The

“Look-a-like”


Power Level:
Game system: DC Heroes Role-Playing Game

Context

This obscure DC Comics character only appeared in a 1990 issue of Justice League Europe. He doesn’t even have a name.


Background

  • Real Name: Unrevealed.
  • Marital Status: Single.
  • Known Relatives: None.
  • Group Affiliation: None.
  • Base Of Operations: Mobile (lives in Brooklyn).


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Powers and Abilities

He can become any character from the movies. However, if he shows up in a campaign, it would be important not to “munchkinize” this ability. It’s no fun if all he does is animate Superman from the Superman movies ! That’s going against the concept of the character. Godzilla, the Terminator, and Dracula are perfectly acceptable, however.

For a similar character, see the Projectionist from the Wild Cards novels.


History

This unnamed character (okay, I made up the name “The Look-A-Like,” but sheesh, this guy wasn’t given any name at all, so I had to call him something !) discovered his power seven years ago. Since then, he has tried unsuccessfully to make a career out of being a celebrity look-a-like.

Despondent, he decided to pretend to *actually* be a celebrity (a Clint Eastwood ripoff). But as he vacationed in Cannes, the French police caught on, and subtly arrested him. He escaped into the only available body, as a Japanese Unnamed Rubber Monster (a Godzilla ripoff) movie was being shown on a billboard movie screen.

The police were surprised when their captive disappeared, but moreso when the J.U.R.M. showed up. The JLE fought the monster, who accidentally used his breath weapon when trying to communicate—rubber monsters can’t speak. So he fled, to a movie theater at random— and ended up becoming a chainsaw/hockey mask murderer.

Fleeing from the JLE again, he found a safer movie.&emsp. He ended up becoming a dog from one of those cutesy dog-as-the-hero movies. In this form, he managed to get back to his real body and went home to Brooklyn, leaving the JLE to wonder what the heck was going on.


Description

He’s an overweight, glasses-wearing normal guy with dark hair.


Personality

Like most mundane people, he is foolish and simple-minded. He can think of no way (after seven years !) to make a living with his great powers. When things go poorly, his first instinct is to flee.

His only interesting personality quirk is the fact he apparently has a compulsion to become Marilyn Monroe, which he discovered when watching The Misfits .


Quotes

“I just want to get back to my body !”



Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG

Tell me more about the game stats

The Look-A-Like

Dex: 02 Str: 02 Bod: 02 Motivation: Mercenary
Int: 02 Wil: 02 Min: 02 Occupation: unemployed
Inf: 02 Aur: 02 Spi: 02 Resources {or Wealth}: unknown, presumed low
Init: 006 HP: 025

Powers:
Animate Image: 25, Personality Transfer: 05

Bonuses and Limitations:

  • Personality Transfer leaves his body behind.
  • Animate Image can only animate one image at a time; when a new image is animated, the old one vanishes.
  • Personality Transfer and Animate Image can only be used in conjunction with each other; that is, these powers must be used in the following way: an image is animated and then Personality Transfer is used to inhabit the animated image; since animated images will not resist, Personality Transfer is automatically successful.
  • Because these powers must be used in conjunction, no image may be animated unless it is within range of Personality Transfer. Furthermore, he may not return from an image to his own body unless his body is within range of PT.
  • Animate Image may only animate images from a movie; the movie may be playing in a theater or on a VCR (or on TV), but it must be a movie image. Furthermore, the animated image will be missing from the movie, though the movie will continue just as before, as though the animated-image’s character were merely invisible to the audience.
  • Animate Image furthermore seems to always animate the main character in the movie; The Look-A-Like does not have full control over what image he animates.
  • Animate Image furthermore only gives the image stats equal to what the movie character should have (up to the maximum determined by his APs of Animate Image). Furthermore, any physical drawbacks possessed by the character are also possessed by the animated image.

Advantages:
Scholar (movies).

Drawbacks:
MIA (becoming Marilyn Monroe), Socially Inept (Minor), MPR: glasses.

By Sean MacDonald.

Source of Character: DC Comics (JLE #14).