Mainstream
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Someone has to guide society. | |
| The Mainstream | |
| Player: @PsEG | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Threat Level: | 41 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Unknown |
| Known Aliases: | Emerging Trends, What's Cool, What Everyone Else Likes. |
| Species: | Human? |
| Age: | Unknown |
| Height: | 5'6" |
| Weight: | Unknown |
| Eye Color: | Green |
| Hair Color: | Dyed blond |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Unknown |
| Occupation: | Trend Definer |
| Place of Birth: | Unknown |
| Base of Operations: | Unknown |
| Marital Status: | Unknown |
| Known Relatives: | Unknown |
| Known Powers | |
| Shifting the paradigm, creating TV shows, fashion lines, musical genres, and celebrity fiascos, injecting the world with a lethal dose of poison | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Convincing people that all of the above is both awesome and popular | |
| Equipment | |
| Conformity robots | |
| The Mainstream reserves the right to change himself at any time to a cooler archetype, powerset combination, or appearance. Popular trends don't stay the same forever! | |
The Mainstream (real name and origin unknown) has played a giant role in defining what society likes. Those trendy clothes everyone likes to wear? Those stupid reality shows that get good ratings? All that entertainment news people seem to care about? You can thank The Mainstream for that rubbish, which he's very proud of. Despite such a gullible society, only the finest can convince them to sink this low.
What's even scarier is that the Legitimate Businessmen managed to get him on their payroll.
Contents |
Origin
Since the early 1990's, The Mainstream has served as the current representation of what could be called Trend Definers[1], a difficult and thankless job in which emerging trends are created or decided upon. Anyone assuming this role is known as The Mainstream, or goes by a similar name depending on the preference of the person discussing them. Currently, The Mainstream media thinks The Mainstream is a fine name to use for now.
Powers
Simply put, if a lot of people like something, it's because The Mainstream made them like it. Clever marketing and passable quality only make the illusion all the more convincing -- the real work is done as The Mainstream embeds ideas in the heads of producers and designers, and piques the interest of the general public. While The Mainstream cannot affect everyone's line of thinking, enough people will watch shows like To Tell the Embarrassing Truth and Celebrity Overdose Tonight to define what is "in" or "out."
Fixing Paragon
Despite his best efforts, the majority of Paragon City remained free of The Mainstream's grasp. There weren't any hip people there. The clothing was banal and tacky, a far cry from The Mainstream's idea of fashion. Very few citizens even cared about the latest cast-off voted off of Marooned: Oregon! What a travesty. Simply embedding ideas in the back of the citizenship's heads would not work in the case of Paragon City. If the fine citizens were to enjoy anything pointless, worthless, and unnecessary en masse, The Mainstream would have to teach them the latest trends himself.
Despite his God-like powers of "persuasion" and "suggestion," The Mainstream was thrown in the Zig less than 24 hours in Paragon City for attempting to "attack" "several" "tacky and uncool" "heroes" in Gemini Park. The sight of such large amounts of spandex sent The Mainstream into a tizzy rivaling anything ever seen on Trapping People in a House 4.
Tangible Powers
Mainstream knew he couldn't win this culture war against Paragon City alone. He created the mysterious conformity robots, forged from gadgets of the past, such as pre-iPod mp3 players and As Seen on TV cookware and cutlery. How these devices came together to form destructive robots is, like many of The Mainstream's techniques, unknown.
Additionally, The Mainstream decided to put his venomous speech, typically reserved for celebrity feuds and bulimic encouragement, to a bit more physical use. Now, The Mainstream intends to inject Paragon City with a lethal dose of poison. I'm gonna do it! Me....and the New World Ord-ahem, sorry. Got a little carried away there.
Personality
Mainstream's personality is snippy and critical, politely reaming all that does not fit within his scope of trendy. Numerous observers liken his attitude to a love child of Tim Gunn and Alton Brown, except a little less fabulous. While the destruction of unique and thoughtful non-conformist opinions about unimportant crap is The Mainstream's primary objective in Paragon City, he is also not afraid to stop fighting and criticize a gaudy outfit while being punched in the skull.
The Future
As with all trends, nothing is certain. What currently stands as robots and poisonous spew in The Mainstream's arsenal could change in the matter of minutes, were a trendier option to present itself. This quality of shifting the paradigm ensures that no matter what the future holds, The Mainstream will exist to convince us we like what we see.
Footnotes
- ↑ The exact term for the role is unknown; however, Trend Definer seems to encompass the duties of The Mainstream accurately enough.
