Supernum, in case you don't know (or don't remember, in the case of a few who might be reading this) was one of my longest-running characters from the elementary school years. After making him up sometime during my 3rd grade year, I wrote stories, drew comics, and made games featuring him right up until late 2003. And then there was another short-lived attempt at a Supernum OHRRPGCE game that started up in 2008, with occasional fizzles of game ideas sparking up here and there throughout 2009 (at least until I got started on Okédoké! and the idea of a Supernum game basically left my mind.)
Originally, Supernum was inspired by Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, being a superhero who starts out as a normal human but uses an object as a power source to transform. Supernum even used a coin (the Num Coin, specifically) just like the original set of Power Rangers, though his coin was palm-sized rather than actually the size of normal coins and didn't plug into his belt buckle (as he never even had a belt buckle until the 2010 design mentioned below.) As Supernum, he gained enhanced strength (just how enhanced varied; in early stories his strength isn't focused on as much, but at one point after a power boost he becomes capable of lifting a house off its foundation with a single hand, seemingly without much effort) and durability (partially provided by his near-indestructible Num Armor) as well as a variety of weapons. Though he was drawn with the Numnum Sword at times and used it in a few of my old stories, the most commonly used part of the Supernum arsenal in early stories was the Num Gun, which allowed him to fire blasts of various basic types of energy (freeze rays, electrical "Zzzter" blasts, etc.) as well as beams specially designed to destroy certain specific kinds of enemies (settings with cheesy alliterative names like "Dragon Destruction" and "Barney Bashing" existed, for example.) He also had several devices with which to scan enemies to determine their weak points (often used in conjunction with the Num Gun's various settings) and teleport himself to other locations (the "portable Num Warps" mentioned in a few stories), as well as some more unusual ones that generally only got used in one story before never appearing again. Some examples: Num Land Mines, a "Computer Nummer" device which would crack passwords and other security measures, communication devices, a "Num Army Knife" used to cut ropes and do other minor tasks, and a "Zzzter Launcher" which seemingly was only used in one story because someone else had the Num Gun (which had a Zzzter setting that would seemingly render this weapon a bit redundant) at the time. He also could call upon a giant robotic Numnum known as the "Super Big Num" (sort of like his version of the Power Rangers' megazords), and in some stories (after getting the enhanced Num Coin that gave him the super-strength mentioned above) he was able to enlarge himself to enormous sizes as well. His human identity was named Eddie, and Eddie was... well, basically just me. XD
As things went on, Supernum gained even more special abilities. As I started to watch Sailor Moon, he began to use Num Power to attack directly instead of just generating various gadgets using it; the Num Gun started appearing less often and Supernum would instead unleash a powerful blast of orange energy at his opponents by crossing his arms in an X shape over his chest while yelling "Numnum Smash!", releasing the blast when he swung his arms down to his sides. The Numnum Smash was his only special attack at first, but as time went on he developed more--not more powerful ones (Numnum Smash quickly was established as his ultimate attack) but a variety of weaker ones, like the Num Zzzter (yet again making Zzzter Launchers redundant) and Num Bomb (basically a scaled-down Numnum Smash, generating an exploding sphere of Num Power that was only about the size of a basketball rather than being as large as Supernum's entire body.) He also had some physical attacks, such as the Num Punch and Num Kick, which were basically just a regular punch and kick enhanced by a burst of Num Power. He would eventually get even more varied powers, like the piercing Num Beam (which started out as a weak attack, then inexplicably became more powerful than either the Bomb or Zzzter, before finally returning to its "low-level Num Power attack" position once again), the protective Num Power Shield, and even a Num Healing ability which allowed him to heal the wounds of allies (or himself) by infusing them with Num Power. His ultimate move while fighting alone remained the Numnum Smash, but as other Supernums and characters with similar powers appeared, a variation known as "Double Numnum Smash" made an appearance when extremely powerful enemies needed to be finished off for good.
