RAFFLES
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Classification: Terrestrial technology
Creator: Forge (hardware creator), Kitty Pryde (Software designer)
Possessors: Kitty Pryde
First Appearance: X-Men: Soul Killer (1999)
Powers/Abilities/Functions: Raffles is a minicomputer able to hack into and open most computer security systems. It is plugged directly into a network port.
It is a square gray plastic device half the size of a pack of cigarettes.
History:
(X-Men: Soul Killer (fb) - BTS) - While recovering from war wounds (see comments), Forge read a book about the gentleman thief Raffles.
(X-Men: Soul Killer (fb) - BTS) - Forge worked
with Kitty Pryde to design a specialized minicomputer; he created the
hardware and she designed the software. Due to its ability to bypass
security systems, Forge named it Raffles.
(X-Men: Soul Killer) - Seeking to access the domestic special law-enforcement organization SAFE (Strategic Action For Emergencies)'s records on Rogue (who was being both manipulated and impersonated by Belasco and his agents), Kitty Pryde disconnected one of SAFE's computers from the other machines on the network and plugged Raffles into that port. The password request box flickered, and the SAFE computer's hard drive chattered.
In the time it took to explain Raffles' history and function, Raffles cracked the computer's security system, and the message on the screen changed to "PASSWORD ACCEPTED."
Via information gained from the computer, they
learned that while the real Rogue was being manipulated by Belasco,
there was also a Rogue imposterviolently slaughtering people to distract the X-Men from locating the real Rogue.
Comments: Created by Richard Lee Byers and Leonard Manco.
X-Men: Soul Killer was a novel, and there were no images of the Raffles minicomputer.
When originally created in the
1980's Forge was supposed to be a Vietnam veteran. As many more years
pass in the real world compared to the Marvel Universe (in the comics,
it has been less than 15 years since the Fantastic Four took their
fateful space slight (which was published in Fantastic Four I#1
(1961)), it became less and less realistic to have people without
superhuman lifespans/slow aging to have been active. As a result, it is
considered a topical reference, and it was recently clarified in the
History of the Marvel Universe#2 that most references to the Vietnam
War involving characters associated with the modern era/sliding
timescale instead refer to a conflict in Sin Cong, which took place
shortly before and continued into the early years of the modern era.
So, Forge would have been in the Sin Cong war.
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Raffles was named for:
images: (without ads):
There aren't any...
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
First posted: 09/15/2019
Last updated: 09/15/2019
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