Classification: Humanoid shape-shifters
Location/Base of Operations: Extradimensional (Microverse) planet of Sphere, especially Central City, near the Dreaming Star and home planet of the Confluence of Stars
Known Members: None named, the Death Watch
Affiliations: Micronauts (Acroyear, Biotron, Bug, Huntarr, Marionette, Microtron, Arcturus Rann), Prime Beings (Scion, Solitaire)
First Appearance: Micronauts II#4 (January, 1985)
Powers/Abilities: The Children of the Dreaming Star were an advanced species that specialized in advanced technology in the fields of science, engineering, astrophysics, medicine, robotics and architecture, as well as rapid building techniques. Their impressive and grand spaceships, including the Grand Fleet and, most likely, Solitaire's ship, were capable of hyperspace travel. They had advanced teleportation techniques that could cross vast distances. The written form of their language seemed to have quadratic structure, with straight lines and right angles. They had access to the Dreaming Star, which was a unifying learning and peaceful experience for enlightenment that was used a system of justice and pilgrimage.
Traits: In their original pink form, they had oversized heads and bodies, but their squat forms and bent-over stature meant that they stood under 4' tall. They had three webbed fingers, as well as an opposable thumb on each hand. They mostly had big blue eyes plus a little hair from their cheeks. The Children of the Dreaming Star were shape-shifters and liked to mimic alien races that they encountered. They tended to be very helpful and benign, and liked to share some of their technology with friendly travelers. They greatly revered the Makers and Prime Beings, such as Solitaire and Scion.
History:
(Micronauts II#5 (fb)) - When the planet Sphere was still in its infancy, an egg from the Makers penetrated the oceans that hatched, releasing the so-called Primordal One, which began to generate/evolve the dominant lifeform on Sphere that would match its own physical structure. This also entailed imbuing the Children of the Makers, as they named themselves, with metamorphic abilities. A reverence for Prime Beings grew from this. The Children considered this to be documented scientific fact.
(Micronauts II#4) - After the Micronauts battled various weapons and machines on the Proving Ground, they met the weapons' creators, who called themselves the Children of the Makers. They were pleased to see the different angle on resolving the simulation by Arcturus Rann and Marionette, but were slightly concerned by the destruction wrought by Acroyear, Bug and Huntarr in the neighboring ordnance chamber. The two Children were astonished at the variation of physical forms of the five Micronauts.
(Micronauts II#5) - The Children of the Makers then helped the Micronauts to rescue the remnants of their spacecraft, the Endeavor II, as well as their partially melted roboids, Robotron and Microtron, which had been damaged by the severe atmosphere of the planet that was the Children's Proving Ground for weapons and machinery, where sunlight came in the form of lasers. A discarded candy wrapper from Bug showed the molecular structure of Homeworld to the Children, who were then eager to have the Micronauts return with them. Effectively castaways, they had to rely on the Children's help. A Confluence light freighter soon picked up the damaged Endeavor II and their crew and transported them to Sphere. There, the Micronauts were astonished at the spectacular architecture of Central City, the capital of Sphere. Since their departure form the laser-planet, the Micronauts had been on the news constantly, and they found replicas and merged versions of themselves, such as Huntarr with Rann's beard, amongst the Children. Bug was surprised to see another Marionette, apparently a male copying the physical form of his abiding crush. It was revealed that many of the Children were honoring the Micronauts by morphing into their forms. The Micronauts were invited to a feast but found the food to be incompatible. As night had fallen, the Children showed their guests the wondrous Spiral Path, a galaxy crafted by the Makers into the shape of a D.N.A. spiral. Meanwhile, Bug retreated to think about his home planet, and encountered Solitaire, who desired to travel with him.
(Micronauts II#6 - (BTS)) - Bug left Sphere with Solitaire, but decided to return to his colleagues.
(Micronauts II#7) - The Micronauts (Acroyear, Huntarr, Marionette, Rann) sat onboard the Endeavour II as it was being repaired by the Children of the Dreaming Star.
(Micronauts II#8) - Solitaire returned to Central City with Bug, who had become increasingly ill due to radiation poisoning. The Children made it a priority on Solitaire's command and diverted all space traffic away from on the possibility that it could have been a plague. Solitaire was shocked to see that the minions of Death Watch were guarding the bodies of Acroyear, Marionette and Rann, and now Bug as well. Meanwhile, Scion hatched from his egg and crawled toward the dying Micronauts. Two Children saw him but prostrated themselves before him in reverence for a Prime Being. Back at the facility for dying beings, Huntarr lamented the expected death of his fellow Micronauts with Solitaire, but tackled Scion in his large scorpion-size form, considering him to be a threat. The minions of Death Watch refused to intervene as they recognized Scion to be a Prime Being. However, before Solitaire could aid Huntarr, Scion fired a harpoon at Huntarr, causing him to mutate wildly. Solitaire, the Death Watch minions and Scion managed to escape before Huntarr's form exploded, although this change allowed Huntarr to resurrect his fellow Micronauts, by bone, sinew and skin.
