The Flower Children

In 1968 a group of college students in London got their hands on a batch of LSD from a unknown and unnamed source. Dropping tabs, the four of them underwent painful mutations and awoke as a quartet of powerful variants. Unlike their American counterparts, the Aquarians, the Flower Children were neither as radical nor as active in their variant state. Sure, they pitched in fighting the Establishment, and occasionally dealt with variant threats, but mostly they bummed around, enjoying the celebrity of being variants in a world newly fascinated by them.
    If the team could be said to have any mission, it was the containment of Aleric Runeblade, whose activities they countered for five years before finally defeating him. Runeblade's insanity and power made him unpredictable, and his motif made it easy for the Flower Children act as knights of the new. Unfortunately, shortly after Runbelade's defeat, the team splintered—Matachin and Quiet Giant's falling out over Giant marrying Matachin's sister, Sophomore's disappearance, and Crystal Lynns overdose and possible suicide made headlines and destroyed the team in 1973.
    The surviving three Flower Children returned from retirement in 1980 to aid Stormchild in the containment of Greer. This brought the team back together, leading to the reconciliation of Matachin and Quiet Giant and the recognition of the latter's unique drug problem. The three now live together (with Giant's wife/Matachin's sister) outside London, giving their aid to community causes and offering advice and support to Giant's daughter, Jayhan, now a member of the new Danger Squad. Giant's powers occasionally send him on a rampage, which his teammates and family try to control, but all told this little quirk makes it difficult to truly integrate into the community.

The Quiet Giant
The mutagenic LSD had a very profound effect on Benedict Fitzpatrick, opening up both his body and mind to the universe and flooding him with cosmic energy. He grew to nearly double his old height, his strength and endurance went off the scale, and his body constantly healed and replenished itself through the absorption of cosmic energy. More importantly, he gained vast insight into the universe, able to peer into the past, present or future to learn what he wanted or needed to know. Laconic and steadfast, Quiet Giant was the most powerful of the Children, making his later difficulties that much worse. A consistent LSD user, this reacted poorly with his cosmic awareness. He now has problems thinking clearly, and his awareness loses focus. To make things worse, LSD deposits in his fatty tissue ensure the occasional bad trip when he discovers something particularly disturbing in the universe. While his family and friends call these bad trips, the press more rightfully names them rampages.

Sophomore
Using the name in its true definition, he was a Wise Fool, and the odd man out in the Flower Children. Sophomore's abilities were telepathic in nature, along with phenomenal endurance. Like Quiet Giant, Sophomore suffered from the problem of knowing too much, since for most of his career his telepathic powers were barely under control—he would always read the thoughts of everyone around him. Sophomore sometimes hid this disenchantment with jokes, and other times with sullen withdrawal. His only real confidant was Crystal Lynn, whose unique nature made her impossible for him to read. It's unknown whether her overdose cause his disappearance in 1973, or vise versa.

Crystal Lynn
The most drastically changed of the Flower Children, the special blend (no really, that's what they called it!) transformed Lynn Armitage's body into diamond. She kept her full tactile sensation in her diamond form, though her hearing and eyesight were greatly diminished. As a walking diamond, Crystal Lynn was indestructible, tireless, strong and able to slice through most solids with her fingernails. While she never seemed depressed about this change in public ("Hey, Im my own best friend!"), she constantly pushed the limits of her body, using overstimulation to compensate for her loss of sensory acuity. She was the center of massive orgies and seriously overused drugs. This finally killed her in 1973.

Matachin
The name means sword dancer, and he's just that. An Indian and the only non-anglo variant hero in England at the time (and for years afterwards), Matachin is a powerful presence and effective public speaker. He was the leader of the Flower Children, in as much as they had one, and was certainly their spokesperson. Matachin's variance is his vastly increased agility, making him one of the fastest, most agile people on the planet. He is also able to generate a sword of psychokinetic force—a huge Sikh blade that would burst into fire at his mental command. Matachin was the only member of the Flower Children to not retire fully in '73, instead turning his attention towards being a hero to Britain's Indian community.

Sunshine Girl
The least powerful of the Flower Children, Sunshine Girl was, and is, the one the public adores. She's blond, bubbly and busty, which guarantees her a position in the British press, though not always a flattering one, and as she puts it, "never Missionary, hon." The special blend gave her control over light, including a strange rainbow attack that would directly over-stimulate the target's visual cortex, rendering them exhausted or unconscious. She enjoyed the spotlight in the Flower Children, and the press dubbed her the new Gwenevere, in contrast to Runebalde's Mordred. When the team disbanded, she remained a celebrity, becoming a model and spokesperson. She aided the Flower Children in the Greer affair, and provides funds for the keeping of Quiet Giant, though she doesn't visit much.

| Top |