MOTHER
MOTHER
Real Name: 2500 LV series MTR caretaker
Identity/Class: Pre-Cataclysmic to modern era robot (presumably active in every era in between, but only the eras clearly confirmed are listed)
Occupation: Maintenance and repair of the technology supporting Pangea; caretaker of Dherk
Group Membership: Formerly one of a series of 2500 LV series MTR caretaker robots
Affiliations: Dherk; other robots
Enemies: Ka-Zar (Kevin, Lord Plunder), Shanna O'Hara (Shanna the She-Devil, Lady Plunder)
Known Relatives: None; unspecified Atlantean/Pangean creators
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Atlantea, Pangea, Antarctica
First Appearance: Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (November, 1981)
Powers/Abilities: Mother functioned primarily to repair and maintain the machinery that kept Pangea in a tropical environment despite its presence in Antarctica. "She" was experienced in the maintenance of such machinery, and also could cannibalize parts from other, broken down robots to keep herself running. She could also operate and maintain the hibernation chamber.
Mother was also specially programmed in animatronics, and could generate android duplicates of others, into which she could use a mind transfer to device to transfer a person's knowledge, memories, and feelings into that android; she could even do so with the recently deceased. Further, an android created in this fashion would not even realize he or she was not in his or her original form until shown otherwise.
Mother typically hovered a few feet off the ground and could readily navigate Dherk's Atlantea complex; she may have had tank-like treads that would facilitate movement on the ground. She appeared to have three servo arms, each with three digits for manipulation of other equipment; these digits had a variety of extensions/attachments, including drills, blades (and/or scissors), molding tools, etc. Her "torso" could swivel at least 180 degrees from its lower section; she was only seen to move her head and torso in conjunction, which kept her blaster and visual sensors in alignment.
Mother's chief offensive weapon was a laser
blaster, apparently mounted on her "chest," the blasts of which she could fire
in rapid succession, and which could shatter large wooden tables or blast chunks
off of solid stone and/or metallic structures. She did not appear to have any
sort of computerized guidance system, as she only caught Ka-Zar in a glancing
blow to his forearm once, and she missed her targets in at least 5 other blasts;
however, it may be that she was not actually trying to hit her targets, but
was instead using the blasts to guide Ka-Zar and Shanna to learn certain
information. She may have been seeking her own destruction and made herself
appear to be a sufficient threat as to facilitate that...or maybe she just
wasn't designed for combat and wasn't that good at it...
Mother was protected by a force field, upon which a rock would shatter if it struck with sufficient force. It is unclear whether the force field was always present or whether Mother would project it in response to an attack; regardless, it did not protect her from a blast from Dherk's laser pistol (perhaps she was programmed not to see Dherk as a threat?).
Mother was experienced in operating the machinery in the Atlantea complex. Whether she could do so via remote control from her own system, or whether she had to travel about the complex and directly operate controls is unclear.
Height: Unrevealed; perhaps 4-6' tall
Weight: Unrevealed; perhaps 200 to 500 lbs.
Eyes: Red visual sensors
Hair: None
History:
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - <Prior to 18,000 BC> - Pangea was maintained
by a squad of specially programmed robots created by the Atlantean scientists
who had created Pangea. Amongst the original robots was/were one or multiple
2500 LV series MTR caretaker robots, specializing in robot maintenance and
animatronics.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#6 (fb) - BTS) - In Pangea, Dherk secretly began work on his hibernation chamber, hoping to save all of Atlantis. He completed an early prototype on Nahgen island.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - In the Pangean realm of Atlantea, Dherk was assisted by the 2500 LV series MTR caretaker robot he designated Mother.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb)) - Mother helped Dherk construct
another prototype hibernation (cryogenic?) chamber.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#6 (fb) - BTS) <18,000 BC> - Dherk was in the process of testing another prototype hibernation chamber near Nahgen island when the Great Cataclysm occurred. Energy backlash from Atlantis' ruined energy plants caused a malfunction, and Dherk was trapped within the chamber; but somehow the chamber continued feeding Dherk information, and so while he helplessly sank into a frozen sleep, he witnessed Atlantis' destruction.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - Most of Pangea perished in
the Cataclysm as well.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - After the Cataclysm, people fled the centers of civilization for the surrounding forests and countryside, and Pangean society crumbled.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - Mother kept Dherk within the chamber until she could devise a way to bring him safely out of it.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - Mother continued maintaining the robots as best she could and salvaged repair parts for herself as the other caretakers broke down around her. Eventually, Mother was the only robot left to maintain the continually disintegrating machinery that controlled Pangea
(Ka-Zar the Savage#6 (fb) - BTS) - < Centuries (or millennia) later> - Dherk awakened to a half-life, able to send a mental projection of himself to relatively nearby locations for short periods of time, but only able to manifest himself in solid form at great risk to his hibernating form's life energy.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - Dherk tried his best to help Mother maintain the machinery, but as the machinery continued to fail, it became harder for Dherk to maintain his mental projection of himself in solid form. Exhausted by the effort, Dherk slept sometimes for decades.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#4 - BTS / Ka-Zar the Savage#6 (fb) - BTS) <In recent years> - Shanna O'Hara/Shanna the She-Devil drew Dherk's attention.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#6
- BTS) - Dherk sent his mental projection to seduce Shanna, but when Ka-Zar was
lethally poisoned by a Morhah (giant scorpion-creature)'s stinger, Dherk
reluctantly assumed solid form to bring the two to his chamber and administer
the antidote; the effort fatally drained Dherk's energies.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb)) - Mother brought Dherk's body to
her lab. She built an android in his likeness, then used the mind transfer
machine to channel his knowledge, memories, and feelings into that form.
