OHR Icons: Powerstick Man
A Feature by Pepsi Ranger

The majority of characters featured in the OHR Icons segment seem to have one thing in common: They all originated from a previous source, typically a drawing or a series of comics. Powerstick Man, a hero who hates to conform to anything resembling a bandwagon, essentially came from the same place.

So, how did he rise from nothing to become the character he is today? The following Icons feature will shed some light on his past, his present, and his hopeful future.

Origin:

A parody of an old Pepsi commercial starring Bob Dole and Britney Spears.

I have difficulty remembering the exact time when the character of Powerstick Man took form, but I do remember it happening in high school during seventh hour science class when the school was having some kind of assembly or dance in the cafeteria, and those of us who could care less about it stayed behind and watched TV. I was one of the nondancers who enjoyed television, so I took my spot at the desk and started watching whatever was on at the moment.

I can’t quite remember the month, and I can only guess the year this all happened. But I can say that there wasn’t much on that day.

Now, before I start describing the origin of Powerstick Man, however (which began at that desk in science class while watching TV), I think it’s relevant to mention two more pieces of background information:

First, the image of Powerstick Man began with a character I drew in 1990 on an ancient version of MS Paint in response to a quote about “Total Pumpitude” that a friend in junior high often said in pseudo-homage / mockery of an SNL skit called “Hans and Franz.” This character was shirtless, bent his elbow joints in a Hulk Hoganesque gorilla-buff pose, wore sunglasses, and flashed a silver tooth in his horselike grin. He was basically a brainless surfer who thought he could give Arnold Schwarzenegger a run for his money. His name was simply “the Justice League Reject.”

Secondly, even as a teenager I had to make fun of anything in pop culture that didn’t deserve to be taken seriously. In the early nineties, a certain hygiene company produced a new line of deodorant called “Power Stick.” The first time I tried it, I thought it was the wettest, most useless piece of hygiene ever invented. After I put it on, I wanted to roll on another brand just to make sure it held. And even then, I didn’t think it worked very well. So, when the advertisements for the product began, I had to scoff them. They clearly didn’t test their product.

Returning to 1992, when I was sitting in my Chemistry class watching television, one such Power Stick commercial aired. It starred an aging tennis pro who thought the deodorant could revitalize his career (or so he was paid to think), and boost his ego in the process. Although I had seen the commercial before—perhaps many times—I thought it was such a mockery of valuable advertising that I had to make my own commercial for it. That’s when I decided to draw a fake ad in comic form that featured a tennis player who falls in a vat of deodorant chemicals and transforms into the hero of hygiene known as Powerstick Man.

Power Stick on Youtube

I finished Part 1 in class, showed it to some friends who got a laugh or a chuckle out of it, and then decided to write a trilogy. Within the week, I had drawn three parts about Powerstick Man’s birth, rise, and eventual disappearance into the city’s sunset, showed it to some friends, gotten the laugh or chuckle I aimed for, and then stuffed them in my Transformers theme Hot Rod folder and ultimately forgot about them.

Scanned Copy of The Adventures of Powerstick Man (Part 1) in its original folder.

This is how the story told as The Adventures of Powerstick Man plays out: In Part 1, Powerstick Man faces a baldheaded menace who threatens to sour the deodorant factory with his festering underarm odor. This villain, called Bald Hairypit, stands out in the field, attempting to block Powerstick Man’s escape. But one accurate toss of the dreaded Power Stick deodorant into his shaggy armpit topples the sweaty monster to his knees. In Part 2, Powerstick Man celebrates his victory by stealing the factory’s Powerstick Mobile and drives it to a nearby junkyard where a mysterious “scaly thing” watches him from the depths of the junk piles. This scaly creature challenges Powerstick Man to a duel (“You ready to play?”), to which Powerstick Man accepts (“Let’s Rock”). And in the next frame, they enter a rock and roll duel that is almost immediately interrupted when a rogue streak of lightning zaps the creature into a jagged caricature of shock, and Powerstick Man is left to leave the junkyard freely and undefiled (except for the fact that the Powerstick Mobile blows up in that moment). A helicopter lands in the junkyard shortly thereafter and takes him to Part 3. The helicopter soon drops him over the city, and he falls a couple hundred feet into a Dumpster inside a gang-infested alley. Members of “The Grungies” confront and harass him there, but because they are “smelly,” Powerstick Man has the upper hand, beats them down with his deodorant, and runs into the sunset looking for more crimes to thwart, thus ending the trilogy.

