Webcomic Character Analysis Blog: The Blip Travels to DEATH BATTLE!

The Blip, Traveler of the Omniverse

Traveler was created by T Campbell, it can be read on Webtoon

Welcome back to the blog! Before I continue with the usual intro, I have a big announcement to make: I've opened up a Discord server for fans of my obscure blogs to hang out! Here, y'all can chill and chat about VS and webcomic stuff and receive updates on upcoming blogs and revisions made to previous ones. You'll be able to learn what blog I'll be working on next before anyone else does! The invite link is here, and can be found between my profile and the previous blog list on the right side of the page. As you may have seen before, I try to keep the content of the characters I focus on varied. Even though I've just covered two superheroes back-to-back, both are so wildly different in tone that it's difficult to even compare the two. Today I'll be focusing on another superhero, who is the most traditional out of the ones I've covered previously, but is far more than meets the eye. This is probably the most complex powerset I've covered on this blog so far, so I expect there to be at least some errors, but I hope it's still good enough for y'all. Oh yeah, another completed series incoming, so SPOILER WARNING!!!!!

Background

"What helps me most is helping other people."

Trevor Carr wasn't in a rush to take a step further in life. He had a best friend he ran an animation podcast with, a loving girlfriend, and he was perfectly fine living a coddled life at his parents' house. He was an upstanding guy who loved helping others and enjoyed what he had, but he wasn't ready for the real world. He was spoiled far too often to value life past its comforts. Little did he know, these comforts wouldn't last forever.

A bizarre phenomena occurred that caused a plethora of subtle changes on the planet. The world felt a sense of jamais vu, the feeling that they've never seen something they've already seen before. A plate of chocolate chip cookies turned into Oreos, a dog's leash was displaced from its collar, kids' appearances looked younger, a car became a different brand… and Trevor gained superpowers.

He figured out he had them during an uncomfortable conversation with his girlfriend Lizzie. She tried to convince him to find a new and successful line of work that doesn't involve his immature bestie Paula. Wishing he to be somewhere else and not hear about things he isn't ready for, he teleported into his childhood bedroom. Once he teleported back, both were shocked at what had transpired. For the next couple weeks, the two had tested out his powers to see what he's capable of. Along with teleportation, he could fly. Trevor got Paula in on his secret as well and helped him train. Eventually he'd be convinced to become a superhero with his powers! He'd put his superpowers to strictly nonviolent use with a list of rules Lizzie created for him to follow. Stuff like saving cats from trees and helping grannies across streets. Thanks to how he can instantly appear anywhere he wanted, he simply was known as The Blip.

He took the world by storm. Many thought he was a hoax, while others became enamored by the idea of a real life superhero. Things were relatively simple and low stakes, but things started to change once he got involved with the police. Trevor offered to assist them to scout out crime, but given his lack of combat training and how he isn't invincible, they tell him to stick to the low stakes hero work. However, an officer saw his potential and requested Trevor to scout out a warehouse for him.

That would be Trevor's first big mistake that sent his life down a spiral. He put his trust in a policeman he didn't know was corrupt, who would later pay the price when he publicly murdered an innocent halal salesman. Thus the Blip would be under fire later on for associating with such a man. The second mistake would be the warehouse scouting itself. There actually were smugglers there and Trevor accidentally caught their attention. He engaged in combat, breaking one of the boundaries Lizzie set for him and harming her trust in him. Trevor wasn't able to catch the criminals, and that caused a ripple effect. The criminals were the henchman of the calculating and plan-driven crime lord Nic the Thinker, who would hire a talented assassin to become Trevor's nemesis and hunt him down. Dubbing himself Home-Slice, the world's first supervillain was Trevor's biggest challenge yet, pushing him to his limits before his timely arrest.

Worse was that his powers were beginning to go on the fritz. Once, he teleported to a dark and dank swampy landscape that looked like it from another planet… and a creature dwelled there that was anything but normal. And another time, he teleported into the world of a childhood cartoon of his and interacted with the characters within it.

