''Herculean Academy: The Top School for Aspiring Superheroes''
was a Play-by-Post roleplay hosted on Roleplayer Guild that was created by user xxfellsingxx on the 11th of March, 2015 and partially inspired by the Disney movie Sky High (2005), though quickly turned out to be, while still full of fun and shenanigans, more serious than its inspiration.
Like Sky High (2005), Herculean Academy is about school for the children of superheroes, supervillains, or the children of Muggles who have gained powers through either genetic luck, an accident or supernatural causes. These kids are sent a letter by a woman named Nina Smith, who claims to be the Vice Principal of a school meant to train children to control and utilise their powers for good. Some kids believe this letter, while others believe it to be a prank. Either way, soon after receiving this letter, the children are kidnapped, and wake up on some kind of underground train and informed that guess what? The letter was actually legit and they're now students at a top secret academy for superheroes!
Predictably, shenanigans quickly start happening. Before they even get off the train, actually, as two students get into a fight, the train gets hijacked by an Eldritch Abomination, said Eldritch Abomination turns out to be their Biology Teacher (no, really), several students get injured when the train comes to a dangerous halt and some of the students have to be escorted to a grumpy nurse, and a Loser Trio is formed, two of them happening to be the children of super-villains. Then, when they actually get to the school, they meet the Vice Principal, who looks as if she just came out out of Final Fantasy, and a mysterious girl in a wheelchair and straight-jacket, who is escorted by three government agents and is apparently so powerful, she is referred to as a 'Deity-Class' superhuman. And guess what? She's a new student too, just like them!
And things get weird. Well, weirder.
The roleplay eventually moved to a second thread in an attempt to regain interest after losing several players. It eventually became dead, however, and despite plans to revive it, it seems likely to remain as such. Both threads still exist on the guild though.
It has two sister roleplays made up of a lot of the same people: Pokémon: The Shadow of Nemesis, a Pokémon RP set in Johto several years after the main games, and The Spook Club, a original roleplay about the adventures of a paranormal investigations club. Both of these roleplays are also, unfortunately, no longer active.
Herculean Academy contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Considering that they all have superpowers, this is basically every female character who's appeared.
- All Asians Know Martial Arts: Averted for the most part. While the half-Japanese, half-Korean Cheol has had two years of karate training, the Chinese Kitty seems to have no knowledge of martial arts and neither does her father Yuancheng, which is pretty impressive considering he's a supervillain.
- Casanova Wannabe: Lucas.
- Creepy Child: Deia seems to come off as this. Of course, this is not helped by the fact she is introduced to us in a straight-jacket.
- Cuddle Bug: Kitty, whose first reaction to sitting next to Alexis was an attempt at snuggling with her. Alexis, of course, did not take kindly to this.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Meredith, Sam and Cheol can all transform into monsters, with Meredith being alien parasite, Sam being an embodiment of sin, and Cheol having a mask that transforms him into a crow monster. Still, they're all still classified as heroes, even if each of them do have dark sides.
- Deadly Doctor: Dorian, the school nurse who used to be the superhero Anesthesia, is a crackshot with a gun and has the power to take away the sensation of pain… or to cause it.
- Genki Girl: Kitty in a nutshell.
- Elemental Rivalry: Brett and Alexis, who have sound-based powers that directly oppose one another.
- Expy: Tony, who shares a name and has some very similar powers to Tony Stark, who's better known as Iron Man.
- Healing Hands: Meredith and Graham all have the ability to heal others. Everyone thought the school nurse Dorian had this as well, but turns out he merely had the power to take away the feeling of pain.
- Hilarity Ensues: Basically the whole RP so far.
- Humanoid Abomination: Meredith, the alien parasite, and Sam, the embodiment of Gluttony.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Alexis, Dorian, and Lonnie.
- Lesbian Vampire: Anastasia's future, maybe?!
- Make Some Noise: Brett and Alexis both have powers to control sound-waves, though while Brett can only use her own voice. Alexis can't and can only absorb and control the sounds of things and people outside of herself.
- Monster Roommate: For Jack, this is probably going to be Sam.
- Nurse with Good Intentions: See, Dorian means well… he's just not too great at expressing that.
- Perpetual Smiler: Kitty, even after she breaks her arm.
- Put on a Bus: Several characters after players lost interest. This especially happened after the first thread died.
- Tagalong Kid: While all the characters are kids, Cheol is only thirteen, making him the second youngest next to Deia. Despite this, the older kids don't seem to mind his presence, and both Graham and Kitty even have called him a friend.
- School Nurse: Dorian. He became a nurse after deciding that the superhero life really wasn't for him. Unfortunately, he isn't too fond of teenagers.
- The Short Guy with Glasses: Graham.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Alexis, Cheol, Anastasia, Aspen, Dorian, maybe even Graham… basically, lots of people.
- Superhero School: The titular Herculean Academy.
- Statuesque Stunner: Anastasia towers over the rest of the cast, at 6'6", and according to both Kitty and Alexis, she's a bombshell. This may, however, be mostly height envy (in Kitty's case) or the usual "love is blind" thing (in Alexis's case).
- Tsundere: Alexis. And also Dorian.
- Yandere: Olivia's started lapsing into this…
- Youkai: Cheol's mask allows him to transform into a Tengu, a Japanese crow monster..
