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shinygoku · 11 months

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Captain Scarlet Headcanons

A man stands in the gloom of an alleyway, lit up only by a yellow tinted spotlight. He’s tall, dark and handsome, and his striking red and black uniform give him quite the presence. The latest in the line of Anderson Heroes and the one tasked with enduring the most gruesome of settings and personal circumstance.

Also he’s gay and autistic, good for him!

Welcome to my Headcanons for Paul Metcalfe, aka Captain Scarlet.

I’m primarily drawing straight from the one true canon source; the 1967 Television Series, with some supplementary tidbits from the Haynes Manual and bonus material from my DVD set. I’m not counting from tie in novels, audio only stories, or comics, as they’re lower in the hierarchy and hard to come by, but if they’re any good then they shouldn’t contradict anything I have here ;D

This is a long post, so I’ll put the cut up here. Great to read when you’re sitting down with a nice drink and/or snack~

CANON INFO

Paul Metcalfe will be born in Winchester in 2036 and the series starts in 2068, making him 31 with change (as his DOB is in December and Ep 1 sure don’t look like Winter) when he’s killed and Mysteronised. That’s really quite sad, but of course, this is a series about a war…

With his December the 17th Birthday, he’s a Sagittarius. The prophecy aspect could allude to the occasionally remembered Mysteron Sense he has? Key traits mentioned include (Positive) Idealism and generosity, and (Negative) pronounced impatience and being shockingly blunt. These all fit nicely with our man in red here.

I ain’t sufficiently interested in Military crud to rehash it or try to put my own spin (I had to look up what a commission is in that context and I still only half get it!), same applies with Academic stuff, so for both them I’ll let the bio provided in the Haynes Manual cover it lmao

“Background: From a long-serving military family. Trained at West Point Military Academy. Following completion of degrees in technology, history and mathematical application at Winchester University joined World Army Air Force as private, rising rapidly to colonel through inspiring capacity to command and military professionalism. Having noted qualities of leadership, strategic thinking and dedication to duty, approached by Spectrum selection committee to become leading field agent. Commission accepted immediately.”

Yeah, the main characters of Anderson shows go real hard on the expansion pack pasts, I’m unsure how hilariously over the top it is compared to the 5 Tracy Boys but they weren’t shy about making the leads Cool and Experienced!

Also from the Haynes manual, instead of Personal Interests like most’a the other cast members, there’s a Special Note. It strikes me as a bit more cold and impersonal than what the Show has, and take it with a slight pinch of salt, but I’ve got it transcribed as written:

“After reconstruction by Mysterons following death in car crash and subsequent fall from tall structure, replica accepted as serving officer having completed extensive tests revealing capacity for retro-metabolism and loss of Mysteron influence.”

Well anyway, that covers the Canon info, it’s limited but pretty interesting for what it’s worth. Below is another short bio, this one from my DVD set (the info presumably having been provided in Annuals prior).

HEADCANONS

As ya can see in the Marital Status section, he’s Single. I shall make the bold statement too that he’s gay but possibly isn’t consciously aware of that …yet? He can see when a girl is pretty but he doesn’t React much to it, and none of the interactions he does have with ladies is romance coded. In fact, when Linda Nolan pretty strongly implies attraction he literally says: “Thank you. Let’s go, Adam!” – I really think he didn’t Twig her intent and then he’s instantly getting Blue’s attention instead XD ~ But he does have stronger and more diverse interactions with other guys, especially Blue ;3

I think he’s autistic but good at masking – even before being Mysteronised his resting face is very unexpressive and his seemingly sincere bidding of good luck sounds quite flat. Other factors include the above mentioned focus on professionalism but deviating when his principles are challenged or things aren’t going to plan, plus how he spends free time in a quiet environment and mostly hanging out with Blue when given the chance. Also, again his canon Good At Academic angle. I expect he thrives fairly well in the pseudo military environment as it provides structure, routine and clear rules (Though he will disregard those when he’s being particularly spicy!).

Can be stubborn and impatient (noticeably uses a louder voice when re-asserting something), and isn’t the best at hiding his thoughts. Otherwise seems to have a stiff upper lip and good nerves. Slight hints of arrogance on occasion but strongly principled. He’s got a dry and sardonic sense of humour.

