Here's a recap of the latest session of my Sentinels RPG campaign "The Alternates"! As per usual, there's a narrative recap (written as if it was in-metaverse) and then I go over the actual running of the game, and any lessons I learned as the GM.
If you're lost, you can catch up with the previous Game Recaps: Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, Game 4, Game 5, Game 6
Brief Description of the Game: In the meta-verse (where Sentinel comics is a published comic book multimedia empire), there is a premium cable computer-animated (in a style similar to “Into the Spider-Verse”) television series (which itself is based on a comic series called "The Alternates"). This RPG campaign represents that show, with each game session (ideally) representing one hour-long Episode of the show. The recap below is written in-metaverse as if it was an article on a popular website that posts recaps of episodes.
The PCs are Cytoblast, Dr. Comet, Jersey Devil, Kid Radical, and Quasar Kid. The characters Bouncer and Starshadow are featured NPCs. Enjoy!
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The Alternates Episode #7 Recap:
“Potato Salad and Hot Dogs”
By Eddie Jaczerkowski
Welcome to another recap for The Alternates! This time I’m covering Episode #7, “Potato Salad and Hot Dogs.” Finally, the show turns to some comic relief as more stories unfold in the background. Pay attention!
Episode Recap
The first part of the episode is a series of little scenes, each of which focuses on one of The Alternates. The whole sequence is meant to show the audience we’re fast-forwarding to one year after the “Oblivaeon Crisis” (as it’s called in this timeline).
The show opens with Kid Radical sitting on a couch. The television in the room announces, “It’s been 3 months since the Oblivaeon Crisis, and the U.S. Government is now seeking candidates for its new superhero initiative, ‘The Guardians of Freedom.’ The Department of Homeland Security hopes to have multiple regional teams in place by next year.” Meanwhile, Kid Radical is filling out an application and checking over his resume, obviously applying to be on the new team.
From there, we bounce around between the protagonists:
Dr. Comet is in the grocery story, reaching for something in the frozen food aisle. A voice from behind her says, “Hey honey! You want me to get that for ya?” She turns, her face full of anger. We see a flicker of fire in her eyes. The camera cuts to the bags of frozen peas in the freezer, which start to melt.
Cytoblast is sitting in a study, reading a large tome. Although he’s in his human form, we can see leaves and vines have started to grow from him around the chair he’s sitting in. He looks down at his feet, and he sees that he has begun to grow roots into the floor. “I need to get out more,” he quips, as he puts the book down.
Jersey Devil is seen walking in the wilderness at night, approaching a dilapidated cabin. There is an old sign that reads, “Leeds Family.” The view pans out, and we see that the woods and the cabin are just a few hundred feet from a major highway, and on the other side of the highway is a brightly lit city (Atlantic City, New Jersey?). The scene cuts back in to show five obviously drunk men stumbling through the woods to the cabin. Jersey Devil poofs next to them and attempts to scare them, but four of them are busy taking a selfie. The fifth, whose shirt says “Groom,” looks right at Jersey Devil, shocked. He then throws up all over Jersey Devil. Screeching, Jersey Devil poofs and disappears.
Quasar Kid is in an amusement park. He excitedly walks up to a vendor selling “The Ice Cream of the Future!” He gets a bowl and takes a spoonful into his mouth with a smile. However, his smile quickly turns into a scowl. He turns to the people in line and points at the vendor’s booth. “Everything on this sign is wrong!” he says to them.
Back to Kid Radical, who is still in the room he was in before. This time, the television says, “In the six months since the Oblivaeon Crisis, crime has virtually disappeared throughout the country. It seems as if a new sense of community has swept the nation. Meanwhile, the government has announced the lineup of the new Guardians of Freedom.” Kid Radical turns off the television, and pulls out a red, white, and blue version of his costume. Frowning, he folds it up and drops it into a box labelled “Job Stuff.” He pulls out a few other clothing items from the box labelled “Job Stuff” and examines them - a blue polo shirt with a yellow logo for “Box Office Video,” a name badge for “Bennie’s Car Phone Sales,” and a tee-shirt that says “JustCansOfBeans.com”. He sighs deeply and pushes himself far back into the couch, exasperated.