When it got to such a low point, he revealed his secret identity to his parents and eventually the whole world before anyone could maliciously do so. That's when Nic the Thinker struck. Disguised as Home-Slice, Nic and his goons broke into Trevor's house, beat up Paula, and kidnapped his father. Trevor couldn't get there to save him because his powers messed up at the most inconvenient moment and took him back to the year of 1918. He kept trying to return to his time period, but all that did was transport him to other points in time. He started to realize that his flukes with his powers weren't just sporadic. When he appeared in the cartoon world, he wished life was simple. When he was feeling murky about his ties with the officer, he appeared in the alien swamp. And when time traveled, he wished he could turn back time to undo his mistakes. Eventually, he would find his footing when he was taken in by a group of 60's hippies who would help him get back on track. With their assistance in becoming more in tune with the world, he'd unlock a new power before appearing back in his time.

Trevor returned to rescue his dad and square off against "Home-Slice," but it was a trap, resulting in Mr. Carr's death. Despite his devastating loss, the Blip retaliated and fought Nic, eventually killing him. As Trevor and his loved ones recovered from the event, Lizzie couldn't take it anymore. She loved him with all her heart, but she couldn't protect him. No matter what she did, Trevor's life would be in danger, and if any supervillains didn't do him in, his glitching powers would. That's why she had the thought of breaking up with him. Despite that, Trevor listened to her advice and gave up on being a hero, choosing to fake his death and live a peaceful life… but life isn't so simple, isn't it?

As it turns out, Trevor's powers and all the subtle altercations to the planet weren't by chance. In the vastness of the cosmos was a race of higher dimensional beings called the Euclideans. This nonuniform species had dedicated themselves to keeping order throughout the omniverse and ridding it of its chaotic imperfections. They valued perfection and order above all else, but one Euclidean lacked their trademark care and tact. The pyramid-headed Xanthodron was incompetent, prideful, and didn't take their job as seriously as others. While observing Earth as part of their job, Xanthodron fumbled and caused the slight changes on the planet in an attempt to return things back to how they once were. Too bad Xanthodron didn't realize their mistakes resulted in an Earthing gaining unimaginable powers. With their superiors deeming Trevor's existence inexcusable, Xanthodron was sent to erase their errors. As Trevor and Lizzie reconciled after he made his decision, the alien tracked Trevor down and forced him to flee. He blipped through time and space to escape Xanthodron, and was able to finally flee from them by teleporting out of his universe… but his powers didn't let him go home.

Trevor was lost. His powers weren't listening to him and everywhere he went was completely alien. His only company was the voices of Lizzie and Paula in his head, providing advice whenever he needed it. He'd bargain with his powers over time to convince them that he needed more than breatcable air to have a stable life, and slowly, they'd take him to more hospitable places—but his internal guilt prevented him from ever reaching his loved ones.

Until then, the act of helping others became his new home, and he assisted whatever being he came across that needed it until he eventually wound up back on Earth. Shockingly, this Earth wasn't his own. He was surrounded by people who shared his powers! All of them hailed from different parallel universes, so it was comforting for Trevor to meet people who knew his struggles. The most prevalent figure he met in this "Blipworld" was Omnipresent Man, a more idealized superhero with the power of omnipresence. Trevor's moment of relief and companionship was cut short when everything fell apart. Trevor and all these wonderful people with their own stories to share were all drawn to this dimension to be slaughtered by Xanthodron.

Before Trevor could be killed like the rest, a squadron heroes intervened to stop Xanthodron. They were allies of Omnipresent Man who were looking for him, but their search was all for naught. Instead, they recruited Trevor—the sole survivor of the attack—to a Battalion beings across dimensions who sought to preserve life. They were aware of the existence of the Euclideans and were preparing to face an attack from them. The Battalion, mainly its elite pyromancer Glorio, would help Trevor develop his powers to be on the level of their fallen comrade and hopefully return him to his world. Trevor and Glorio grew really close, and eventually the two had fallen in love. Trevor wasn't sure if he'd ever see Lizzie again, but being with Glorio was the most comfort he had felt in a long time.

