Tulpa as a Superhero Sidekick

[Scott Z]

One of my pet projecs is my superhero. I have adopted a forgotten comic book character from the public domain, The Buzzard. I am bringing him into the 21st century with original content, including a Twitter feed, new stories, artwork, et cetera. These new materials will (at least initially) be likewise released into the public domain. In short, the Buzzard is a street-level vigilante of the Batman tradition who uses halucinagenic gases instead of a mask. Because this particular character has a gimmick that deals in halucinations, I am thinking that a servator or tulpa would be an interesting supporting cast character. How would you like to see a thoughtform character portrayed in superhero narratives?

[Chupi]

Sure, a tulpa sidekick would be awesome. If you want to keep it relatively realistic, he could act as a second pair of eyes, provide advice, give extra strength in a moment of need or something. Possibly even take over if The Buzzard gets knocked out. Silent telepathic communication from any distance goes without saying (heh).

 

Since it's a comic book, may as well let him be seen by others (but also become invisible of course), interact with objects when desired but still be able to phase through walls, and see things that The Buzzard's eyes can't. Combined with telepathy, this could be an awesome ability, letting him peek ahead or look behind walls, even infiltrate a bad guy's hideout without being detected; all the while relaying information back to his host.

 

Perhaps implement the impossible abilities (physical interaction, spying, being seen by others) as a mental ability of The Buzzard to create hallucinations that are somehow more than hallucinations.

 

I'd like to see a tulpa portrayed as the closest friend possible, a being created through pure mental effort rather than something supernatural, and something more than an imaginary friend. Current portrayals fail in at least one of these.

[Scott Z]

Thank you for the feedback, Chupi. I am still in the planning stage in this project. The concept is just beginning to solidify. That said, I am leaning towards a more realisitic style of storytelling without the metaphysics. As such, I may even shy away from the looking-around-corners gimmick. I will consider it further. Your suggestion of having the tulpa visible to others as a forced halucination is an idea I like a lot. I will also think about that, especially how it would work mechanically. New question: would it work better for you (as an audience) if the thoughtform had a human shape usually or if it mostly appeared as an animal shape like an actual bird?

[Chupi]

I was imagining a human, though an animal sidekick would be more unique and set him apart from other superheroes. If it's a bird, a buzzard would be the obvious choice.

[Guest Anonymous]

Geez, you sure read a lot of comic books.

 

Anyways, I'm somewhat unsure about the idea of him/it being a tulpa. Are you talking about giving it a backstory of sorts, complete with villians and stuff? Then I would think that programming a servitor would be better. It would certainly be interesting to see how you would add a sidekick into the mix.

[Kajhera]

From how I understood it, the superhero character is going to have a tulpa, not be a tulpa.

 

A bird would indeed be interesting. "Buzzard" has a lot of meanings though. The old world hawks or the new world vultures? I would be thrilled to see a turkey vulture sidekick portrayed, they're quite visually interesting but I'm a bit odd.

[imahaxor]

Wow, this actually sounds awesome. Have you decided on how/why the Buzzard created a tulpa?

 

The easiest route as I see it:

1. Buzzard has traumatic childhood event. (Death of any family member or something equally awful would do)

2. Due to this traumatic event, The Buzzard spends his time creating an "imaginary friend" to cope.

3. Time passes, The Buzzard and his tulpa agree to prevent future tragedies like the one from his childhood by becoming superhero vigilantes.

 

Damn, this stuff even sounds like comic book material; it practically writes itself!

[Guest Anonymous]

Ah. I think someone made a thread in OT about incorporating tulpas into an anime they were making.

[Scott Z]

I thank you all for the excellent feedback, and I request that you keep it coming. I do know about the different meanings of the term Buzzard. The original version clearly was referencing a vulture (though no specific species based on the art.) I was thinking down the road of telling a story with multiple people using the Buzzard identity but using different bird motiffs like hawks and condors. I think I will go with the turkey vulture at first (as you convinced me to use that instead of a black vulture).

[Scott Z]

Regarding the origin story of the tulpa character, here is what I was originally thinking. The Buzzard's secret identity has always been a gifted athlete even in the original story. At some time during his teens, he breaks a bone and is immobilized for a few months. During his recovery, he upgrades he learns meditation techniques from a phsyical therapist and decides to upgrade his imaginary friend from childhood into a stronger thoughtform. After reading the comments of you guys, I am thinking we need something more dramatic. The traumatic event is a darn good idea. The death of a parent, however, is entirely too Batman-equse for this character. The Buzzard is already a street vigilante in the Batman tradition, so we shouldn't rip off Bob Kane (creator of Batman) too blatantly. How about a natural disaster? How about a child slave situation? How about accidental exposure a hallucinagenic drug?

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Here is another query, and this is a big question. What role does the tulpa play in the narrative? According to the Mythic Hero model, there are only a few roles that any character in any story can fill: protagonist, antagonist, love interest, companion, mentor, guardian, trickster, shapechanger, victim, and narrator. The obvious choice is companion, but what that term means in this case is a character who provides a point of view for the audience by being more like than audience. In comics, this was the purpose of the teenaged sidekick. Stan Lee always hated teenaged sidekicks and disproved the widley held belief that they were necessary for a teenaged audience (thus Spider-Man was created). So if not there as a character with whom the audience can identify, what role does the tulpa sidekick play (structually speaking)? Right now, I am thinking about making the tulpa sidekick into the narrator. Would that be too esoteric for a non-tulpamancer audience? How would a tulpa narrator perceive events differently?