Mostly very professional but he’s not “on” all the time. Sitting at his Boss’ desk with his feet up on the desk as he Vibes is the oddest example, yet it doesn’t feel shockingly out of character. I’ve noticed he sits weird in many scenes too, sometimes his ankle rests on his knee, propping his feet way up on White’s desk, or sitting in a chair sideways (can file under gay / autistic traits / omg he just like me fr), and states in Spectrum Strikes Back that he enjoys the quietness of nature with less people around too (he’s SO real !!) Like when he needs to cool off in White as Snow it’s the little flower house on the Promenade Deck he picks to gaze out into the blue yonder.

I like the idea that Agent Blake from the Secret Service is his grandfather (Meta: the Captain Scarlet puppet was reused for the role), personally I see it working better as him being Paul Metcalfe’s Maternal Grandpa. As for the Paternal line, that’s where several generations of Military dudes comes from :T – At least the Blake personality may explain where Scarlet got the history and maths nerd interests, Blake does have that bookish vibe rather than a strong presence.

Seeing how his Mysteron Sense manifests as Nausea, I think he gets motion sick more easily than a Pilot and Guy who drives Armoured Tank-Cars Backwards ought to… so he wears Pressure Bands to alleviate the sickness response (but the Mysteron Sense may bypass that, being psychic rather than motion based). I know it’s in part due to the puppets but he sure seems to prefer wearing high necked, long sleeved shirts, be it uniform of civvies (And well, 60’s fashion be like that too lol, maybe he’s a smidge Trendy!).

MYSTERONISATION & RETROMETABOLISM

Ok, so as one of the first to be Mysteronised, it feels like the Mysterons were themselves experimenting with how their duplicates were going to be. Black seems to be forcibly possessed with his personality overridden, and both Brown and Scarlet are killed in a car wreck fireball to be copied.

While Brown was used to be a suicide bomb, Scarlet was used to try to take the President alive instead. Scarlet’s second death was from being shot in the chest and then falling maybe 10,000 feet (idk distances. It was REALLY really high!) to a presumably gory landing. However, after they get his remains back at base, they’re shocked to discover him showing signs of life again and his body reverts to his as-new form after the first Mysteron Reconstruction, but instead of being a pawn of the Mysterons, this time Scarlet is back to his original body’s personality, and that’s how he stays thereafter. I theorise that as he was an early draft, the Mysterons didn’t have the expectation that the healing factor they installed would be that potent, nor did they put in a way to Keep their programming after said death. That, or they did want to have a worthy opponent in their ongoing war of nerves… But yes, Scarlet remains completely unique as both a Reconstruction (effectively a clone of Paul Metcalfe [re]born at 31 with all his memories before the explosion-death intact), but also one with free will and unlimited healing powers that bring him back from death multiple times.

The Mysterons presumably don’t install a healing factor into the Mysteronised Drones thereafter, though they are harder than normal to kill, with High Voltage Electricity being the only surefire to kill them, and presumably would permakill Scarlet too. They are also unable to be X-rayed, instead being opaque on such photographs.

But yes, the grisly central premise of the show is that even though Scarlet can indeed be killed, he won’t stay down forever. Though he’s Indestructible, that’s from the healing power repairing injuries and reversing death rather than a Superman-esque bulletproof skin (the opening of the show features this only for brevity lol, the episodes themselves stick to the rules). Nope, it’s even explicit that he feels the pain of injuries and dying each time! That’s rough, buddy!

A much lesser side effect of being a Mysteronised Clone is the “Sixth Sense” Mysteron sensing response that the writers sometimes forget about, where Paul feels nausea when another replicant is nearby.

The healing power is called the same term that the Mysterons use to recreate destroyed matter: Retrometabolism. And now I’ve recapped the origin and summary, I wanna dig in to the headcanoning part that they show sadly didn’t make enough time for… >:3c

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Here’s how I think Retrometabolism works for Scarlet specifically: In the event of injuries, the wound in question will get healed pretty quickly. The smaller the wound, the faster it heals, but even something like a broken leg or bullet wound will still leave no scar tissue or residual effects after the process is complete. However, if he’s been killed, then the Retrometalbolism probably focuses first on his most major organs to get his body restarted as swiftly as possible, with lesser injuries coming afterwards.