The original copy of The Adventures of Powerstick Man on the left, the original copy of Powerstick Man Rock N’ Roll on the right.

Throughout the rest of 1992 and parts of 1993, I let the comic collect dust. Then one day in German class, I decided to revive the series.

When all was said and done, the story of The Adventures of Powerstick Man spanned 18 episodes (each one taking up both sides of a single sheet of paper), and ended with Powerstick Man defeating his arch nemesis, the Odor King, by throwing him into the same vat of deodorant chemicals that Powerstick Man fell in at the beginning of the story. In the journey toward this dramatic climax (and when I say dramatic, I really mean ridiculous), we follow the rise of the Odor King, the attempted rescue of the unnamed city’s mayor from a burning city hall, the transformation of the thugs Stack and Flea into the crime fighters Brut Man and Speedstick Man, the recruitment of the Grungies into the Odor King’s army, and the return of the scaly creature of the junkyard as the commando fighter Ban Man. We also witness the rise of Powerstick Man’s emotional arc from a hero who has a stupid power and knows it, to a hero who can wield his stupid power for justice.

It was a tearjerker.

Just kidding. It was merely a brainjerker.

When I finished the final part of The Adventures of Powerstick Man, I almost immediately began work on the follow up series Powerstick Man Rock N’ Roll. This new installment was about the assault on Baggemup Mall, the kidnapping of Rachel Faberge and the subsequent rescue effort that Powerstick Man (as Jimmy), his friend Rectum the Surfer, and the mysterious masked man (the precursor to Jack Ice) who shot up the mall had attempted to make. The story took them down coastal highways and into oceanic caves where Powerstick Man found the updated version of his suit—white spandex with a pair of black armbands—locked away in a hidden machine room. That was the farthest I ever took the comics. I had gotten sick of drawing them by that point.

The cover page and Part 6 of The Adventures of Powerstick Man.

My plan for the comics was to introduce a new villain called Emperor Puppet Crush (though, back then he was just the emperor), who could sew hypnotic thoughts into people’s heads and essentially control them. Since the story unfolded organically, I didn’t quite know how I was going to get there, or what I would do once I did get there. But eventually Powerstick Man would rescue Rachel from the emperor’s clutches, defeat the emperor, and ride into yet another sunset. Then I was going to write a third series in which Powerstick Man would enter a virtual world called “The Silver Gate,” or something to that effect (it was the silver something, but I don’t recall what was actually silver), but, of course, I never finished the second series, so the plan never got to that point.

And that was that. The legacy of Powerstick Man waned in 1994, and for six years I only used him to make snide comments about other people’s works for various writing workshops that I took in college. In that time, I developed him as that superhero guy who criticized anything.

Then came 2000, and Powerstick Man transitioned into a new legacy.

Life on the OHR:

I probably don’t need to go into the history of how I found the OHR or why I was looking for it. I’m sure it’s the same experience that anyone else reading this article has had. The differing circumstance, however, was that instead of adopting some cliché Final Fantasy clone or making a game about my friends, I went for the pop culture parody.

I knew that castle settings were commonplace in RPGs, and I really couldn’t think of a reason why I wanted to go down that road. I’ve been a fan of Earthbound since the mid-‘90s and realized that modern day RPGs were more appealing to me than all that fantastical old stuff. Even games like Shadowrun held my imagination longer than games like Final Fantasy or Breath of Fire. So, I thought, why not make a modern RPG? And then I started thinking about how much I would’ve loved to see Powerstick Man animated and in color, and how much I would’ve loved to re-envision his world as a game. So, when I finally downloaded the OHR in May 2000 (one month after I originally found it), I started working on the modern day RPG that revolved around Powerstick Man’s origin and rise as a superhero.