Perhaps, as speculated by Ka-Zar, realizing she couldn't stop
the refractors from falling apart and returning Pangea to a hostile, frigid
waste, she remade Dherk into a being that could survive any climate.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - Mother removed the video
recording containing her origins and history, and her remaking of Dherk into an
android, from beside the other tapes and kept it within her own form.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - Appreciating that Dherk's mechanical body would not be compatible with Shanna's living one, Mother attempted to supply Dherk with the next best thing, and she began building an android version of Shanna.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 - BTS) - Seeking to explore the secrets
of the ancient Atlantean technology, Ka-Zar led Shanna back to Dherk's base.
Finding Dherk's body missing from the hibernation chamber, they investigated and
found Dherk seemingly alive and connected to numerous wires from the surrounding
equipment. As Ka-Zar approached Dherk, he and Shanna were attacked by laser
blasts from Mother, who apparently saw the two visitors as infectious organisms
in the tidy world she was trying to prepare for Dherk.
Ka-Zar tried to take out the robot with a rock hurled from
his sling, but the rock shattered against a force field, and Ka-Zar and Shanna
fled from continued laser-blast onslaught -- during which time Ka-Zar noted that
the robot was targeting them and not Dherk -- into another chamber, after which
the door slammed shut, sealing them in there.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 - BTS) - Within the chamber, Ka-Zar and
Shanna found and watched a series of video tapes (advanced technology circa
1981!), which showed them maps of ancient Earth and Pangea, and images
showing Dherk and Mother designing the chamber and Dherk becoming trapped in it.
When they looked for the next tape, however, they found it missing, while air
began being sucked out of the room (presumably via Mother's programming).
Seeking an air vent, Ka-Zar shattered a water pipe that swiftly flooded the
room, and only after the room was nearly full could the two of them force open a
door and escape.
Investigating further, they found a partially constructed
robot version of Shanna, after which Mother attacked again.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (fb) - BTS) - "Awakening" on the table, Dherk heard the sounds of laser fire and rushed to investigate.
(Ka-Zar the Savage#8) - Seeing what was happening, Dherk ordered Mother to stop. When she turned and fired on him, Dherk destroyed her with a laser pistol. Dherk speculated that Mother had been driven insane by the efforts to maintain Pangea; spying the missing tape within Mother's rubble, Ka-Zar had Dherk bring them somewhere else they could play it. Upon playing the tape, Dherk was distraught to realize he had died and that he existed as an android built by Mother. Dherk resigned himself to fixing the refractors that kept Pangea livable, Shanna offered to come with and help.
Comments: Created by Bruce Jones, Brent Anderson, and Carlos Garzon.
While Mother is technically an it, it just seemed to fit better to call Mother "she" and "her."
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Mother should be distinguished from:
images: (without ads)
Ka-Zar the Savage#8, pg. 6, panel 4 (full);
pg. 7, panel 1 (force field);
pg. 10, panel 4 (caring for Dherk in
hibernation chamber);
pg. 15, panel 5 (android Shanna);
pg. 16, panel 3-4 (head, swiveling);
pg. 18, panel 2 (schematic);
panel 4 (last
remaining robot);
pg. 19, panel 1-3 (Mother remakes
Dherk as an android)
Appearances:
Ka-Zar the Savage#8 (November, 1981) - Bruce Jones (writer),
Brent Anderson (penciler), Carlos Garzon
(inker), Louise Jones (editor)
Last updated: 05/30/14
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.!