Back at the grocery store, Dr. Comet is exiting in a hurry from the front entrance. We see fire trucks and police arrayed outside, and can hear the klaxon of a fire alarm. She swiftly walks away from the hubbub when she is stopped by a police officer. “You gotta get back, sweetheart!” he says. “We’ve got a dangerous situation here!” Her lips tighten, but she holds back her feelings. She nods rapidly and repeatedly at the officer and quickly rushes off through the parking lot.
In Megalopolis, Cytoblast (as Dr. Douglas Hemlocke) is wearing a suit and tie, holding a resume. He looks across the street to the hospital. He takes a breath and nods to himself. Still, he doesn’t move. Eventually, he closes his eyes and he shakes his head. He can’t go through with it. He can’t go back to working at the hospital. Then, we see his gaze shift from the hospital to a sign nearby - “Gift Shop.” The frame zooms in on a sign that says, “Flower Arrangements Available.” Dr. Hemlocke smiles.
Outside an abandoned drive-in theater, Jersey Devil appears. He hops the fence in a single motion and starts to walk inside. He stops when he sees a giant sign in the middle of the drive-in’s lot - “Coming soon: Morebucks Coffee!” He turns around to look across the street, where we see there’s already a Morebucks Coffee. He grimaces, and disappears with a poof.
Seated in some kind of retro-futuristic vehicle, Quasar Kid looks unhappy. Behind him, images of floating cities and flying cars zoom past. As the scene pans out, we see that he is on a ride at the amusement park. He finally exits the ride unhappily. As he does, a sign above the ride comes into view - it reads “The Time Machine.”
Kid Radical is standing alongside a roadway, spinning a sign for “Beef Jerky Outlet.” He is an expert sign-spinner, able to do handstands, backflips, and other tricks while holding the company’s sign. But we soon hear a voice shouting from nearby, “Hey kid!” Nearby, a man in a shirt and tie says harshly, “You’re spinnin’ the sign too fast! Nobody can read it!”
Dr. Comet is delivering a lecture to a room full of college students. As she speaks, she hears giggling from the back. She clears her throat, trying to quiet the room, and continues. As she adjusts a transparency on an overhead projector, someone in the back drops their book with a bang, and most of the room chuckles. Dr. Comet frowns and takes a deep breath, but we can already see that part of the overhead projector has begun to melt. The scene cuts to a janitor throwing the melted projector onto a pile with three or four other melted projectors.
Inside of the hospital gift shop, the floral arrangements section has taken over. Proudly watering some roses, Cytoblast hums a song in the midst of a sea of flowers and leaves. “Doug!” A voice shouts, “Can you get all these plants under control, please?!” Cytoblast turns toward the voice and says, “I don’t know, Larry! Tell me - are those little bears over there selling as well as my peonies?”
Near the gates of an abandoned amusement park, Jersey Devil skulks in the shadows, hiding behind a park bench. Through the open gates, a gang of teenagers enters the park - a tall blonde young man with an orange scarf, a redheaded young woman in a purple dress, a young man with scruffy hair and a long green tee-shirt, and a short young woman with a brown bob and an orange sweater. Alongside them, a great dane sniffs at the ground. Jersey Devil shakes his head, rolls his eyes, and poofs out of sight.
At the amusement park, Quasar Kid approaches a ride called “Tyrannosaurus Terror.” In front of the ride is a giant wooden cutout of a predatory dinosaur. Quasar Kid crosses his arms and frowns as he looks over the dinosaur. “Tail on the ground,” he says. “Three fingers on each hand. They can’t even get the past right!”
Finally, the scene cuts to a very modern mansion overlooking the Hollywood Hills. (We can see the Hollywood sign in the background.) There’s a radio on, with a newscaster saying, “It’s been one year since the Oblivaeon Crisis, and authorities in Megalopolis will mark the anniversary with-” The newscast is cut off as someone turns the station to music. The scene pans back over a pool, where we can see two dozen people swimming and hanging around the pool in their bathing suits.