Even after that point, Supernum had a spaceship added to his arsenal (most likely inspired by me really getting into Star Wars around 5th grade--of course, he had to have a spaceship then. XD) Unlike the Star Wars ships, however, Supernum's ship never relied on "faster than light" movement; instead, the ship was able to open Num Warps to other locations, allowing instant transportation over literally any distance (even between universes, which would come in handy considering that Supernum would need to travel between the First and 40th Nherbis on a regular basis.)
After the addition of the spaceship and some new special moves, Supernum's abilities wouldn't really change much until the 2000s, when I came up with a new series of games and stories which covered years of time and focused partly on Supernum and partly on an assortment of other characters. Toward the end of these storylines, Supernum gained a powered-up form which changed his armor (the new armor was bulky and more of a dark golden metallic color rather than orange) and provided him with a shield (the Numnum Shield, not to be mistaken for his Num Power Shield technique which was an energy barrier rather than a solid metal shield) in addition to his sword. He gained this powered-up form in both the new Supernum series and in the Crappy World comics (which followed a completely different story which didn't seem to overlap with the previously-mentioned game series at all), both times by having the alien Axn'zuu merge with the Num Coin. In this new form, he gained a few new techniques (including one where he infused the Numnum Shield with massive amounts of Num Power and threw it like a boomerang) but mostly just became stronger in terms of raw power, allowing him to take on opponents he couldn't have hoped to fight before.
The 2008 attempt at a Supernum game would have wiped away most of the above stuff, bringing Supernum back to the way he was in my middle school years: he had the Num Gun with its adjustable energy beams, he had a few special techniques that he would learn over time like Num Beam, Num Bomb, Num Zzzter, and Numnum Smash (with Num Power Shield and Num Healing most likely making appearances as well), and he could summon the Super Big Num eventually, but the powered-up form, the Numnum Shield, and the dozens of random single-use gadgets were mostly removed.
And now that you know how his powers developed, here's some pictures so you can see how the way I drew him developed, too!
First is an attempt from earlier this year at copying how I drew him later on in 3rd grade (after some of the early "haven't decided on the details yet" weirdness--like having mini Numnums for hands in addition to his Numnum head--was phased out.) Unfortunately, I don't have any actual 3rd grade Supernum pictures that I'm aware of, so this will have to do.
Here's (part of) Supernum as I drew him in 2000 or 2001, during my first year or two at high school:
And here's a panel from the 2003-2004 Crappy World: Zyorudenu comics I drew, which were Supernum's last appearance until I tried to bring him back in 2008:
And finally here's a picture of him I painted, also from earlier this year, showing how I draw him now:
Though he's being drawn a hell of a lot better these days than he was back in the elementary school years, you can probably see from the above two pictures that the basic design of Supernum hasn't changed a whole lot. He's got a head that resembles the body of a Numnum (sans legs, feathers, or tail... which are features that weren't present on the original Numnum design), a humanoid lower body covered in full body armor that's mostly of an orange color (with the exception of his gloves and boots which are black), a cape with the Num Power symbol on it that's orange on the outside and red on the inside, and of course the legendary Numnum Sword, a blade with the properties of the super-metal known as snozzorium (though it's actually made up of super-concentrated Num Power rather than any sort of actual solid material.)
There have been some changes, though, even as the basic design stays pretty much the same.
His armor has changed from purely Power Rangers-style spandex to something halfway between that and metallic armor as time has gone on, as seen by the presence of a clear "heavier armored" area on his upper chest now. Ever since 5th or 6th grade this has been referred to as the "Num Armor." Speaking of his armor, he no longer has the English letter N on it anymore, with the random Earth letter finally being replaced by the Khurbyish symbol representing the same consonant sound (which is identical to the Num Power symbol he's always had on his cape) in mid to late high school.
The Numnum Sword has gotten a more unique design over time, shifting from "generic sword" in early drawings (or no sword at all, in the earliest of them all) to a long, semi-heavy, single-edged blade with a bit of a curve to the end starting around late 4th grade or early 5th grade. The sword's vaguely claw-like decorations were added around that time or shortly after. Overall, the Numnum Sword's design has been pretty consistent since around 6th grade, though now I'm drawing it with a longer handle since it's intended to be a weapon that can be used with either one or both hands.