While the two were embracing, they actually wound up teleporting to Trevor's own Earth. It was a shocking and emotional moment for Trevor, but he tried to remain by Glorio's side. Despite that, his powers would keep taking him back to his world. While Glorio loved Trevor as his beau, he knew what his boyfriend was more loyal to deep down. And so, the Battalion decided to give Trevor a proper farewell and return him to his Earth, with Glorio encouraging him to remain loyal to Lizzie. But as they were about to send Trevor on his way, he made the bold choice to stay for a little longer to help them defeat the Euclideans. His powers were connected to that godlike race and they were murdered millions in the name of order, so he wouldn't let the Battalion fight them alone… especially when the Euclideans formed together to storm the Battalion this instant.

The fight was as abstract as his opponents were, he couldn't even tell if the Battalion was winning or losing. What he could remember was his most prized teammates being dogpiled by the Euclideans and being driven away by Xanthodron themself. He tried to escape them, but they had his scent. At last, after a full year of being a superhero and a traveler, Trevor met his end.

At least, that's what it seemed like when he reached the afterlife. He reunited with many people who had died on his journey. His father, the victim of his cop mentor Halal Harry, even Nic the Thinker who Trevor was forced to reconcile with. But most prominently, Omnipresent Man was there and took Trevor under his wing to help him fully realize his powers. Turns out Trevor isn't actually dead; his powers simply teleported him there as Xanthodron tried to atomize him. Not only that, but this "heaven" was a place Trevor had willed into reality. His and the Euclideans' reality bending abilities were very similar. After some much needed training, it was time for him to settle this once and for all.

Trevor engaged every single Euclidean in an abstract fight across the omniverse. It was him against an entire legion of beings that were like him but better in every way. And yet Trevor persisted. His powers had ludicrously developed to match them in combat. To beat them, Trevor had to track down the source of their weakness, and forcibly fused every Euclidean with their Unspoken other half, turning them into writhing imperfect beings experiencing complete confusion. Despite that, he had to put a permanent end to their existence so they'll never return. The only solution he could come to was the riskiest. He teleported his power outside of the omniverse's range to draw the Euclideans to it. And with one final jump, he prayed it would take him back home at last. And at long last, he was back at home for good.

Trevor finally reunited with his loved ones. He and Izzy got back together, even after he explained his moment of unfaithfulness. She took it easily because she experienced something similar back on Earth too. A lot had changed in his absence, as Paula had moved in with his mom, she had her own new friends, and there were all kinds of Blip memorials and museums popping up. He had to lay low before properly returning to the public eye. Trevor learned a lot from his shortcomings and had become a better person be cause of it. While being back home was cathartic, he still had PTSD from being lost in space for eight months. Thankfully, he was able to reunite with his friends at the Battalion so he could receive the support he needed. Even though he lacked the powers to help others, he received an offer for a future job opening of helping out recruits with their physical and mental health. Trevor may have returned to Earth only a few months ago, but helping others was what really made his heart soar.

In the end, Trevor got back on his feet and returned to his life of aiding people. He made himself known to the public again after Lizzie released a book on his journey he helped her write. The rest of his foreseeable future is uncertain, but all he can do is keep moving forward…

Equipment

The Blip Costume

The Blip's costume may have gone through a few revisions, but it alwasy came with his trademark helmet and cape. After his first encounter with Home-Slice, his getup was upgraded to have tougher armor to better resist weaponry. His helmet is also bulletproof, but can only take one hit before it isn't anymore.

Translator

It lets him understand certain alien races

Battalion Space Suit

The suit he wore in the final battle against the Euclideans. Wearing it lets him move through space with a means to breathe.