The camera moves inside the house, where a guy in swimming trunks says, “Killer party, Bouncer!” Bouncer enters the scene and nods, “Thanks, man,” he replies. “Excuse me - I gotta go say hi to some other guests.”
Bouncer enters another room and we see all of The Alternates seated there. “Sorry,” Bouncer tells them. “I just had to make the rounds. What are we talking about?”
Quasar Kid indicates they were talking about the Guardians of Freedom. Bouncer asks if anyone has applied, and Kid Radical says he has, but he never heard back. With a strange sort of conspiratorial tone, Bouncer tells him, “Of course they’re not going to hire you. You’re an unknown quantity. You survived the Oblivaeon Crisis. They don’t know what to do with you.” They all look at him curiously, but Jersey Devil breaks the silence.
“Has anyone even used their powers in the past year?” he asks. Dr. Comet shakes her head vigorously, but we can see bubbles forming in the glass of water she’s holding. The team all agrees that it’s been a pretty quiet year, and none of them has fought any serious crime, more or less any supervillains. Bouncer explains that he has post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the Oblivaeon Crisis, so he’s unable to attempt to do anything dangerous because of crippling anxiety. Jersey Devil tells them that he thought he found villains, but it turned out to just be meddling kids.
Meanwhile, Quasar Kid is eating Toditos chips. He seems to be in a bad mood. “This bag,” he says, holding up the Toditos bag, “is mostly air! You’re paying for air! In the future, Toditos are good for you! They’re three-inch squares, and they have a week full of nutrition in them!” Kid Radical reaches into his backpack and pulls out a laminated copy of the food pyramid, handing it to Quasar Kid.
Quasar Kid glares at Bouncer. “I can’t believe you told me that ice cream was made with a recipe actually obtained from the future.”
Bouncer shrugs. “I didn’t think you’d believe me!”
As the team banters, they’re interrupted when a middle-aged woman with straight, gray-blonde hair enters the room. She says hello to Bouncer (who she calls “Patterson”), and introduces herself to the others as Shining Sea, the leader of the West Coast Guardians of Freedom. She tells them she was there to invite Bouncer to a BBQ sponsored by the Team, and she happily invites the rest of the Alternates to come as well.
“I have a conference that day,” Dr. Comet quickly interjects. Cytoblast gives her a curious look. Shining Sea says she’s sorry to hear that, bids the rest of the team farewell (and hopes to see them soon), and exits the room.
“Do you actually have a conference, or were you just blowing her off?” asks Kid Radical. “I was just blowing her off,” replies Dr. Comet. However, in his congenial and earnest way, Cytoblast persuades Dr. Comet to come around and join them for a BBQ. She begrudgingly agrees, proving Dr. Comet has some respect for Cytoblast, if no one else.
The next scene is the West Coast Guardians’ BBQ, in faraway San Francisco. The scene is full of folks in very bad costumes, who are obviously somewhere in the hierarchy of super-heroes below even The Alternates.
The West Coast Guardians are, themselves, something of a D-level superhero team. The show makes this clear - the Oblivaeon Crisis wiped out all the A-level and B-level superheroes. The superheroes we see are the “leftovers,” so to speak. The audience is introduced to them one-by-one, but I’ll take the time here to introduce them to you, the reader:
- Shining Sea, the leader, a middle-aged woman who has magical spellcasting abilities tied to the ocean
- Veritas, an artificial intelligence (who walks around in a robot body), who became sentient somehow when the Celestial Tribunal visited Earth.
- Pumpkin Spice, the “Only Drag Queen Superhero” (according to her), who has superhuman strength and durability
- Codebase, a slightly obnoxious Silicon Valley entrepreneur who has the power to “speak the language of computers”
- Nevermind, a young woman with psychic powers that allow her to confuse others (and make it so they don’t see her or forget that they saw her)
- New Wave, a young woman who looks straight out of the early 80s who has powers to control sound (she mentions she has a brother on the Midwest Guardians named Honky-Tonk).
It’s worth mentioning that the Arithmetist is also at the party (someone mentions he’s on the core Guardians of Freedom team), but the Alternates actively avoid him altogether, walking away when they seem approach, etc.