His shoulder and knee pads probably appeared for the first time in late 4th or early 5th grade, originally just being drawn as dark-outlined circles with the letter "N" on them (a way of drawing them that stuck around all the way through high school, as you can see in the Crappy World: Zyorudenu panel) and eventually shifting to having small Num Power symbols on them instead of an N. In recent colored versions, they've been showing up as a dark, sometimes slightly reddish brown-black rather than just pure black, a color choice that has expanded to his gloves and boots as well. The Num Power symbols on them are red now, much like the ones on his armor and cape.
Sometime during the early high school years, I got a bit better at drawing his cape as an actual cape rather than this awkward blanket-like object dangling from... someplace behind him, maybe... and defying all sorts of laws of physics. The "cape fasteners" on his armor first started appearing in the later high school years, making his cape look even more cape-like. His cape has always had the Num Power symbol on it ever since I made it up (some very early pictures may have had a plain ol' N on both his cape and armor), though it may have briefly had an N on it for a while during the high school years when the Num Power symbol first appeared on his chest in place of the old N.
And finally, during the time between 2008 and today, he finally got a belt and a more normal-looking torso structure rather than the vague torso/leg transition shown in older drawings from elementary to high school. I haven't completely decided whether he should have a buckle on this belt or not; a drawing in the 2010 time range had him with an N on his belt, while the most recent drawings have no buckle at all.
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Anyway... now that I've gone over Supernum's history... what I was originally going to talk about here. XD
I'm wondering if I should bring back Supernum in some form. I still kinda want to make a Supernum game/story/comic of some sort. I almost feel like dropping Supernum was part of where I went wrong with The K'hyurbhi Lands--when attempting to bring back the old Nummorro (minus some of the absurdity, like poop monsters and such, that existed in the earliest years when the world was still called "Numnum Land") and clear out all the poorly-thought-out new garbage that had accumulated in its place during my high school years, I somehow ended up not bringing back the character who was always the focus of my Numnums stories from the very beginning, instead focusing on some random Numnum, K'hyurbhi, and Blurby (okay, Upchukk the Blurby wasn't entirely random, he's an established character from the 5th/6th grade era. The other two are pretty much newbies in comparison, though.)
I'm not sure if I want everything to be the same as the old Supernum stories, though. In particular, making Supernum's human identity be basically... me... is something I'm not sure I want to keep around. Partly because that would mean I'd either have to figure out some way to connect the Fnrrf Ygm Schnish: Alleghany Hell School story to a new Supernum story (which would mean that Eddie/Supernum would be 18+ years old in this new Supernum story, which is... not at all like the original where Eddie was a kid when he first became Supernum) or start a new alternate-universe sort of thing where the events of Alleghany Hell School don't happen and things are different in general. Which would mean I'd have two different versions of any character who appears in both the Fnrrf Ygm Schnish series and possible new Supernum series (like Eddie if I keep Eddie-as-Supernum after all, the Burijeoo queen Bridget, and some who appeared in The K'hyurbhi Lands who might not even count since I might just be ditching TKL entirely rather than trying to fit it in the same set of 40 nherbis as either FYS:AHS or a possible new Supernum story.)
I've toyed with the idea of someone else being Supernum before, of course. There were actually three Supernums in my old stories--the original Supernum, K'hyurbhi Supernum (originally called "Kirby Supernum"), and Blurby Supernum, their appearances different only in color scheme (original was orange/red/yellow, "K'hyurbhi" was blue/black, "Blurby" was white/silver/gold) and randomly named after two other Nummorrian species who had nothing to do with their Num Coins as far as I can remember. The Numnum/K'hyurbhi/Blurby trio was a recurring theme even back then, though, so that's probably why I did that with the Three Supernums too. I eventually decided that the identity of K'hyurbhi Supernum was to be a young martial artist named Luke, based on a kid I knew when I was very young; Blurby Supernum may have been a punk-looking guy named Charles (also based on someone I knew in the early elementary school years) under the armor, though it seemed in the games/stories where he appeared he didn't seem quite as okay with revealing his identity compared to the other two. Eddie, Luke, and Charles were three of the four kids who appeared in the Cowcocows stories I came up with in 2nd grade; the fourth kid, Mark, was mysteriously absent from all future stories. Possibly because the real-life Mark turned out to be kind of a jerk after 2nd grade ended, while Luke remained friends with me and Charles mysteriously vanished (...perhaps to go off and save the world while hidden inside the Numnum-headed armor of Blurby Supernum. The world may never know!)