Abilities

Teleportation and Dimensional Travel

The first power Trevor discovers he has, and surprisingly his most versatile. Trevor's teleportation powers are based around moving matter and energy through spacetime. At first he was able to teleport to any location on the planet he could think of. From the pyramids of Egypt to the Washington Monument, he could appear anywhere on the planet. His teleportation powers respond to his desires and feelings, and can act on their own based on Trevor's subconscious thoughts. Maybe he wants to go to a location that brings back fond memories or teleporting to criminals closest to a certain location, or a place where he can find good food. His powers respond to commands as vague as those. Not only that, but his powers always divert him from appearing anything solid like walls or places without air. Then he learns he can teleport matter with him and away from him. The biggest thing he has teleported was a small moon's worth of aliens clustered together. His transporting powers can even work on intangible things like pollutants. He also figured out that he can teleport specific parts of things away, like only teleporting the front of a car and leaving the other half behind. So not only does he have BFR (battlefield removal), but he can instakill someone by teleporting vital parts of them away. However, his range for teleportation goes far beyond the scope of Earth. When Xanthodron chased him away, he figured out he can teleport to ANYWHERE in the omniverse. His range extends even outside of it! While his powers didn't listen to him for most of the time spent outside Earth, they would progressively respond to his wants until it finally took him back home.

While this section is dedicated to the more standard type of teleportation, I'll delve into the more abstract uses of his teleportation further down.

Flight

Probably the most superhero-ey power anyone can get their hands on, Trevor can soar through the sky with ease.

Light Manipulation

Whenever he teleports, he unleashes a bright glow. He's learned how to regulate it since discovering his powers. He's also able to generate light without needing to teleport.

Healing

Trevor has a minor healing factor, as his powers attempt to teleport blood back into his body. If he's in critical condition, he won't be able to heal his injuries without outside help.

Battlefield Removal

He's able to teleport matter away with him and leave them somewhere else, effectively removing them from from combat

Reality Warping

Oh boy… This is where things get fucky, isn't it? Trevor's powers stem from the Euclideans so their abilities are similar in a lot more ways than he'd expect. Case in point, both Blips and Euclideans are reality warpers. See, when Trevor imagines things, he wills them into being on a low level of reality. That is immense power in his hands. He isn't just able to teleport to places he fabricated, but he's able to do whatever he wants by traveling to another plane of reality where it's possible. The potential is infinite. Some examples are being able to create fully realized worlds with ease and can alter their dimensionality, and traveling to a higher plane of existence and view and interact with the omniverse as if he's reaching through a TV screen. Being able to enter these worlds makes Trevor untrackable to the Euclideans, making it seem like he blipped out of existence. Seeing as his powers are similar to the Euclideans, he's able to wield specific abilities that no one could comprehend.

Time Travel

Not only can Trevor teleport to different places, he can teleport to different time periods. Trevor is able to blink ahead and backwards to any point in time.

Chrono Vision

Trevor can see the past, present, and the branching paths of futures of any individual, including himself. He can also dimly see ahead of time and use that to travel ahead to that point or use it as a form of precognition.

Summons

Trevor can conjure whatever he wants into a fight through reality warping, and give them any stats he wishes. They can be fictional characters from his childhood cartoons, characters he and Paula made up as a kid, etc. Along with that, he can summon hostile aliens from all over the multiverse to fight his own battles

Omnipresence

Trevor learned a thing or two from Omnipresent Man and gained the ability to be present everywhere, whenever, and nowhere simultaneously. He's able to do this by using himself as a reference point and jumping through space and time to make more of himself at any point in time. This power seems to be limited to a single universe, but given late game Trevor was able to interact with the entire omniverse, he might not have those limitations.

Size Manipulation

By teleporting to another scale of existence, he can be any size. Ranging from a microscopic level to the size of a galaxy. Given how his powers have infinite potential, he should be able to shrink/grow even further.

