have offices with their names on the door, so the Chief is ahead on this one. Oh, BTW, if you want to be spoiled for who is going to appear in this one, here are some of the characters. It's an interesting list. Let's say they went all in on one particular team of villains. All in.



OK, so I begin. I first decide to peak in his desk, just like you do when you visit a god in his office. The game doesn't even seem to realize this is a thing I can do. Next, I decide to talk to the Examiner.



As he is talking, the setting changes.




OK, before we get to the crazy new setting, I have to say... this is an actual superhero goal. There might be some gem collecting (Doom trades gems for hostage, despite the fact that he could probably solve any puzzle this game has). It's saving a character from a supervillain. I'm actually HELPING someone, instead of beating up mutants for money. So I am really happy with the development that my heroes may get to act "heroic".

Next, who is Alicia Masters? As briefly mentioned in the last chapter, she is the girlfriend of the Thing. What kind of woman is into the Thing? A blind woman! Wait, that's not fair.

Alicia was the daughter of the supervillain The Puppet Master. Who looks like this.



Yeah. Soak that in that nightmare.

So after the FF defeat the Puppet Master, Ben and Alicia, who was really into sculpting, started dating. Alicia is blind but she can see the beauty in Ben (dramatic irony) and loves using him as a sculpting subject. For a time it looked like Alicia was cheating on Ben with Johnny, but it turns out that was just an alien shapeshifter with the name Lyja the Laserfist, which is an awesome nickname to have. Perhaps too awesome. Like she shapeshifted into other folks and talked up her nickname in order to get it to catch on.

Anyway, Alicia showed up again and their relationship has been on and off again but now it looks like they are finally getting hitched. Good for them.



My only complaint is that Alicia is... a bit dull. She acts dreamy and sweetly but most of the time her appearance is mostly "nice lady that likes the Thing and sometimes the Thing's bad attitude causes friction." I'm sure later writers have developed the character better since that.

As for who Doctor Doom is? We'll get to him later. Let's just say he's pretty high on the best Marvel characters list.

Next, I guess we can switch between the characters at any time. This'll be neat.

And finally, this is not a setting I was expecting we would start in. Not a complaint, but I'm curious already about who put a shack next to a tar pit, though I suspect the answer for this game is "It just is."

OK, let's get for reals started.



OK, so I'm starting off as the Human Torch. Let's do what anyone would do as the Human Torch.



Oh, wow, I actually have options! I'm down with this. OK, flame on high!

Now let's look around.



Uh-oh, I better do something.



Beautiful.



Next Time: OK, I guess I'll play a little more.

Originally Posted by MetManMas

Also also holy crap Ringmaster is back and he brought the Circus of Crime with him. BTW, has The Blob ever been a member of the circus? I mean, I know he's best known as an X-Men villain and *ugh* eating Wasp during Civil War *goddammit Millar*, but given his power set is basically "is really fat" I could see him fitting right in with an old timey carnival freak show.

Originally Posted by Johnny Unusual

Spoilers for upcoming villain.

Actually Blob ate Wasp in Ultimatum, in the Ultimate Universe. And though Millar definitely deserves a razzing for his edgelord nonsense (though I am more forgiving of his writing than many), this was actually Jeph Loeb who has written good stuff before but his plan to try to be Mark Millar when following him on Ultimates was... ill-considered. And awful. Just bad.

But Blob, while never a member of the Circus of Crime, did start his career in a circus and in his first appearance, convinced his own regular-type circus to attack Xavier's mansion after they X-Men threatened to mindwipe him when he turned down their offer of membership. Man, I don't know who comes off worse in that story.

Originally Posted by Johnny Unusual

I mean, the other thing I hate about that moment aside from ALL the obvious things of shittiness that managed to fit into one panel is that In an Ultimate Spider-Man story sometime before, Spidey discovers one of his school chums is a mutant, too her shock, and he doesn't take it well.

Originally Posted by MetManMas

Originally Posted by Johnny Unusual

Wonderful.

Originally Posted by Johnny Unusual

Wonderful. BTW, things do NOT get better for the duo in the next chapter.

Last time, I found out the Thing was slowly sinking into a tar pit. This episode, I find out if I can save him. Let's ruin that tension right away: I cannot. This episode is almost exclusively about watching one of my favourite comic book characters slowly die. Enjoy.

First, instead of burning the Thing to death, I try switching to the Thing, but I can't do much. So it's up to Johnny to save him. I try saying "open door" and "open shack" but the game isn't getting it until I say "enter shack", because Scott Adams leaves little room for experimentation.



OK, there's a shack and a candle. Um, I get the candle.



Not much else in hear and I suspect with the Thing sinking, I might not have much time. I better go try and save him now. So I decide to fly. The game decided that wasn't specific enough, which is fair, so I decide to fly up. Then things happen.




Wuh-oh, looks like I'm being shot at. Better not stay up here long or they might get me. OK, I see what I assume is Doom's castle (meaning it takes place in Latveria or somewhere in the U.S. as he has a couple castles there). There's also some kind of circle with some houses next to them?



Oh, that tent got put up fast. Anyway, I better get on over to the Thing and see if I can lend a hand. OK, I fly over to save the Thing. Let's see how he's doing.



OK, well, he's a big heavy but maybe Scott Adams didn't take it into account. I'll try to airlift him out of there.



Oh, this might actually work.



And it didn't. Makes sense, though. Thing's a big dude. And... oops, landed in the tar.



This bodes ill. I try a bunch of stuff, but the Torch is completely stuck. Plus things aren't looking good for the Thing either.