The 2000s-era game ideas featured a few "future Supernums," one of which being a cat-like guy named Muyeo (who had the original Num Coin) and another being an unnamed half-Burijeoo (who ended up with the K'hyurbhi Supernum coin.) Who, if anyone, had the Blurby Supernum coin in the future is unknown.
In addition to the Three Supernums and future equivalents, there were also a couple of "extra" Supernums throughout the years. There was Edwin Supernum, an evil clone of Eddie with his own Supernum powers (color-coded black and gray with a Dark Num Smash move instead of the original Numnum Smash, of course), and Killer K'hyurbhi once transformed into "Super Killer K'hyurbhi" using a copied Num Coin (with help from a Num Power infusion from an artifact known as the Red Num, as K'hyurbhis are naturally lacking Num Power and couldn't transform into Supernum forms normally.) On Gumakia, a moon of Brijetoo, one of the mushroom inhabitants had his own Supernum form known as the "Golden Mushroom," which caused him to grow a pair of arms and wield a pretty big sword. Eddie's little sister Julia even had her own Supernum-like forms, first the wimpy "Super Julia" (which seemed to only give her low-level Num Armor rather than any actual powers) and later a "Julia Dragon" form which turned her into a vaguely dragony critter with a human head and power similar to that of Supernum's, at least in terms of physical strength. There was also an abandoned plot point in Return of the Coraudos which involved another Supernum appearing in order to save Eddie-Supernum from a losing battle with Coraudo Slug. This "new Supernum" seemed to have actually taken Eddie's Num Power rather than having his(?) own, as the story involved a note appearing in Eddie's house which said that he "can't be Supernum anymore." I never finished this story ("you can't be Supernum anymore" was the cutoff point, I'm fairly sure), so I'm not sure where I was going with this, but I vaguely remember that this new Supernum wasn't entirely good and his(?) secret identity might not have been somebody who was on the good guys' side at all. Looking back, this seems like it would be a great place to reintroduce that fourth kid Mark who went missing and have him be a neutral/bordering-on-evil Supernum who (as nice as it was for him to help out with the Coraudos) needs to be overthrown before he can ruin the reputation of the Supernum name or something like that... though I can't imagine him inexplicably knowing how to steal Num Power or being competent enough to handle Coraudo Slug where the original Supernum had failed (...maybe Supernum weakened him just enough in the previous fight that this new Supernum could fight him off?)
I also wonder what to do with the Three Supernums. I like the concept, but "K'hyurbhi Supernum" and "Blurby Supernum" are pretty bad and not-particularly-fitting names (I tried to make them apply a bit better in the 2000s era by giving them K'hyurbhi and Blurby themed attacks--Blurby Bomb, Kihlah Smash, and so on--but it was still just weird that Num Power would give them attacks themed after creatures that can't even use Num Power!), and I'm thinking that if I use them again I'll have to mess with their designs so they're not just "Supernum, but with different colors and symbols" like they were before. The different color schemes can stay I think (I particularly like the blue armor/black inside of cape colors for K'hyurbhi Supernum), but something else about them needs to change so they're not just recolors. Maybe one can be taller and thinner, one can be shorter and bulkier, and the armor design can change around a bit to match those features? And of course they could have different weapons; I did give K'hyurbhi Supernum the Staff of Parupoo in the 2000s-era games after Kayana was defeated, but... I'm thinking that's a bit odd and un-fitting for him. So a staff yeah, but not that staff anymore.
Any thoughts from people who aren't me? I know I've had a couple people express interest in Supernum in the past year and want to know when/if I'll be making anything that features him, so I have to wonder if anyone has any ideas after reading all this.
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