The Alternates talk to each of the members of the West Coast Guardians in turn. First, they talk to Shining Sea again. When she asks, “Have you ever considered joining the Guardians of Freedom?” Dr. Comet flatly replies, “No.”
Jersey Devil bursts into the team’s conversation with Veritas (who speaks in a comically uneven computer-generated voice), interrupting and shouting, “There’s nothing here for me to eat!” Later, we see him gobbling up potato salad straight from the bowl (using his hands), only to spit it out onto the floor and shout, “Agh! Raisins!” Basically, in every scene at the BBQ, Jersey Devil seems to be eating something. It must take a lot of food to fuel those supernatural, extradimensional powers.
The other meetings are mostly short introductions. Pumpkin Spice is outspoken and proud. Nevermind seems to be dealing with social anxiety, but is also somewhat cynical. She mentions that she grew up in Lynwood, in Los Angeles. Codebase is an obnoxious and arrogant blowhard. New Wave (who looks a lot like Blondie’s Debbie Harry in their video for “Atomic”) tries to radiate a hard edge, but is obviously excited to be the newest member of the West Coast Guardians.
The episode shifts focus when there’s a sudden alarm coming across all West Coast Guardians’ communicators. They seem surprised and a little confused, but Shining Sea announces, “There are reports that a sea monster is attacking the Golden Gate Bridge!” The prospect of finally seeing action obviously excited the Guardians. Shining Sea asks the other “superheroes” to stay put - as duly appointed federal law enforcement officers, the West Coast Guardians will handle the emergency. The Guardians all fly off in a Guardians-branded hoverjet, leaving New Wave, a probationary member, behind.
New Wave chats with the Alternates as Kid Radical brings up live video of the sea monster on his fancy wrist screen. Just as the West Coast Guardians are about to attack the sea monster, New Wave’s communicator alarm goes off again.
“There’s a robbery downtown,” she tells the Alternates. “I think that means… I have to go take care of it, right?” The Alternates agree. She asks them to accompany her, and soon they’re flying off to downtown San Francisco.
The scene cuts to the front of a large bank, where some crooks are hiding behind makeshift barricades. Holding a defensive position at the top of the stone stairs leading to the bank, the crooks have about forty feet between them and the police arrayed at the bottom of the stairs. They have four hostages strapped to some large device that looks like a bomb.
The Alternates arrive with New Wave, and stand behind the police cars. New Wave asks what their move is, and the general agreement is that the plan is, “Get `em.” The heroes all burst into action, and they make very quick work of the bank robbers arrayed outside. Jersey Devil tries to teleport one of the hostages away, but he realizes that if any of the hostages are removed, the device will blow. Straining to gather more power, he pulls all of the hostages with him, teleporting them behind the police line.
But the bomb doesn’t explode. The outer walls of the “bomb” fall away, leaving behind a big, black box. Suddenly, the box begins emitting a deep thumping noise. It becomes clear quickly that the box is some sort of huge speaker, and the thump changes to a bass-heavy dubstep song. The volume is incredible, so much that the Alternates hold their hands over their ears.
“Oh no!” New Wave shouts to them. “I know what this is! You know how I have a brother on the Midwest Guardians named Honky-Tonk? Well, I have another, older brother who never intended to use his powers for good! His name is DJ Doctor Dancefloor!”
The noise level increases, and the glass doors at the front of the bank explode outward.
The credits roll over the song “We’re Here to Save the Day,” by The Constellations.
Final Thoughts
The Alternates comic book series mixed levity and seriousness well, and until this episode, I felt the tone of the show wasn’t capturing the tone of the comic book. But “Potato Salad and Hot Dogs” really captures the comical part of The Alternates very well.
In a recent interview, series creator Ari Litvin said that the best comedy comes from a place of shared emotions, and that often those emotions must be tragic. In other words, we have to experience lows together so that we can reach higher heights together. I’m not sure if that philosophy works for a television series, but viewership of The Alternates has, on average, increased since the premiere, so that bodes well for a second season.
