Beginning in 2005, the short-lived superhero Top Cow Productions series by Seth Green, Hugh Sterbakov and Leonard Kirk follows a group of oddly matched college freshmen being housed together in the science building when an experiment gone wrong gives them a wide assortment of powers based off what all of them were thinking at the time.
Tropes:
- Arch Nemesis Dad: Annalee's executive father is well aware of the accident and plotting to exploit his daughter and the others.
- Author Avatar: As shown in the page image, the cover to the first issue portrays Norrin resembling a college-age version of co-creator Seth Green.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Several of the Freshmen. Annalee/The Puppeteer (a psych major) was thinking about how she wanted to get inside people's heads and what she gets are mind control powers.
- Big Fun: Liam/Quaker is a rotund Amish boy (his power is making earthquakes when his stomach rumbles) who is earnest and fascinated about what's happening, devout in his beliefs and respectful to everyone else.
- Blessed with Suck: Several of the group. Charles is a vegetarian who can now talk to plants and hears them begging not to be cut or eaten or nagging for more water. Elwood (whose never had a drink before the night of the experiment) has to get drunk to used his powers and starts failing classes.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Paula/Seductress has the power to make men feel romantic attachment to her and make Jacques her boyfriend against his will. The others are horrified when they find out and Paula seems to feel some self-loathing about it as well.
- Everyone Looks Sexier if French: Jacques, the son of a French diplomat is initially quite the self-assured ladies man.
- Frat Bro: Several hard-partying fraternity brothers harass the Freshmen for no good reason and later get recruited by the Mad Scientist as his Dumb Muscle.
- Gag Penis: Ray/Long Dong grows a fifteen foot indestructible penis from the experiment due to reflecting on a Teeny Weenie insult right when things happened.
- Goth: Cacophony wears black shirts with a skull on them, has dark makeup and purple dyed hair and is described as glaring a lot on the first issue.
- Hangover Sensitivity: Elwood has the ability to inflict hangovers with gusts of his breath as long as he has any alcohol in his system (although it makes him feel just as sick and tired).
- Mad Scientist: Professor Tomlinson, the man who made the invention that gave everyone powers doesn't seem like one at first, being upfront and apologetic about what happened, with it seeming to have been more random chance than anything. Then he starts giving more people powers, treating them like henchmen and trying to dump chemicals that would inflict powers and mutations on everyone into the local reservoir.
- Mafia Princess: Renee's dad is a gangster who spoiled her according to the character bios.
- Missed the Call: Comic buff Orrin/Wanabe/Scarlettt Knight, the only one of the group who really ever wanted powers, was out getting a pizza during the power-granting incident and missed the whole thing (to his great dismay), although he is a bit of a Badass Normal. The professor briefly tempts him into a Face–Heel Turn with the promise of his own powers but he snaps out of it and helps stop him.
- Modesty Bedsheet: Norrin's girlfriend Amy uses his cape as one on the cover of one issue.
- Nephewism: According to character bios Cacophony was raised by a mentally ill aunt.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: They has a wide range of colorful personalities slides even before getting powers.
- Red Is Heroic: The group mostly wear red costumes and fight crime.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Lisa/Cacophony (a girl who gains the powers to imitate any vocal range while singing) and several unnamed freshmen never introduced on screen leave the science building after the accident rather than get caught up in the proposal of being heroes.
- Slap-Slap-Kiss: Deconstructed with Renne and Brady/The Drama Twins who fight a lot, then have sex but gradually begin to feel that there too much toxicity and not enough passion between them.
- The Smart Guy: Elwood is a math genius and straight A student. At least until he has to get drunk for the teams hero antics, which makes him too hungover to study properly.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Charles Levy, or The Green Thumb, who can talk to plants. The whole "eating things that can talk" thing is brought up, and since he's a vegetarian ol'Charles is up shit creek. And his ficus thinks he's cheating on her.
- Sticky Situation: Jimmy/Post-It had just put a record number of post-its on his body when the experiment went haywire and so things start sticking to his body.
- Stepford Smiler: Annalee's mom manages to smile even while her words about her husband leaving her sound sad and angry.
- Stripperific: Annalee's hero costume mostly has a bra for a top.
- Super-Empowering: Tomlinson has the ability to temporarily give others he touches superstrength and nigh invulnerability, but it has the same side-effects as taking mundane steroids.
- Super Sex Organs: Long Dong's fifteen foot penis.
- Talking Animal: The colleges beaver mascot gains speech and super intelligence from the experiment.
- Team Dad: The Beaver considers himself a paternal leader and mentor to the humans, in a somewhat condescending but not entirely inaccurate way.
- Telekinesis: Brady and Renee/ The Drama Twins have this power. Renee can pull objects with her mind and Brady can push them (due to the fact that they were having sex when Tomlinsons experiment gave everyone powers based on their thoughts at that moment).
- Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Paula, initially in an optimistic admiring true love way.
- Twofer Token Minority: Try Threefor. Charles is mixed race, Jewish and secretly gay.
- Utility Belt: Norrin has no abilities except for a fairly useless utility belt.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Brady gets a few shirtless scenes and has a muscular chest.
- Wonder Twin Powers: Brady and Renee only have telekinesis when they're touching, and Brady can only push objects while Renee can only pull them.