The design of Powerstick Man required me to figure out which traits could translate from comic to game. My first decision, then, revolved around appearance. The original incarnation of Powerstick Man (as a comic character) assumed that he wore a red suit (though it was all in pencil, so the red was never confirmed), and had no particular accessory beyond his belt and deodorant. But ever since I finished the last episode of the comic—when he found the white suit—I drew him with the armbands, and thus his new look became permanent.

As development continued, I discovered that he was also egotistical, a bit of a rock star, had some minor womanizing traits, and a vocal reluctance to help people. These, in turn, took him down the road of an antihero.

So far, no one’s complained.

The world he inhabited also played an important role in his development. I originally envisioned Cannonball City (which had no name in the comic) to be a municipality of California. But changes to the story over the years brought it to a permanent home in the Caribbean. And in this strange tropical paradise, the world’s craziest citizens called it home. I thought this would make for an interesting foil to Powerstick Man’s sarcastic side. It would also make writing dialogue more fun for me.

I also wanted a big world to surround him. The world that was featured in the comic was shallow, claustrophobic, and never really came alive. The characters’ expressions, battle scenes, and everything appeared in small, tight boxes, and it was difficult to really imagine a living world within those panels. With the translation to the OHR, however, I was able to open up this world, give each place a name, and allow room for the story to take any number of paths. This ultimately became my excuse for retelling the story as it was in the comic in this new form—I could finally see the vastness of Cannonball City and its surrounding regions; I could finally give it life.

When I brought Powerstick Man to the OHR, I finally had a place to mold his character into three dimensions. He could travel the world, meet new people, and throw deodorant at vicious things. His encounters in the comic, like that with Bald Hairypit in front of the factory, could be rebuilt in epic fashion. It was an exciting experience that had me glued to my computer nearly every day for eight months. Each new map offered a story line that I had never imagined before. It forced me to think about where Powerstick Man lived, how he responded to neighbors, and how he would respond to disaster striking his town. I could no longer rely on circumstantial issues to tell the story like they had in the comic. His problems needed substance now. They needed background, character foils, friends, and so on. It was a place where I discovered how little I truly knew about him.

Several times I questioned whether it was time to release a demo or not, and each time I thought it would’ve been smarter to wait a little longer. After spending a month working on the first area, creating battles, and building a boss fight, I had considered ending the demo there and releasing it to the public. Little did I know at the time that that was how most newbie games were released. I held back because I wanted to release a substantial demo for the first impression, so I’d spent the next seven months adding town after town, conflict after conflict, until I had something that would take most players about five hours to finish.

Anyway, that’s all boring game design stuff that you can read about in my design philosophy (or some form of it), so how about we dive into the realm of commentary?

When you think of Powerstick Man, what comes to mind?

A big pearly smile and sunglasses. Always vain, sometimes witty.
He's often mocking, but your characters usually don't complain much
about it, which changes the way I perceive his derision: it weirdly
impresses an illusion on me of him being subtle and smooth.
–The Mad Cacti

I dont know that much about Powerstick Man, I only spent like an hour
or so with the game. When I made Heroes, I wanted to make a character
that was cut from the same cloth as JSH's version of you, but with
MUCH MUCH worser jokes. I think any hero that has been around and made
a quality game for itself deserves the status of icon really. PSM has
starred in a fairly epic game that has a case of "Vikings Syndrome" in
that his final presentation is never finished. I do plan to play the
absolute final version of the game though.
-RedMaverickZero

When I think of Powerstick Man, what comes to mind first is actually Plummet 
Man. He was what really struck me in the "[Super]Heroes Anonymous" short 
story that came with the game.

The second thing I think of was the nifty use of negative harmtiles instead of a 
free inn in the first level. Third, I think of long, slow-paced, and tedious battles,
then a road with loads more of those same adjectives.

