Creative Challenges > Characters

El Boriken
El Boriken
2012

El Boriken. Superhero brandishing the flag of Puerto Rico.

Abilities: Suit provides user with enhanced strength, speed, and tactical thinking.
Able to generate short term hard light constructs, such as shields and melee weapons.
Utility belt contains survival equipment, stun batons, shatterdiscs, backup armor and portable handguns.
Helmet contains Tactical A.I. interface that calculates and assess tactical data to suggest host of best course of action during combat scenarios. Suit also allows the user to access and interface with various computer and electronic devices.

Luis Mendez was a U.S. Marine Corp Seargent serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan before being approached for Special Ops in Project: El Boriken. He is the sxth individual to wear the helmet as prior wielders had great difficulty handling the Tactical A.I. affixed to his helmet and as a result, were killed in action subduing various paranormal threats. Luis's ability to handle intense stress made him a prime candidate for the Tactical A.I. So far, Luis has been able to handle the interface, but it is mostly Luis's interactions with the various individuals within his team as a response to the growing amount of superpowers in the States resulting in a need for a Latin American Team. Add to the stress of representing Puerto Rican pride, combating paranormal threats, and the advances of La Sayona, make Luis's life a difficult one.

Thoughts: This is the character I go through so many revisions over, as I had a primary design in mind, but Alex Ross beat me to it with his render of Buck Barnes as Captain America (which strongly resembles the Puerto Rican Flag), so I tried and I tried to make a character that won't resemble Captain America pastiche, ultimately just saying "screw it" and drawing him as is. His outfit originally was meant to be armored up top, until I introduced the high tech aspects to his suit, so I figured having it powered by carbon nanotubes could possibly allow a suit to be armored, yet loose enough to resemble cloth. I did the Captain America Shield pose to allow the connection to become apparent, while having his hardlight shield bear the Flag of Puerto Rico for a final touch, as if he's going to be a symbol, give him a big symbol.