(Micronauts II#9 (fb) - BTS) - The Children rebuilt the damaged forms of Biotron and Microtron, as well as the Endeavor II, and made minor modifications in line with the Children's advanced technology.
(Micronauts II#9) - The Children had sedated the Micronauts so that they could recover faster in the medical facility. Rann woke from a nightmare he had of Devil caught in a teleporter, but was then brought to the other Micronauts; the Children had separated him because of his significantly older lifespan. Solitaire was then introduced to the other Micronauts in the form of Sepsis, a Homeworld hero and mother to Rann, and one Child commented that she was the most gifted shape-shifter of their race (it would seem that this Child was partially lying to protect Solitaire's identity, as other Children allocated greater authority to her as a Prime Being). Solitaire then chose to show the Dreaming Star to the Micronauts, and they left with members of the Children of the Dreaming Star from the departure point, which was based near Central City. Inside the shuttle, the Children took care of take-off, with a suspension field in place so that they could stand anywhere they wanted without requiring a floor. They then docked at the Station of the Dreaming Star, where Children make their pilgrimage before entering communion with the Dreaming Star, including great thinkers and psychopaths, each orbiting in their own capsule, with tyrants and criminals being forced by other Children armed with cattle prod-like sticks. Most Children who entered the Star's matrix did not wish to leave. However, Rann then felt a wave of pain and immediately sought to enter the matrix from the Station; a Child indicated that the process was complex, but Rann instinctively knew what to enter. Once in the matrix, he saw Devil's teleport beam and ordered the Children to get a certain teleportation receiver. The Children quickly complied and Devil was stored in the teleport device's matrix, but failed to form, so Rann sent Devil to be stored in Biotron, which it was now capable of due to the Children's modifications. Rann exited the matrix and stated that they needed to get back to Homeworld to identify the problem why Devil could not reform. Solitaire then ordered the Children to ready the Grand Fleet to escort the Micronauts back to Homeworld. Rann yearned to return to the Dreaming Star, but they all departed with the Grand Fleet.
(Micronauts II#10) - Onboard the revamped Endeavor II, which was leading the Grand Fleet, the Micronauts were presented with Solitaire, whom Bug (incorrectly) introduced as a member of the Children of the Dreaming Star, and she was made the newest recruit to the Micronauts. She then advised Rann to skirt around a large energy field, with the varied ships of the Grand Fleet following the Micronauts' path. All the ships suddenly halted as they hit the Spacewall, with the Children's inertial dampening technology saving the Micronauts' ship from damage. An attempt to breach the Spacewall using energy from the Fleet resulted in the wrath of the Time Traveler, which dwarfed the Fleet's ships. Sensing that the Enigma Force had been corrupted, Rann ordered the Grand Fleet to open fire on the Time Traveler, but to no effect. The Traveler then smashed the Grand Fleet apart, except for the Endeavor II.
(Micronauts II#11) - After being decimated by the Enigma Force's retaliation, the surviving Children of the Dreaming Star decided to go home. The injured Rann requested to go with them so that he could study the Dreaming Star some more. They journeyed back to Sphere and the Confluence of Stars by hyperspace in the crippled ships that could still travel.
(Micronauts II#14) - Orbiting the Dreaming Star, Rann spoke with one member of the Children of the Dreaming Star, who related the knowledge the Children had concerning the Makers. Rann strained with all his senses to see, and finally glimpsed one of the tremendous Celestial-like Makers, towering over the stars and planets, and he was awestruck at the vision.
(Micronauts II#17 - (BTS)) - Rann managed to teleport from Sphere to Homeworld, leaving the Children of the Makers behind.
Comments: Created by Peter B. Gillis (writer), Kelley Jones (penciler), Bruce Patterson, Akin & Garvey (inkers).
Clarifications:
The Children of the Dreaming Star should be distinguished from:
and have no known connection to:
Sphere has no known connection to:
Central City has no known connection to:
Solitaire's ship has no known connection to:
Death Watch has no known connection to:
The Grand Fleet has no known connection to:
Central City is the capital of Sphere, which is in turn the capital planet of the Confluence of Stars. It orbits a double star, although these are a tenth of a light away. This companion star is known as the Dreaming Star. Sphere is where the Children of the Makers are located, and is where Solitaire was initially based. The Children of the Makers, after rescuing the Micronauts from their Proving Ground, welcomed them on Sphere. They related their belief of the planet being seeded by an egg of the Makers, which paralleled many such beliefs of other races on planets in that region. The Spiral Path could be seen at night from Sphere. Huntarr battled Scion for the lives of the Micronauts there, although Scion was actually trying to save them. After recovering from radiation sickness, the Micronauts journeyed from the departure point on Sphere to the nearby Station of the Star. After the Grand Fleet was decimated at the Spacewall, the fleet returned to Sphere, taking Rann with them. Sphere is later shown from space when Rann sought to understand the nature of the Makers.
Sphere is shown also as a pinkish planet, so the darker image shown here is the planet on the unlit side.