Atomic Dissociation

Because Trevor shares the powers of the Euclideans, he can completely atomize people by teleporting their atoms apart. He can perform this at a range, but doing the same to Euclideans only works through touch.

Higher Level Existence

Trevor's fight with the Euclideans is incredibly abstract and experimental, so bear with me throughout the rest of this section. He was able to run circles around the Euclideans for a moment by imagining a higher realm of existence outside of space, and was able to reach into it to pluck and teleport every Euclidean in the omniverse

Dimensional Manipulation

Trevor is able to change the dimensions of things, like making them flat

Law Manipulation

Trevor is able to dictate rules that whatever place he imagines must abide by. While the Euclideans are able to bypass them because they're adaptive and his powers are based on their own, it's still immensely powerful on its own

Sealing

He can literally trap people in his own creations by effectively sealing its exits.

Resistances

Long distance combustion/atomization

Vortex Creation

This seems to have some stretching properties of a black hole, but it doesn't have enough qualities to confirm it as one

Statistics Amplification

Trevor can provide and increase the stats of his summons to infinite degrees

Danmaku

It's hard to tell if this realm is Trevor's doing or if he's traveling to another place with these bullet-like projectiles flying around given the finale's ambiguous nature, but Trevor would be capable of it anyway

Power Removal

The ultimate sacrifice Trevor makes to go back home. It's unknown if Trevor can remove other peoples' powers, but it's likely he can given his reality warping nature.

Techniques

Krav Maga

Trevor has basic training in Krav Maga, having learned it to improve his self defense skills

The Omniverse

I AM PERFECTION,

I AM FOREVER,

I AM UNCHANGING/

I AM BLONXFEER

The Omniverse is the title of the group of multiverses that exist in the Traveler multiverse. When the cosmos was in its youth, the first Euclidean Blonxfeer was born into existence. Their birth alone lit up gogolplexes of multiverses. They noticed how disorganized the multiverses were, and sought to make them uniform. Blonxfeer formed all of the multiverses into a ring around themself and expanded to fill it. Now, the omniverse is infinitely expanding, as is the number of Euclideans to help maintain order within it.

As it implies, there exists space outside of the Omniverse's infinitely expanding range, which exists as an infinite void. This should be a multi+ and MFTL+ level feat.

Another fun bit is that many webtoon series like Lore Olympus, The Boxer, I'm the Grim Reaper and *sigh* Boyfriends exist in Traveler as movies/TV shows in Trevor's DVD collection. Even Ordeal, which I previously covered, was a DVD.

Feats

Overall

He performed all sorts of heroic acts as the Blip. He gave food to the homeless, helped cats out of trees, saved people from fires, hurricanes, and floods, and even gave someone the will to live again
He rescued an affluent child from being kidnapped. His parents couldn't provide any information on what he's into so Trevor could get a better picture of him, so he went snooping around in their mansion to find more clues. He found the kid's room and learned he was a Blip superfan. So he kept that adoration in his mind and let his powers guide him to that love for him… and he teleported right to him and stopped the kidnappers.
He overcame Home-Slice, a trained killer who figured out Trevor's weaknesses and used those against him, nearly killing him once
When he teleported into the cartoon world, he teamed up with the main cast of Navy Seals to defeat the offensively depicted terrorist antagonist and all the villains of Trevor's past up to that point to stop them from from using his weather machine to turn people into drug addicts
Trevor killed the intellectual crime boss Nic the Thinker, who was responsible for Home-Slice targeting him and Trevor's dad's death. He killed him by teleporting him to the prehistoric era and letting the dinosaurs deal with him
He was able to escape from all sorts of alien creatures, like behemoths that dwell on a planet without a sun and literal dragons
Even away from Earth, he was able to help others. He saved snake aliens from a flood
He freed a bunch of aliens from the mining colony called Cow Hell, that kept its workers stuck there mining. The place instantly healed its inhabitants from any injuries they received to continue working there and withstanding cruel and unusual punishments
He helped a robotic rebellion win a civil war
Trevor and Glorio assisted aliens in a race war
Trevor and Glorio fought an evil soundwave on an alternate devastated Earth
He defeated the Euclideans, despite them essentially having better versions of his power, billions more years of experience, and the power to eradicate all life
Trevor was able to imagine a realm outside of space where he was able to view and locate every Euclidean throughout the omniverse and teleport them into a 2D universe he created. There he'd flatten them and seal it and crumple it. It wasn't enough to destroy them, but that's really fucking impressive
Trevor ultimately bested by the Euclideans by forcing them to fuse with their Unspoken halves before teleporting his power outside the Omniverse with enough juice for one more chance to go back home