I also imagine if the cause of death was something like being shot, the Retrometabolism will also force the bullet out, assuming it got stuck in his body. If he was poisoned, it would purge and/or neutralise this before getting his body back online. If he had brain damage from either the direct cause of death (hello, Operation Time!) or as a side effect of his brain being starved of oxygen, that damage will be waved away all as part of the package. It also seems he’s immune to disease, a hypothesis actually observed in Place of the Angels. I think he must also be immune to the harmful effects of Radiation, or at least that the death and rebirth would cleanse any lingering sickness.

However, the more grisly his death, the longer it will take to heal. I reckon the only way to speed up the Retrometabolistic process would be for surgical intervention to essentially do as much clean-up as possible so the Retrometabolism can ‘focus’ on the regeneration part. For this reason I think being riddled with bullets would probably be a simpler process than the times Scarlet is caught in an explosion, or some of the potentially-canon situations shown in the end credits which vary from a stock Pulp hazard (Dynamite, being thrown out of a speeding car, threatened by a cobra) to honestly quite nightmarish (the walls of spikes, the swamp/quicksand, being about to be run over by a tank, the impending inferno as he trips on a burning beam….), and the end credit scenarios offer an underrated facet of Spectrum.

It’s easy for bad faith takes to dismiss the dynamics of Scarlet as “the guy who always dies” and the other Spectrum officers as being surplus to requirements, but that’s a reductive and daft way of looking at it. Instead why don’t we focus on how much interest and (for lack of a better term) variation in strategy it offers when one member can offer to make the riskiest plays, in the safety not of having regenerative powers, but the assurance that there’s backup to retrieve him and look after him while he’s completely helpless. Like, in the Shark picture, I think the threat is much less the toothy fish, but instead that Scarlet is doomed to be stuck underwater, maybe ready to return to life but without outside assistance unable to do so without drowning all over again. There would be a lot of trust and courage needed in these situations, not to mention how deeply unpleasant it is for humans to be around a dead body that may also be in quite a state, so it’s a strange sort of sweetness that Scarlet has all this back up when needed.

I also feel it’s worth mentioning my headcanon on the mysterious case of the Two Scarlets - OG Human who is perma-dead and the Mysteron version with Retrometabolism. First of all, while it happens entirely unmentioned and offscreen, I expect Spectrum New York dug around the crash site a bit more after reporting Brown’s corpse and then found Scarlet’s. This body is presumably in a morgue, perhaps cremated or buried but perhaps not. Presumably it’s Scarlet’s call to make…

I don’t think there was any personality change at a core level between the Scarlets, though if he got more moody or distant or whatever I don’t think anyone can hold it against him! But in part of their accepting, embracing even, of Mysteron!Scarlet, I feel like his Self would remain how it was, with the caveat of the new tactical routes opened by the indestructibility.

And, while the headcanon train chuffs along, I guess I can wonder how long Retrometabolism will last with the Scarlet we know and love? Will repeated use ever cause it to fade, or is it as unshakable like the movement of planets? Will it prevent him from aging, each death reset bringing him back to 31 physically, or will it see him into twilight years? If the Mysterons were defeated, would the power be taken away with them, or eased off as their influence fades like a memory? It may depend on how the Mysterons were to be beaten, or come to a peaceful agreement. If they could strip it from him, then their keeping it active for their recurring counter may add fuel to the idea they’re playing a game and need specific pieces to always be in play.

In that regard, I only have questions. But puzzling out and solidifying my interpretations of this fine fellow has been a lot of fun, and even after I finish editing this, and after I’ve posted it, something else is sure to occur to me to mull over! This show deserved to be longer, but everything it gave me is cherished, and at the heart of that is this autistic gay king. He’s intriguing and, of course, indestructible!

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#Captain Scarlet #Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons #Supermarionatiion #60's Sci Fi #Thunderfam #CutCat Headcanons #Long but that's what happens when there's so much to Say!#It's pride month so why tf not post about Spectrum personnel? ;3c #I was toying with the idea of talking about headcanons for the show as a whole but I wanted to start with Paul and well...!#If the first picture scares anyone then please refer your complaints to the local bin :P #hopefully it's just me being paranoid that Autistic Headcanons are taken poorly among certain types :v #Edit: Have now fixed a date that I typo'd. no other changes made

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voxiiferous · 5 months

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**| Interesting revelations of the evening!