Micronauts II#5 ([7] 8-10 [11], 14
After the Children of the Dreaming Star rescued the Micronauts from the Proving Ground in a light freighter, they journeyed to their home planet of Sphere and landed in its capital called Central City. All but Arcturus Rann were introduced to it by the Children of the Dreaming Star, with Acroyear later escorting Rann to a viewing platform to see the magnificent colored spires of Central City. Acroyear considered it to be more beautiful than Homeworld with sweet air, a peaceful environment and spectacular architecture. However, at a feast in their honor, the Micronauts discovered their incompatibility with the food, as well as the Children's ability to shapeshift. The Spiral Path could be viewed in the night sky from Central City. Bug, feeling alone, encountered Solitaire there. Later, when they were sick with lethal radiation poisoning, the Micronauts were taken initially to a section reserved for dying beings, then to a medical facility and soon recovered after help from Scion and Huntarr. Biotron and Microtron were repaired there also by the Children. The departure point for the shuttle to the Dreaming Star was also located near Central City.
Although more of Central City was depicted in Micronauts II#6, this was only in relation to Bug's imagination.
Micronauts II#5 ([7] 8-9
When Bug wanted to escape Sphere to go back to his people, Solitaire, in the guise of Marionette with the characteristics of Bug's race, said that she wanted to travel with him. She offered the use of her ship, although the food synthesizers onboard, like those on Sphere, were not compatible with the Micronaut. The ship was capable of hyperspace travel, although not all the controls were familiar to Bug. While journeying, Bug had the opportunity to engage in various fantasies regarding his teammates, including betrayal by the Children of the Dreaming Star, an attack by marauding insects and a resurrected Baron Karza. Bug decided to return to his compatriots and asked Solitaire to turn the ship around. However, Bug soon succumbed to radiation poisoning from a prior adventure and Solitaire rushed back to Sphere, traveling so fast that she trailed plasma behind her ship as she approached the docking station at Central City, but the advanced docking facilities there helped to slow and cool the ship down.
Solitaire's ship is reminiscent of the starship Scorpio from the last season of "Blake's 7", a British sci-fi TV show (c. 1982).
Micronauts II#6 (8
The minions of the Death Watch were humanoids suited in blue protective armor. They were likely Children of the Dreaming Star who morphed into more upright forms. They were drawn to death, guarding a section reserved for dying beings, where the Micronauts Acroyear, Bug, Marionette and Arcturus Rann had been taken to as they had received lethal doses of radiation in a prior adventure. They seemed to be a mix of undertakers and a death cult, although their exact nature is unknown. Solitaire recognized them instantly and, when Scion apparently attacked Huntarr, they initially refused to intervene as Scion was a Prime Being, but then accepted Solitare's authority. They fled the room holding the Micronauts with Solitaire when Huntarr's body mutated wildly.
Micronauts II#8
The Grand Fleet of the Children of the Dreaming Star was assembled quickly, as ordered by Solitaire, to escort the Micronauts in the Endeavor II back to Homeworld. The massive ships of varied design dwarfed the Endeavour II and followed it into hyperspace, but were held back by the Spacewall. In an effort to pierce the Spacewall and so that the Micronauts could reach their Homeworld, a petard was erected that would focus the entire fleet's power into a single point, guided by Rann's mind. This was only partially successful, managing to crack and buckle the Spacewall, when a huge Time Traveler, a manifestation of the Enigma Force, appeared ordering the fleet to desist in its efforts. Sensing the corruption of the Enigma Force, Rann ordered the fleet to open fire on the Time Traveler, but it responded in turn by smashing the Grand Fleet with its massive hands, before disappearing. Fragments of the fleet then floated before the Spacewall. Most of the fleet were destroyed, the rest were crippled. The surviving Children of the Dreaming Star then returned home in their battered ships, taking the injured Rann with them as per his request.
Micronauts II#9 (10-11
images:
Micronauts II#5, p16, panel 4 (main)
Micronauts II#4, p21, panel 4 (head)
Micronauts II#9, p10, panel 3 (protective suit)
Micronauts II#9, p10, panel 1 (Sphere)
Micronauts II#5, p13 (Central City)
Micronauts II#8, p4, panel 2 (Solitaire's ship)
Micronauts II#8, p5, panel 2 (Death Watch)
Micronauts II#10, p2-3 (Grand Fleet)
Micronauts II#4 (January, 1985) - Peter B. Gillis (writer), Kelley Jones (pencils), Bruce Patterson, Akin & Garvey (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Micronauts II#5 (February, 1985) - Peter B. Gillis (writer), Kelley Jones (pencils), Pat Redding (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Micronauts II#6 (March, 1985) - Peter B. Gillis (writer), Kelley Jones (pencils), Bruce Patterson (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Micronauts II#7 (March, 1985) - Peter B. Gillis (writer), Rod Whigham (pencils), Akin & Garvey (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Micronauts II#8-10 (April-July, 1985) - Peter B. Gillis (writer), Kelley Jones (pencils), Bruce Patterson (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Micronauts II#11 (September, 1985) - Peter B. Gillis (writer), Kelley Jones (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Micronauts II#14 (November, 1985) - Peter B. Gillis (writer), Kelley Jones (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
First Posted: 04/26/2006
Last updated: 04/26/2006
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and
© 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you
like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!