This is a story I’ve been working on that is inspired by both The Archies and Mystery, Inc., I’ve just turned them into a Five-Token Band instead of a Five-Man Band. Their names are a combination of Disney’s core characters and Cluedo characters. I also wanted to tie each character to an element, so in accordance with the Cluedo character names, I used a similar pattern in conceiving their names.

---

Because writing this actually took up five pages, I’m just going to introduce each character a day at a time, instead of posting the whole thing.

---

Michael Mariner’s mother is a zmey, a Russian species od dragon that can change between dragon or human form. His ancestors fled Russia because the people became fearful of them, although they only wanted peace. Through time, as Michael’s family became more Americanized, they forgot about their zmey status, and though it became dormant, they never lost their powers.
Michael’s father was an American US Navy captain, and upon retiring, he became a big game hunter. While on a safari in Russia, he is mysteriously attacked and seemingly killed. About two months later, he returned home, but is different somehow. His wife, just being excited that he’s alive, doesn’t notice anything, and that night Michael is born. It isn’t until later that Michael’s father was revealed to be a vampire, making him a dhampir.
As Michael became older, his power as a dhampir became more apparent, not only that but his powers as a half zmey is reawakened, making him a hybrid.
Michael is a combination of Archie Andrews and Fred Jones. He was named after Mickey Mouse and Col. Mustard. I wanted to make him a dhampir, but I also wanted to tie him to the element of fire as it was the only element that I had not tied into one of my characters, so I made him a hybrid, but instead of making him the usual vampire/werewolf hybrid, I went with the Russian dragon. Like Colonel Mustard, he was named after a sauce.

Geoffrey Lemon, is not your normal child detective, he has a blood line that includes some of the greatest European minds, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Henry Jekyll, Griffith and Hank Martin. However, he was an orphan, and so he knew very little about his lineage. When he became the bearer of his friends’ supernatural secrets, he found himself playing friend-in-distress one to many times and decided that to do something about it.

Always having had a fascination with Arthurian folklore, Geoffrey decided to start there. He met a mysterious man that he soon began a friendship with, and it was this man that imparted to him the secrets of Geoffrey’s lineage. Within his inheritance, Geoffrey found the formulas for Griffin’s invisibility and Dr. Jekyll’s Mr. Hyde. After taking a chemistry class, and finding that he excelled in it, Geoffrey is able to prefect the formulas so that he doesn’t remain invisible, and he doesn’t lose control of his Hyde. Not only that, but he modifies the formulas, the invisible formulas now gives him the power to control the air around him; and his Hyde persona is more like a werewolf.

Geoffrey is a combination of Jughead Jones and Shaggy Rogers. He is named after Goofy and Prof. Plum. I’m also taking inspiration for him from such characters as Stiles from Teen Wolf and Xander from Buffy. Because I wanted him to be a normal human, I decided to make his powers a result of science instead of the supernatural. He is also partially inspired by an old Disney character named Dexter Riley, thus the child detective, invisibility and super strength. Lastly, he is also inspired by a dream that I once had where I because a werewolf by sheer willpower instead of supernaturally, which is why I decide to alter the Hyde formula to give him more of the appearance of a werewolf. Like Prof. Plum, Geoffrey was named after a fruit. Since, according to Marvel, the Invisible Woman’s powers tie her to air. I decided to give Geoffrey control over air, via modification of the invisible formula.

Amelia Blue’s father was a US Navy Admiral, who fell in love with a mermaid. They married and had a daughter. Amelia was born physically human, but with strong psychic abilities. One of her defining features is that she can use astral projection of herself that is essentially a ghost. However, the longer she is in her astral form, the more detached she becomes from her body, if she us out of her body too much, it becomes zombified, and even though she is still able to go back into her body, it becomes harder.

Amelia is a combination of Veronica Lodge, Cheryl Blossom, Daphne Blake and a little bit of Betty Cooper. She is named after Minnie Mouse and Mrs. Peacock. I wanted Amelia to be a psychic, and while I didn’t really want her to be a mermaid, I decided to use this origin to explain how she attained her psychic connection. Amelia’s dilemma with her body becoming zombified if she remains astral to long, is inspired by an idea I conceived while playing Sims 3. Like Mrs. Peacock, Amelia was named after a bird.

Long ago, when I was first creating my comic world, and I was still calling my characters mutants, I had this idea of a teen team of mutants who powers, appearances and weaknesses were based off monsters. The female, a ghost, would recruit a vampire to lead the team, and they were then joined by a werewolf. The relationship between Michael, Geoffrey and Amelia is a buildup of this. Even though she is based off of Veronica, I want her relationship to Michael and Geoffrey to be more like the relationship between Archie, Jughead and Betty.

Benibara Midori was born from a Japanese tree. An old monk had befriended a local kodama. When the superstitious chopped the tree down in fear of the kodama’s power, the monk took part of the tree and fashioned it into a wooden girl. The girl came to life, and became human, because of the nature of her ‘birth’ she was discovered to be a yosei, a Japanese fairy.

Although the monk allowed the little girl, to play in the village, he kept the secret of her origins from the superstitious villagers, and from the girl so that she would not accidentally reveal herself to the villagers. Somehow, they discovered her secret anyway, resulting in the death of the monk when he tried to protect her. A Japanese samurai who had sworn to protect the monk took the girl and fled to America.

Hinagiku is based off of Betty Cooper and Velma Dinkley. Her name is a combination of Daisy and Miss Scarlett. In the Five-Token Band trope, the smart guy/chick is turned into an Asian, for this reason, I am also drawing inspiration from the minor Archie character Tomoko Yoshida. As shown by the way she was ‘born’ she is also inspired by Pinocchio. When searching for a supernatural character to base Hanagiku on, I was originally going to go with the kitsune, but because of Teen Wolf, I wasn’t completely comfortable with this. I had also thought about making her the daughter of the Monkey King, or even a dragon, but the idea just wasn’t settling for me. I eventually learned of the Yosei, but to distinguish my version of the Yosei from the mountain ones, I decided to have her born from a kodama, the Japanese version of the Greek dryad. Benibara is the Japanese word for Rose, and Midori is the Japanese word for Green.