Snowbird

A couple of questions about Snowbird.

(1) Can she take the form of the Wendigo? She has the power to take the form of any beast of the North, including Sasquatch. Logically, this would extend to the Wendigo (whom she once fought).

(2) The animal forms she takes must be more powerful than they are in nature. For example, in arctic owl form she was able to cut into Sasquatch's body (keep in mind Sasquatch is impervious to armor piercing machine gunfire), and in wolverine form she slew Wendigo (keep in mind Wendigo can hold his own in hand to hand combat with the Hulk).

(3) There are numerous powers she has used which are not described in her write-up. For example, in Alpha Flight #6, she mystically heals numerous serious injuries she had sustained in combat. In Alpha Flight #4, she takes the form of a swarm of mosquitoes. And in Alpha Flight #12, she sensed the approach of her fellow Alphans.

Anyone have a more complete write-up of Snowbird? Thanks.

i'm thinking that it may be time to retink on her powers and abilities. Clearly they are very understated in the gamers guide.

"No where to hide. No place to run. Your village will BURN like the heart of the SUN!" - Richard, Head warlock of the Brotherhood of Darkness, Lord of the 13 Hells, Master of the Bones, Emperor of the Black, Lord of the Undead, Lord of the Dance.

Hey Epyon!

Here are a couple of links for you. The first leads to Snowbirds write up at the Marvel Directory ...

[www.marveldirectory.com]

This next one leads to Snowbird's entry from the Masters Ed. of the Marvel Handbook ...

[www.unfluffybunny.com]

Now to attmpt to address a couple of the questions ...

Epyon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> (1) Can she take the form of the Wendigo? She has
> the power to take the form of any beast of the
> North, including Sasquatch. Logically, this would
> extend to the Wendigo (whom she once fought).
>

Depends. The original rationale that allowed Snowbird to take on sasquatch-form was that when Walt joined with Tanaraq, their hybrid form became a creature of the North. Of course, since then, with AF vol.3, we have learned that families of real sasquatchii have long been part of the Canadian wilderness.

So, given this out, one might be inclined to limit Snowbird's morph powers to natural creatures, rathr than supernatural creatures like Wendigo.

> (2) The animal forms she takes must be more
> powerful than they are in nature. For example, in
> arctic owl form she was able to cut into
> Sasquatch's body (keep in mind Sasquatch is
> impervious to armor piercing machine gunfire), and
> in wolverine form she slew Wendigo (keep in mind
> Wendigo can hold his own in hand to hand combat
> with the Hulk).

Well, the Wendigo wasn't beaten so much by raw power as it was overwhelmed by sheer feriocity. Thats it "kryptonite" for some reason, and the emans by which Wolvie and Hulk beat it.

When Snowbird takes the form of an animal that is small and weaker than her, it retains her size ... and presumably her strength and durability. According to the Master's Ed. she can lift/press in the ballpark of up to 10 tons, ie. "Class 10" as they term it, while her durability is defined as "superhuman". This might have given her strong enough talons and enough raw strength to be able to harm Sasq.

Oh yeah. I just noticed Snowbird's height and weight in the Masters Ed. ....

Height 5'10"

Weight 108 lbs

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? 108 lbs!! EEEWWWWWWW!::!o

There is this new thing ... its called E-A-T-I-N-G.

At least she's got the excuse of being magical. Storm is still officially 5'11" and 127 lbs. And she's supposed to be an athlete.

-Wal

I must admit John Byrne always drew Snowbird as an anorexic in the pages of Alpha Flight. She was skinnier than Kate Moss.

You raised a couple of good points, but I'm not entirely convinced. Walter Langkowski is not a "creature of the North." Tanaraq is. And Tanaraq a mystical being. So is Wendigo. Maybe the better explanation is that the Wendigo only exists as the result of a specific magic curse, and therefore cannot be duplicated by the Inuit Gods. Or maybe in keeping with your theory, now that we know there are naturally occurring Sasquatchii in the North, perhaps the Sasquatch form Snowbird took was not Tanaraq's form, but a natural Sasquatch form?

I find the entry stating that when Snowbird takes the form of a creature smaller than her human form, she becomes a human sized version of that creature. Then why did Snowbird become a swarm of mosquitoes, as opposed to a human-sized version of a single mosquito? Maybe it was just the ick factor--who wants to see a beautiful blonde chick turn into a big blood sucking bug?!?

Epyon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Or maybe in keeping with your theory, now that we
> know there are naturally occurring Sasquatchii in
> the North, perhaps the Sasquatch form Snowbird
> took was not Tanaraq's form, but a natural
> Sasquatch form?

Precisely.


> why did Snowbird become a swarm of
> mosquitoes, as opposed to a human-sized version of
> a single mosquito?

Good point. I don't know why that is, but (while my memory might be failing me) it might be worth pointing out that the swarm was roughly equivalent in overall mass to her human form. I know, I know, but yeah, ick factor was probably a big factor in deciding on a 108 lb swarm rather than a single 108 lb. mosquitoe.

Perhaps we're overthinking. I don't know much about AF, but why couldn't it just be that she can choose to take a form up to as large as her own person. That would account for her super-sized bird form, as well as the mosquito swarm, wouldn't it?


Skarlett da Tanaraq-ish Spyder

________________________________________________________________________________
"All who wander are not lost." J.R.R. Tolkein

"History and experience have taught us that the oldest among our kind invariably prove the most formidable." Sage, X-Treme X-Men #43

"You leap like a hyena in heat!!" Conan to Wolverine, What If...? #16

"Useless, all useless...I was once a MAN!!" Cobra Commander, G.I. Joe the Movie

Well, if she cannot choose shed her extra mass and become a single, tiny mosquito, her powers are more limited. Granted, there aren't many reasons why she would choose to be a single, tiny mosquito (stealth being the only one that comes to mind), but having options is usually a good thing.

Personally, I always thought the whole mosquito bit was silly. But Snowbird was created by John Byrne, and John Byrne depicted Snowbird turning into a swarm of mosquitoes.