It's interesting to see the British counterpart to The Elite, but I would suggest that while the BBC has been encouraged to depict them in a positive light
this isn't really working and the Crown's Own have to put at least some effort into being at least basically competent superhumans as a result.
Unfortunately this just means that they're no better than they have to be, merely more dangerous.
Crownguard I would suggest that what makes Thompson different from Mighty Man is that Thompson isn't just eager to appear to be The Greatest and reap the profits, he actually wants to BE The Greatest but long ago started to realise that he completely lacks those qualities required to become a Legendary Superhero.
While he enjoys the applause of the masses it KILLS him that he has to use soundbites from Solar to do so - he's convinced that he SHOULD be a legend based soley on what he feels to be his own merits; shorn of all self-justification these are limited to quick-thinking in defence of his own interests, a certain cultivated charisma (usually masquerading as charm), quick-witted double-dealing and complete self-centeredness the fact that he recently realised he has the makings of a politician is less of a surprise than the fact it took him so long to realise this.
I would suspect that his numerous cruelties arise out of a pathological need to act like his own idea of the Superman's Superman, neurotic desire for Respect and his intense frustration with the fact that neither has resulted in the peer recognition he so desires (given that he's a snob, the fact is that popular recognition matters less to him than the recognition of superheroes and supervillains, which he does not receive); the fact is that he can see his own responsibility for his failures but cannot accept it - he therefore takes it out on others and since he's a coward at heart he takes it out on those weaker than him.
The fact that he no longer has to actually worry about keeping his 'stress-relief' secret or losing the admiration of 'the proles' (since he knows that if the facts leaked out he would become less than nothing in the superhero community and target number 14 - he's not that important, but he's still in the top 20) has resulted in him developing a God Complex - unfortunately we're talking 'Zeus on his worst behaviour' when we use the word 'God.'
The Duchess I would suggest that while it's possible that her casual cruelty might be the result of a bad case of 'Blue and Orange' morality, that would be far from the Truth - she's lived alongside and even amongst mortals long enough to have a fair working knowledge of their morality, she just enjoys abusing it to the last degree.
The fact that she can sometimes make them love her even more by doing so is positively addictive.
I would also suggest that she favours a mix of Modern and Georgian fashion trends (Think Marie Antoinette crossed with Heroin Chic meets Faerie Glamour, beauty spots, giant fantasy wigs and pimped-out suits et al); I see her field costume as being rather like Fox-Hunting garb crossed with a Marie Antoinette hairstyle.
Royal Guardsman Why does this Gentleman at Arms continue to serve with such individuals? Why becuase he knows that duty is a master second only to God, but accepts that it's one more generally more urgent and occasionally tyrannical.
Besides which he's been a Crown Guard for centuries and simply cannot imagine leaving it - particularly leaving it to the scum who have taken to infesting that honoured institution in recent decades.
He will endure them for the duration and watch them wither with a certain amount of satisfaction, rather than the melancholy which usually grips him at the sight of his team-mates moving gently or swiftly towards the grave.
Saint George I suspect that Dorian Grey's time is just as unchanging as the Royal Guardsman, if not even more so, because I feel that the portrait not only freezes his aging, it also froze his state of mind as it was when he foolishly prayed for immortal beauty - the only reason he isn't seen as an anachronism is because he has the gift of disguising his character and the inclination to do so, neither of which 'Lord Chumley' possesses.
While he can learn new skills and assimilate new knowledge, he literally cannot change the mindset which will influence how he uses them - though as noted above he can conceal it.
What is this personality? why that of a fairly conventional Victorian dilettante with somewhat unconventional appetites and active encouragment to indulge them to hedonistic excess, coupled with almost platonic narcissism. Interestingly a great number of the vice in which Grey partakes are longer particularly scandalous, but he obsessively covers them up anyway, because Reputation, just another facet of the outward appearence he so obsessively fetishises, is everything to him and his idea of a Good Reputation will always be Victorian.
