CYGNUS PRIMECYGNUS PRIME
Official Name: Cygnus Prime
Nature: Extraterrestrial world - unrevealed star system and galaxy
Atmosphere: Unrevealed, but
Lila Cheney, Polaris (Lorna Dane), and Strong Guy (Guido Carosella)
functioned normally there without requiring any atmospheric protection;
the sky looks somewhat purple in the images we saw
Gravity: Unrevealed; presumably relatively Earth-like
Natives: Balthazar (native or resident), Balthazar's garbage heap's guardian (native or resident)
Visitors: Lila Cheney, (presumably) Jornik, Polaris (Lorna Dane), Strong Guy (Guido Carosella)
Population: Unrevealed
Capital City: Unrevealed
Government: Unrevealed
Languages: Unrevealed
National Defense: Unrevealed
Places of Interest: Balthazar's Used Goods Emporium
Monetary Unit: Unrevealed
Major Resources: Unrevealed
Other Assets: Daedalus Wing
First Appearance: (BTS reference, unidentified) X-Factor I#110 (January, 1995);
(Actual appearance, identified) X-Factor I#111 (February, 1995)
History:
(X-Factor I#111 (fb) - BTS) - Jornick sold the Harmonium and the Daedalus Wing to Balthazar.
Considering the Harmonium to be broken, Balthazar cast it out back into his gabage heap.
(X-Factor I#111) - Lila Cheney, Polaris, and Strong Guy traveled to Cygnus Prime, retrieved the Harmonium from Balthazar's garbage heap
Comments: Created by John Francis Moore, Todd Dezago, Jan Duursema, and Al Milgrom.
It is unrevealed whether Balthazar was native to Cygnus Prime, or whether he settled there from elsewhere.
If Balthazar was native to Cygnus Prime, we have no idea whether he was typical for the natives of Cygnus Prime, or whether there were multiple races/species/whatever living there.
The same is true for the guardian of the garbage heap.
The are no representative images of the world of
Cygnus Prime. We have images of Balthazar, and his Emporium, and the
Daedalus Wing, and the Garbage Heap guardian... but nothing that shows
the planet, its skylines, etc.
I'll profile the Harmonium along with the K'lanti.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Cygnus Prime has no known connections to:
Balthazar
(see main profile image for ful body image of Balthazar)
A semi-anthropoid-simian creature, Balthazar was
covered with brown fur, which was thickened in feathers extending from
his forearm region. His face had less hair and was more orange-brown in
color, while the rest of his head was covered in dark black fur.
He appeared to have three clawed fingers (it is
not clear whether he had a thumb as well) and three clawed toes. His
arms were long in relation to his body (like an ape's), and he had a
large (fat) abdominal region / lower torso.
His eyes appeared to have black sclera +/-
irides, with a central white, circular pupil-like structure. He has a
relatively large, broad nose.
(X-Factor I#111 (fb) - BTS) - Balthazar was the owner of Balthazar's Used Goods Emporium, which bought and sold used items of technology on Cygnus Prime.
Lila Cheney dealt with Balthazar and found that he could make things very "difficult" (she did specify what that meant).
Lila felt that Balthazar knew where every last piece of debris was, but if Balthazar considered something broken, he threw it out back in the garbage heap; he at least claimed to not know where things were in the garbage heap.
(X-Factor I#110 (fb) - BTS / X-Factor I#111 (fb) - BTS) - Purchasing the Daedalus Wing, which he knew Jornik had stolen from Lila Cheney, he enjoyed using it to fly above and survey all of his treasures.
He also purchased the Harmonium from Jornik, but considering it to be nonfunctional, he threw it out back in the garbage heap.
(X-Factor I#111) - Lila Cheney teleported herself Polaris (Lorna Dane) and Strong Guy (Guido Carosella) traveled to Cygnus Prime, traveling to Balthazar's Used Goods Emporium.
After Lila identified Balthazar
flying above with the Daedalus Wing, Polaris flew up, got his attention
and told him it was important that he come down and speak to them.
Balthazar retorted that Polaris
was ugly and annoying, and that she should go away or he would knock
her from the sky.
Using her magnetic powers, Polaris forced Balthazar down to the ground, where he insisted to Lila that he would not give up his wing as he loved the flying.
When Balthazar further asked how she knew it had been stolen, Lila pointed out that she hadn't told him it had been stolen, pointing out that he knew it was stolen -- "you miserable leech" -- when he bought it from "that weasel" Jornik.
However, she clarified that they hadn't come for the wing, but instead wanted the Harmonium. Balthazar explained that "that thing" was broken and he had thrown it out back on the garbage heap.
Eyeing the immense mountain of
junk, Guido asked "flyboy" (Balthazar) to give them a hint where he had
thrown the Harmonium, but Balthazar refused to help, telling them they
were trespassers, and that they would either leave or he would make
them leave.
In response and calling him a "pigheaded jerk," Lila punched Balthazar out. Guido wondered if she shouldn't have hit "the poor monkey" so hard, but Lila explained that he could make things very difficult and that this was for the best.
(X-Factor I#111 - BTS) - Fighting off the guardian of the garbage heap, the humans located the Harmonium and returned to Earth.
