Time for something different 
This is a team I’ve been thinking about for a bit. I wanted to do an LGBT themed superhero group exploring the different identities and expressions of the community. To that end I’ve developed a team composed of individuals representing one of the letters on the full LGBTIQQA acronym. Spectrum!
For those unfamiliar with the acronym it breaks down as such:
L-Lesbian (pretty self explanatory)
G- Gay (also pretty self explanatory)
B- Bisexual (again… self explanatory)
T- Transgender, somebody whose gender does not correspond to the biological body they are born with and either seeks to transition physically into the appropriate gender or merely adopt an outward appearance as such
I- Intersex, this is an individual born with physical characteristics that are both male and female (colloquially known as hermaphrodites, but the term is both inaccurate and frowned upon), usually reassigned at birth to whichever sex they most resemble.
Q- Queer, this is a reclaimed term was once used pejoratively, but is now a blanket term to include anybody along the LGBT spectrum and simply connotes any sexual or gender identity that is not 100% heterosexual
Q- Questioning, a term used to cover people unsure of their orientation/gender/identity, who aren’t comfortable with committing to any of the aforementioned labels
A- Ally, a heterosexual person who does not identify as a member the community, but supports LGBT rights and people all the same
The set up for this story is that two retired superheroes who were active during the ’60s and ’70s witness an event that grants a group of young people radical superhuman abilities. The pair decide to come out of retirement and guide the youths in the use of their abilities as responsible members of the superhero community, while facing unique challenges and combating stereotypes along the way. For now I’ll pass on the first four members of the acronym: L, G, B, and T.
L- Elementa*
Rosemary Marsden was an archaeology student, deep in the closet and terrified that her colleagues would find out her secret. During her senior expedition in Northern China, she unwittingly exposed a buried alien artifact that 5th century sorcerers had sealed away. The alien radiation combined with the ancient magic and embedded her consciousness into the natural biosphere of the earth. She found herself with the ability to manipulate the four classical elements: Water, Fire, Earth, and Air to any degrees as long as the existing material was close enough to her person. She dropped out of school and became a freedom fighter, a radical environmentalist and feminist, no longer ashamed of who she was. She joined with others like her and served on a team with The Bear, until retiring after the ’70s after a particularly distasteful encounter with an invading alien force. Rosemary continued on as a public speaker until the events leading up to Spectrum’s formation, once again assuming the mantle of Elementa!
G- The Bear
Harold Ubovic was a political activist in the early ’60s who found himself stranded after a single-engine plane trip with his future partner went awry and crash landed in the Alaskan wilderness. With his partner having sustained severe injuries, and the climate threatening to claim their lives, Harold beseeched a higher power for help. He was answered by the great Kodiak of the North, the ursine spirit of the wilderness. It granted him the ability to assume the form of the mighty Spirit Bear, and enhanced his natural body to superhuman levels. With this strength Harold carried his partner to safety and went on to an illustrious crime-fighting career as The Bear! He has the ability to transform himself into a massive bear-form with superhuman strength. This form is also resistant to magic-based attacks. Even in his human form Harold retains enhanced smell and hearing, as well as a regenerative healing factor that slows his aging. He was retired until he witnessed the creation of Spectrum, deciding to re-dedicate himself to the good fight and guide the team alongside his former teammate.
B- Meta**
Leslie Cho was an organizer at the LGBT Youth Rally where the incident occurred. She was always comfortable with who she was, occupying two different worlds so to speak. Not everybody in her life accepted her, but her family did, and that was all that mattered to her. She was caught up in its blast and was granted superhuman abilities along with five other youths. Leslie was altered to exist in a state of dimensional flux, constantly inhabiting and moving through imperceptible neighboring dimensions. As Meta, she usually uses this ability to turn her body intangible, able to walk through solid matter with ease; but focused applications of her ability allows her to unhinge herself from our dimension in other ways: disconnecting from gravity to allow her to float or leap great distances, occupying a different visual wavelength to become invisible, or even unhinging herself from space-time and teleporting (though she has very little skill in this ability). Meta can extend the effect to others, but it is incredibly taxing on her mind and body.
T- Apex
Cody Cavanaugh was born to a southern Mississippi Baptist family, a bouncing baby girl although truthfully he never felt comfortable with his body. Something was always missing. Always wrong. His parents assumed it was just a tomboy phase, but when Cody chopped off all of his hair and tore up any dress his mother bought for him, they knew it was something serious. They sent him to re-education camps, beat him, exorcised him; but Cody persevered. A sympathetic lawyer uncle drew up the papers for his emancipation and truth be told Cody’s family was glad to be rid of him. Cody began working with a LGBT youth shelter, hoping other kids like himself wouldn’t have to go through what he did, and was handing out fliers at the rally when it all went down. Cody’s skeletal musculature and nervous systems were greatly enhanced. He enjoys elevated strength, agility, reflexes, stamina, as well as peak human senses with his vision and hearing being specially acute. Cody can amplify his abilities to incredible superhuman levels, by using a unique function in his enhanced brain that converts the testosterone in his body into a form of superhuman adrenaline. Doing so burns up his testosterone levels and undoes the hormone therapy Cody undergoes to maintain his male physique, so he rarely uses his abilities to their full extent.
Machinist notes:
*The badge icon present on all the character designs was created separately, a while back when Jeff had his logo design contest on the blog. For the sake of not having to recreate the 15+ layer insignia on the entire team I simply resized it and pasted it over the design using a photo-editing program.
**Meta is a little bit of a cheat. I created the top half of her body and the lower half of her body separately in hero machine, then altered the opacity of her lower half (because you can’t alter the alpha levels of groups of items in heromachine without the lower levels showing through) and paster her top half over it.