As I’ve noted before, The Alternates comic book series (on which this animated series is based) tells the backstory of “The Oblivaeon Crisis” through flashbacks and the like. However, this episode doesn’t pick up at the beginning of the comic book series, either! The story told in this episode is not one that’s told in the same way (or in the same place) in the comics, so fans of the comic book series are in for all sorts of surprises as this animated series unfolds! I, for one, am excited to see a new twist on those stories!
Some Nerdy Notes:
- Most of the characters in this episode are new and original characters created for The Alternates comic book series. The Arithmetist had appeared in Sentinel Comics elsewhere as a minor magical character, and likewise, Shining Sea has appeared as a sort of “sea witch” character with a distinctly patriotic theme. The other members of the West Coast Guardians are original to The Alternates comic book series.
- Shining Sea calls Bouncer by the name “Patterson” - his full, real name is Patterson McPhee. But no one calls him that.
- Bouncer mentions he hasn’t been working as an actor lately, but he’s put away a lot from his previous movies. This hasn’t really been discussed in the series, but Bouncer has traditionally used his super powers (especially his invulnerability) to star in action movies, where he can do all the stunts, no matter how dangerous. He’s never run into Stuntman, who is another superhero movie star, but one assumes Stuntman would find Bouncer to be an irritating rival.
- It’s not directly stated on-screen during this episode, but Quasar Kid has probably been crashing on Bouncer’s couch for the past year.
- The sign outside the cabin reads “Leeds Family,” and Jersey Devil introduced himself in Episode #1 as “Mr. Leeds,” so this must be his family’s ancestral home! Of course, Jersey Devil is also supposed to be from an alternate timeline that Oblivaeon destroyed, so… is this his home? Another Mr. Leeds’ home? Or is this his original timeline, and he had traveled to the timeline that was destroyed? I don’t know!
- We didn't find out who's on the core Guardians of Freedom team, aside from The Arithmetist, but I'm sure we'll find out in due time!
Next week’s episode is titled “Big Ship on the Ocean,” which might be a reference to the sea monster, or… who knows?
See you next week!
Eddie Jaczerkowski is a staff writer who loves comic books and writes about television.
Running the Game!
This was a mostly social game with a very short action sequence. However, to come up with all the "Meanwhile..." scenes that tell us what the characters were up to over the year that passed, we all brainstormed for a solid 90 minutes. That's not an average RPG session, but honestly the results speak for themselves. If it makes the game better, it's worth the time! It was a lot of fun.
This game really is where the campaign kind of "starts" - I'm comfortable with the system, I know how to do what I want to do, and the players all know their characters. Spinning out the yarn of the stories while also offering up the action is going to be my main challenge - I want the stories to be deep, but I want the players to get to use their powers, too. So I'll work to strike the balance of those two things.
I do love the NPCs on the West Coast Guardians of Freedom (a reference, of course, to the West Coast Avengers, which is the very first comic book I ever owned - West Coast Avengers #1 - which I bugged my mom to buy for me at a local yard sale). This is a nice side effect of murdering all the poor heroes of Sentinel Comics - now I get to fill in the blanks with my own stupid ideas! Unfortunately, these NPCs all have deep backstories in my brain, and I doubt they will really get to be told through the course of this game. But maybe!
I don't have any other mechanical or gamemastering notes this week. Due to a health issue, I didn't have time to do a sketch this week. Oh no! I hope to do one for next week.
But I do have a different thing to show off. I did this a few weeks ago, mostly to kind of tease my players (because I joke a little too much that Starshadow is the most important character in this game), but I have some modeling and painting skills, and I turned them into a custom Sentinels Legends Starshadow action figure! This is a limited edition Schwal-Mart exclusive of Starshadow in his cosmic shadow form! This is a rare find!
He's made from a Marvel Legends Genis-Vell, which is really an easy starting place for making a Starshadow figure. Plus, Starshadow is partly inspired by the original Captain Marvel (and the rest of the Captains Marvel, including Carol, Monica, and Genis-Vell), so that's neat!
And don't ask about the Violetron Build-a-Figure yet. I just made up that name, and now... I have to make up a villain to go with that name.
Thanks for reading!