THE FLY – IMPACT VERSION (ICONS WRITEUP)

By
Prowess 4
Coordination 7
Strength 6
Intellect 4
Awareness 6
Willpower 4
Stamina 10
Powers
*Flight 6
*Damage Resistance 3
*Wall-Crawling 6
*Sonic Blast – Wings 6 (Limit: Concentration)
*Super-Senses – Vision 2 (The Fly gets +2 bonus to vision-based Awareness tests)
*Super-Senses – Hearing 1 (The Fly gets +1 bonus to hearing-based Awareness tests)
*Fly Amulet (Note that if he does not have the Amulet, Jason cannot transform to the Fly and vice versa. When transformed, the Amulet is part of the Fly costume.)
Specialties
Aerial Combat (Expert +2 bonus), Athletics (+1 bonus), Drive – Skateboards (+1 bonus), Art – Drawing (+1 bonus)
Qualities
(On first seeing the world through his insectile eyes) “Neat !”
Secret Identities cause so many problems!
Thrill of Adventure
Background
Most of this bio comes from writeups.org:
Jason Troy was given an extra assignment by his substitute mythology teacher, Mr. Abin (likely a nod to Abin Sur, the alien that bequeathed Green Lantern Hal Jordan his power ring) for playing video games in class. The task was to create a modern mythic hero based on humble circumstances. One of the criteria for ancient mythic heroes was they be from humble beginnings.
Jason designed a superhero patterned after a fly, as he could think of nothing more humble than a housefly. His teacher rewarded him for his efforts with a pendant made of amber with a fly trapped inside.
Jason soon learned that the pendant was not just jewelry. Rather, it turned him into the superhero from his assignment. He became the Fly, and used his powers to foil an arson attempt by a super-villain named Burnout. After he defeated the flame-throwing thug, he suddenly changed back into Jason.
Obviously confused, he went to find his mythology teacher and question him about the pendant. When he returned to school to ask his teacher about the pendant, nobody in the school remembered ever seeing the substitute.
Jason learned that the pendant could change him into his heroic alter-ego at will, so he continued his exploits as the Fly. He learned that using the Fly powers for a prolonged period of time physically exhausted him, and that he had cravings for anything high in sugar, like jelly doughnuts and pineapple juice. But he soon mastered his insect-like abilities (and urges).
He also seemed to often lose track of time as the Fly. That landed him in trouble at home several times.
He fought flying thieves, mechanical spiders, and the occasional crimelord, and defeated them all. But he found himself in a sticky situation when his pendant was ripped off in a battle, but he did not lose his powers. He couldn’t return home, since even when he took off his costume, he still looked like a muscular adult with fly-like eyes.
He got a job as a bouncer in a bar (calling himself “Buzz”) for a few days until he recovered his pendant.
Jason also had some personal problems. In trying to juggle his home life with the super-heroics, he failed. Suspicions arose about his exact relationship with the Fly. In the wake of his disappearance, people suspected the Fly was having an “improper” relationship with Jason Troy.
Things seemed to get better after Jason denied those charges against his Alter-Ego. He joined the Crusaders, and when they got lost in another dimension, he spent years there with his teammates and fell in love with the Jaguar. When they finally returned they were married.
The Impact line of comics had its ups-and-downs but for my money, the best title of the line was The Fly. It captured the fun of early Spider-Man and I think that Jason had by far the best rogues’ gallery of any of the Impact heroes. He’s a fun character and I think it’s a shame we never got to see him as an adult married hero. It would have been an interesting twist on the series.