Which means he's a snob, racial supremicist (he thinks the Irish are "bog-trotters" and loathes The Immortal Sean Flannigan as such - Sean places him low on his 'To Decapitate' list, but eagerly embraces any opportunity to kick the hades out of Grey that offers itself), homophobe and is personally hypocritical.
I would also suggest that while his irregular habits and vices are not monstrous, the lengths to which he's willing to go to to keep them secret IS.
Witness his activities as 'Saint George' (calling himself a saint is not merely hubristic, but just a function of his own narcissistic and well-suppressed self-destructive tendencies, since it's an exaltation of himself, alongside an invitation of divine wrath) are generally confined to attending one religious service a day (never in the same church twice-running), making pithy (though not always complimentary) declamations about the Churches history and being well-paid to attend charitable events.
Given all this, one could make a fair case for the current George Saint deserving his inspirations title in truth, for his patience, if nothing else.
Steel Defender I would suggest making Karlstein a member of the German aristocracy with ties to the British Peerage (ties between the two were close, at least prior to the First World War when they were severed; as George V put it "I'll be B******* if I'm not English"), with the Lord whose title he usurped being a first cousin.
I would further suggest that he merely murdered his cousin and used plastic surgery to pass himself off as the fellow, to avoid comparisons with a certain member of The Elite, but you can blame that idea on an old copy of a 'Boys Own'-type annual.
I would suggest that he is currently so old that he never actually leaves his armour and requires it to sustain his life - I would further suggest that he's more completely amoral in the service of his own self-interest than Evil, as well as a retired expert on efficiency (He was appointed to the team in the hope that he'd make it more workable, but simply decided to lie back and watch the train-wreck instead).
Tristan Instead of making The Hound of Ulster immortal, why not say that he's actually time-lost, having been thrown into many periods of Human History by Dana - either to further her own plans or simply for her own amusemeny at her servants reactions to them.
While a man of particular accomplishment for his own time, in the modern era these accomplishments are hopelessly out of date, which faces him with the choice of accepting that he's less than perfect or denigrating most of Britain's development.
Guess which course he chose?
As to why he joined the Crown's Own; so far as he's concerned he's the greatest hero-warrior on the planet wheresoever he happens to be and it's his right and privelage to hold a place amongst the most elite guard of the nearest royal (even when she happens to be distressingly lacking in the 'enthusiastic head-hunting' department).
He didn't blink an eye at the factionalisation of Northern Island, since tribal wars were endemic to his own period as well. You might be interested to know The Immortals attitude towards him; That 'Tristan' is useful in the way a WMD is useful - only when one needs every enemy in the vicinty to disintigrate.
I'll also note that for a bullish superhero hes positively petite, even delicate in frame and facial feature - except when he enters the warps spasm, of course, during which state he becomes practically Geiger-esque to look upon!
Isolde I'd like to refer to her as 'Vera' and since she doesn't seem to mind (though she draws the line at 'Minnie') I will continue to do so. One suspects that she has an interesting relationship with Dame Holmes (probably as a protege) prevented from being familial only because Dame M------- has a reputation as a battle-axe to consider.
It's quite possibly this very similarity that prevents MI3 from trusting her fully, since they fear the prospect of having two Iron Dames on the staff would put half of them out of work (or more likely because Isolde remains a powerful figure from an enigmatic background, which generally raises the hackles of practiced spies).
I would be ASTONISHED if Isolde did not have some part in the creation of The Guardians and fairly close relations with those individuals who occasionally come together as Britain's Mightiest Super-Team!
Whom I shall probably address next; more when it comes.
Founder of H.E.R.O.I.C, Complimenter-in-Chief, Co-Arch Henchman to the Grin, Servant of the Hoff!
Rule Brittania! Praise the Hoff and the Grin!
Warning!: May cause Thread Drift.