--(BTS reference; unidentified) X-Factor I#110; (full appearance, identified) X-Factor I#111
Balthazar's Used Goods Emporium
(X-Factor I#111 (fb) - BTS) - Based on Cygnus Prime, it was owned by Balthazar and consisted of acres and acres of what Lila Cheney considered discarded debris.
Lila felt that Balthazar knew where every last piece of debris was, but if Balthazar considered something broken, he threw it out back in the garbage heap; he at least claimed to not know where things were in the garbage heap.
The garbage heap was apparently overseen by its immense "guardian."
Having purchased the Harmonium, he considered it broken and threw it into the garbage heap.
Balthazar supervised his entire Emporium from above via the Daedalus Wing.
(X-Factor I#111) - Lila Cheney teleported herself Polaris (Lorna Dane) and Strong Guy (Guido Carosella) traveled to Cygnus Prime, traveling to Balthazar's Used Goods Emporium.
Balthazar informed them he had cast the Harmonium into his garbage heap and refused to help them look, leading Lila to punch him out.
Appreciating that the Harmonium's gears were
metal, Polaris began to sift out all non-metallic stuff and then spread
out whatever remained, at which point the guardian appeared and
attacked Guido. As Guido occupied the creature, Lila located the
Harmonium; however, their struggle eventually carried them into
Polaris, disrupting her concentration.
Polaris formed a magnetic shield to protect her and Lila, but Guido was buried under tons of rubble. Guido soon emerged, the kinetic energy having super-charged his body, but he released the energy by flattening the guardian with a single punch, after which the heroes returned to Earth.
--X-Factor I#111
Balthazar's garbage heap guardian
Perhaps 15' tall, the creature is bipedal and semi-humanoid in bodily dimensions.
It is composed of (or at least covered by) metal, with most of his surface covered by sharp metallic spikes.
Its four fingers and thumbs each hard long claws,
and its mouth is filled with pointed teeth (it had smaller teeth
outside its larger main upper teeth). When angered, it drools(?)
profusely, dripping a light green fluid (oil?).
It has a pair of tubular structures extending
from the top its head down to its mid-back; it is unrevealed whether
this was a fuel transfer system or something else entirely.
It made a growling sound that was described as "growling, grinding..."
Of unrevealed origins (possibly robotic or a metal-based lifeform), this creature served as security to or guardian of the garbage heap behind Balthazar's Used Goods Emporium...and possibly to the whole Emporium.
After Balthazar had been incapacitated by Lila
Cheney, and Polaris had begun sifting through the garbage heap to
separate metal-containing items from non-metal containing items, Strong
Guy (Guido Carosella) head a grinding, growling sound, after which he
was confronted and assaulted by the guardian, which he referred to as a
"giant mechanical artichoke" (and later a "Penzoil-drooling monstrosity)
As Guido occupied the creature, Lila located the Harmonium; however,
their struggle eventually carried them into Polaris, disrupting her
concentration.
Polaris formed a magnetic shield to protect her and Lila, but
Guido was buried under tons of rubble. Guido soon emerged, the kinetic
energy having super-charged his body, but he released the energy by
flattening the guardian with a single punch, after which the heroes
returned to Earth.
Daedalus Wing
(see main profile image for image of the Daedalus Wing)
The Daedalus Wing was a single-piece, flexible,
metallic structure that functioned as a pair of wings as it ran across
its wearer's back and was connected to its wearer by a pair of shoulder
and wrist straps and an abdominal band.
It could suspend even a few hundred pound being in the air for extended periods.
Its power source, as well as its maximum distance, height, carrying load, and speed are all unrevealed.
(X-Factor I#110 (fb) - BTS / X-Factor I#111 (fb) - BTS) - The Daedalus Wing was formerly owned by Lila Cheney (who presumably had originally stolen it from parties unrevealed) and who kept it in her Dyson Sphere. It was eventually stolen by Jornik who then sold to Balthazar.
(X-Factor I#111 (fb) - BTS) - Aware of its stolen nature, Balthazar used the Wing to fly above and observe his Used Goods Emporium. He came to thoroughly enjoy flying thusly, and highly valued the Wing.
(X-Factor I#111) - Lila Cheney teleported herself Polaris (Lorna Dane) and Strong Guy (Guido Carosella) traveled to Cygnus Prime, traveling to Balthazar's Used Goods Emporium.
After Lila identified Balthazar
flying above with the Daedalus Wing, Polaris flew up, got his attention
and told him it was important that he come down and speak to them.
When Bathazar refused, Polaris magnetically forced Balthazar down to the ground, where he insisted to Lila that he would not give up his wing as he loved the flying.
However, Lila clarified that they hadn't come for the wing, but instead wanted the Harmonium.
--(mentioned) X-Factor I#110; (fully seen) X-Factor I#111
images: (without ads)
X-Factor I#111, pg. 10, panel 1 (Balthazar's Used Goods Emporium);
panel 2 (Balthazar (full) and the Daedalus Wing);
pg. 11, panel 2 (Balthazar face);
pg. 12, panel 3 (garbage heap);
pg. 13, panel 1 (garbage heap guardian, face);
pg. 17, panel 5 (garbage heap guardian, full)
Appearances:
X-Factor I#110-111 (January-February, 1995) - John Francis Moore (plot), Todd Dezago (script), Jan Duursema (penciler), Al Milgrom (inker), Kelly Corvese (editor)
First posted: 10/02/2018
Last updated: 11/22/2018
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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