As you might have guess, I had to kill a lot of time/moves before getting to this point, but lesson learned, don't let Torch get stuck in the tar. Looks like I'm going to have to scramble to find a way to save the Thing. Castle Doom is probably to heavily guarded at this point so...

Next Time: The Human Torch goes to the circus!


...why does the Thing sound like Vincent Price at the end of Thriller?

Originally Posted by Johnny Unusual

...why does the Thing sound like Vincent Price at the end of Thriller?

Originally Posted by MetManMas

Whether it's very real or an extremely convincing fake, that comic book cover is wonderful.

Last we left our heroes, I let the Thing drown and game over. This time I'm going to try to make Thing right by finding a way to save him. First I go and get that candle. Then for good measure, I burn down the shack.



Good job Torchy. Next I try to fly to the circus tent but for some reason, the game won't let me, so I decide to visit the castle first. And let's look at what is waiting for me...




Um.. also there's a big guy in Daisy Dukes staring at me, but I guess that's not worth noting. As many of you suspect, this is the Blob. I try talking to him but I don't really get anything out of him (though when I type "Talk to Blob" the game says "OK" so... I guess some kind of conversation happened). I figure he's guarding the castle, but I don't think I even want to enter it yet, seeing how it was just shooting me with death rays. I go south to head towards the big tent.


This is just filler, isn't it?




OK, so it looks like we are in Latveria.



Latveria is the fictional Eastern European country that is the home to our main villain, Doctor Doom, who I'm sure we'll get into later. Basically it was ruled by a despot until Doctor Doom, whose childhood was spent being part of the bottom wrung of Latverian society (his family were Roma or Roma-esque types) and he took it over. While many villains are taking over countries all the time, you'd think the people of this nation would be upset being ruled over by yet another despot, this time with the ominous name of Doctor Doom. But in fact, Doom is beloved and save for the whole "freedom" thing, he is a really good ruler. The nation is essentially economically sound, people don't go hungry, it is technologically advanced and Doom is beloved for the stuff he's done for his country. Granted, it is against the law to bad mouth Doom, but there aren't a lot who would regardless, save for some occasional rebels.

Of course, it is not a safe place to be a superhero, so I better step lightly. But I am at the circus after all. I'm sure that I'll be safe while having fun at the blah blah blah let's bring out the supervillains!



It's the Circus of Crime. You probably remember the Ringmaster from the Spider-Man game. Well, now an entire circus of villains has arrived. I could be in trouble. In one-on-one fights, each individual is a bit of a push over (or at least more of a nuisance than a true threat) but when they combine their numbers they tend to get more dangerous. The Torch vs. the entire Circus? This is going to be a challenge, at least without just killing them (which, as a true blue hero, I REFUSE to do unless it's the Thing). Maybe I can talk my way out of this?




Well, that was a disappointment, but better than than dead. Hmm... Hey, what's the Thing up to?



That ain't good. Still, maybe I've been thinking about this the wrong way. Let's try going all the way down. I close my eyes, hold my breath and wait until I sink to the bottom. Then I try feeling around.



Oh, I know the solution to this puzzle.



I wander around for a bit and...





Well, this is interesting. I don't know if I can get past this without the Torch's help, but at least The Thing is safe for a while. Now I got to think about what to do next.

Next Time: The Greatest Show in Latveria!



As some people pointed out in comments, now the Thing sounds like Patrick Star.

Also, I feel like with that line read, Reed should finish "Ben, we're all going to get some--" with "lunch."

Last we left heroes Things were looking Grimm. No, wait, they were looking fine. The Thing escaped a tar pit by punching. Though he has hit a dead end with a wall of fire, the at least he isn't drowning. Meanwhile, the Human Torch still doesn't know what to do about that dastardly Circus of Crime.

OK, so let's start with what the Thing can do about this situation. Let's start with the old standby, punching!



OK, well, I'm pretty durable... what if I try running through the fire.



Oh, right, the tar. That ain't good.

OK, what if I look around.



Goddammit, game. Another death egg waiting for me? At least when I get to it, I'm sure the Thing can eat it. At least it's a natter egg, so I should have some mildly pleasant conversation.

Meanwhile, the Human Torch keeps trying to burn down the tent while closing his eyes.



It isn't going well. And I guess the tent is fire retardant because when I try to burn it down from the outside, the game says nope. Hmm... Maybe the Blob is just a doorman and he'll kindly let me into Castle Doom.



Nope. Hmm. What if I just set shit on fire? I guess the Thing isn't in the tarpit anymore, so I'll just burn that shit up.




Well, let's see what I can do from the sky



Oh, hey, no one is trying to hit me with death beams anymore. The air pollution that will likely lead the poisoning of various Latverian citizens saved me from death beams that have yet to kill me. But where to go from here? Oh, I did sort of assume that the hills mentioned where just the backdrop to the tarpit. Let's see if I can go in for a closer look.



Yes!

Also, it looks like I'm going to enter one of the Thing's head holes. Let's go in.



Hm... apparently, I'm really excited.

Wait happens his I wait around?





Man, the Human Torch LOOOVES caves. I imagine he's running around and pumping his fist! WOO!

Oh, wait, I wonder if that means something else?



Sounds like I need to destroy that rock!



It didn't work, but it did chip. I try a few more times but nothing doing. Let's look around.



OK, so it looks like I got a pebble! I pick it up. Hmm... I'm a little stuck. What can I do with a candle and a pebble? Does anyone have any ideas?

Next Time: I'm probably going to try something at that circus again!



Wow. The end theme is somehow even worse. Also, apparently Giorgio Moroder was the composer for season one. HOW THE FUCK DID THAT HAPPEN?!? Though I guess if you do the soundtrack to Superman III, there's no depth you won't sync to.