Strength

Speed

Durability

Weaknesses

Trevor's downfall was brought upon himself by his naivety, recklessness, and lack of foresight to see the grave consequences caused by his actions. He foolishly dove headfirst into a dangerous path he couldn't back out of, costing so much of what he valued. After his experiences as the Blip and the Traveler, he knows better than to not fall into these pitfalls again
He has an increased appetite when he uses his powers
Before being driven away from his universe, Trevor didn't listen to his powers well. According to his personal trainer, his powers are smarter than he is, guiding him to where he needs to be based on his instincts and feelings. Trevor didn't take in the implications of what that meant, and that really came to bite him in the ass later when he lost control of his powers. Now Trevor knows why his powers took him to unexpected places:

His powers try to save his life
They guide him to a place that needs him
The Euclideans mess with them, like when he entered Blipworld
They act on his subconscious

Home-Slice figured out that Trevor can be where he "needs to be," and that tends to be where things are important, like people important to him…
Covering his visor could inhibit his vision, but given he's become a multiversal reality warper, he could easily deal with that
Psychic branding prevents him from teleporting, but doesn't stop his time powers
Trevor's fully realized powers are infinite, but that doesn't mean his concentration isn't

Matchup Potential

The Blip vs Sideways (Traveler vs DC)

(thumbnail by Vibe Check)

Vibe Check

I'm just gonna steal this connection list provided by KrakenExperiment: Both were average guys until a cosmic event occurred where they were accidentally given the power of teleportation and dimensional travel, among other things. They choose to become superheroes but end up being way over their heads, spiraling out of control which leads to their family being pushed away and even killed. Also a cosmic deity connected to their powers eventually takes notice of them and chases them down (though in Sideways’ case the god Tempus Fuginant would drop his beef with Derek pretty early on). At the peak of the hero’s emotion turmoil they are whisked away out of their own dimension with the fear of never being able to return home. Thankfully this place would be where they work their emotions out and be ready to get back home.

From what I've heard about Sideways, this seems like a really fitting matchup for both. This one could have a rising dynamic, as it can start out like a standard airborne and teleportation-based superhero fight, but it becomes more experimental as they hop through dimensions and Trevor exhibits his more abstract powers. And given how emotionally driven both characters are, the script can have some heavy emotional beats to it. Especially when it comes to the finale.

I'm used to DC characters stomping, but that isn't the case for this MU. From what I've been told Sideways is a street tier and that Blip totally demolishes. In that case, the death could involve Blip tricking Sideways like he did with the Euclideans with a heavy ending, as Sideways won't find his way home ever again.

The Blip vs Ben 23 (Traveler vs Ben 10)

(thumbnail by Dick with a D)

Dick with a D

Okay so while The Blip isn't exactly a spoiled brat in the way Ben 23 is, I still think the theme of "Pampered heroes with cosmic abilities given on accident who learn how to be true heroes thanks to the inspiration of a more capable hero" is pretty good. In addition this has got some very nice animation potential, helped by how 23 chooses to not be as versatile as his mainline counterpart, limiting himself to 23 aliens at a time.

NEXT TIME ON WCAB… whenever I feel like it

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

The Blip Travels to DEATH BATTLE!