I’m not certain Vox has ever actually fired a gun. He’s certainly never owned one. Most of the time if he needs to cause pain his just sort of… goes zappy on them. Flesh doesn’t take kindly to massive amounts of electricity!

Hah! Now that I have drawn you in with fun hc there’s the more serious examination of themes. A consequence of when I started writing Vox is the fact that I could not turn off the university part of my brain that’s just like “if you were to write an essay for him what are the themes you would focus on? What DEFINES him???” And the answer was performance, because clearly right? He’s TV man.

And this had the unintentional side effect of earning him the “not as bad a person as you could have been” award because if he was a really bad boss, and I leaned more into the corrupt businessman aspects of him, then that core theme would have been less performance and more consumerism and capitalism. Which I decided was not thematically relevant and would have just detracted from the overall character I wanted to write.

If I had to pick his main three vibes it’s: performance in big bold letters (more on that in a sec), modernization (not capitalism or consumerism, but specifically that transition of technology and opinion), and a very sci-fi concern of what is a human? Is he still?

but but but going back to the performance. It’s so key to how I write him. Like there’s the literal performance aspect on screen, but it’s more than that. As Vincent he performs a veneer of, if not heterosexuality, than at least… not queerness. But otherwise he’s still very much him. Sure his charm was taught, but he made it a part of himself, it’s not a performance anymore, he has things he enjoys and doesn’t, and is, more or less, honest in that. Vox is… not that. It’s why in the 1946!Vincent content, the fun is forcing Vox to acknowledge himself. He has to step beyond the performance, he has to see backstage essentially. He has to be vulnerable.

And vulnerability is something that cannot exist in the Overlord Vox persona, which he is constantly inhabiting. But at the same time that’s not who he actually is, but it’s who he’s performing as, even to himself. He’s always on this knife’s edge of self reflection and juuust missing the point, because if he goes to close to the truth, the masquerade falls apart.

There’s this line from the song All for Believing by Missy Higgins that’s great here, and it’s “But I see you painted your soul into your guard”, and it’s super true for Vox. Overlord Vox is the face of every new product, he derides the old as outdated, he’s ruthless, and powerful and confident. Nothing gets under the skin of Overlord Vox, not even a broken screen, see him laughing in Voxtagram? Laugh with him. It keeps him safe, it’s the image that’s given him power and control and the successful end result to all the ambition that is still a core part of him.

Vox however??? Vox is a bit of romantic, and he loves swing music, and black and white game shows, he’s an insomniac and a bit of nerd. It’s not that Overlord Vox isn’t him, because like the lyrics says, it’s been painted into. Overlord Vox is the strongest parts of himself people take seriously and made into a living, breathing part of himself. It’s a shield and a half truth.

Money does play a role, but it’s a tertiary one at best. He has more money than God, he owns everything under the sun, great, great, it plays the role it needs to and is otherwise vague. What is he doing with his money??? Uhh, I don’t know, who cares?

The modernization works in with the performance, though that’s another post of its own. So please enjoy this somewhat rambling roundabout examination of why my Vox is, all things considered, not that bad a dude. It’s about the pretentious English major themes, and that being the least interesting thing to explore for me. (Just see his playlist, it’s basically all “look at me, look at me, look at what I’m showing you, don’t look over there behind the scenes).

#*personnel file (hc)#*no signal (ooc)#*cathode rays and rock and roll (vincent price)#I barley even know that this is #is it a hc? A meta??? Incoherent???#shoutout to my class this morning and the direct thought process of:#that would be a fun theme for him! Wait no #that would require breaking the he’s a fine boss hc #well why would that be an issue?#because it’s not Right^tm it’s about the performance #Queue the lightbulb moment of THEMATIC RELEVANCE!#I love Vox he’s a perfect disaster #the embodiment of the performance goes off without a hitch #but if you look behind the curtain the costume closet is in shambles #the props are scattered all around #there’s an actor frantically reading lines in the corner #the moment you look at him for more than 5 minutes the whole illusion falls apart #Expect more in this vein to come!#probably a giant tag ramble in a post for the Gladiator by Jann song #which is GREAT for him #And sort of touches on a lot of the themes mentioned here

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