I think Powerstick Man is hilarious, and if I could have possibly ever gotten up

the nerve to get through the highway stage, I'm sure I would have liked him even 
more. I definitely think of him before Mr.Triangle or Wingedmene, but after 
Bob Surlaw, when trying to think of memorable protagonists in OHR history.

So, ultimately eh, what do I know, anyway?
-Nathan Karr

What impact do you think he has as an OHR cult hero?

Well honestly, I pretty much never see Powerstick mentioned. The game
was last released such a ridiculous number of years ago (excluding
some sneak preview?) and so much less impressive than it is today
(note: I enjoyed the original PSM immensely) that I expect many modern
players sadly haven't heard of him.

Oh, well there were the preview chapters!

He definitely has a place: I think he's the most lovable vain OHR hero by far!

-The Mad Cacti

I am pretty sure that he keeps us all safe at night as we sleep,
defending the OHR world from... things that can be defeated by flailing
a deodorant stick in their general direction.

I think he is also something of an enigma. He is widely known of, but
his game world is so huge that I think fewer players have scratched the
surface of Powerstick Man (I know that applys to me, since about 90% of
what I know about him comes from the books, and only 10% from playing
the game)
–James Paige

Now here are some burning questions from the community that everyone wanted to know, but didn’t think to ask:

What voice do you read Powerstick Man's dialogue in? For me, it's 100% Duff Man.
-Surlaw

As much as I wish I could project Duff Man’s voice onto Powerstick Man, I tend to lean toward John McClane of Die Hard fame, though the future may bring upon him a Napoleon Dynamite complex if things keep going in the direction they’re going. I suppose it depends on the circumstance.

I want to know how, in his own words, Powerstick man would describe his own super powers.
-James Paige

“This assumes of course that I understand my superpowers. Being the byproduct of a questionable science and stuffed into a disorganized game makes understanding anything in my world impossible. But I suppose that’s why I wander a city among twits. They don’t know what’s going on, either.

“I’d say that my special skill is an ability to hit tennis balls with deadly accuracy, but I don’t suppose I’ve been given many opportunities to show that. No, instead I have this ridiculous attachment to a stick of deodorant, and that becomes my weapon of choice, and that’s the thing that shows off my aim. Don’t ask me how I get it back after I throw it, though. I mean, I would tell you if I knew. It’s not like I have some kind of freshness magnet stuffed under my sunglasses—if only you knew how foggy they got in the summertime. I guess it comes with a built-in retrieval system, which everyone knows a stick of deodorant must come with if it’s to be even slightly effective. I’m projecting, of course. The important thing is that I look good throwing it.

“Oh, I can shoot electricity from my wrists. I almost forgot about that.” –Powerstick Man

Cameos:

I suppose the mark of an OHR legend comes down to whether or not someone else uses him in his own game. Powerstick Man, fortunately, has a handful of claims.

He also cheats a little, as a couple of these are my own games.

-Scary Game 2-

In 2001, Moogle1 was looking for characters to use as cameos for trick-or-treaters in Scary Game 2. I volunteered Powerstick Man as an NPC, gave him a series of revolving dialogue cues (which I believe were severely edited to keep them confined to single tiny dialogue boxes), and drew the walkabout for Moogle’s convenience. But this was Powerstick Man. I wasn’t happy with him showing up in just his spandex. People could see him like that in his own game. No, I wanted him to fit the occasion, so I gave him rabbit ears. For some reason, the thought of Powerstick Man dressed as a bunny was amusing to me.

Incidentally, RMZ asked me to submit Powerstick Man as a trick-or-treater for Halloween Quest 2, but I was so burned out with the OHR at the time that I procrastinated to the point of it never getting done.

-At the Risk of Manipulation-

Although he is never introduced as a playable option, the player is given a nice tease when Powerstick Man’s portrait shows up in the character selector.

-OHR House: Heroes-

Games came, games went, and many of the opportunities for cameos bypassed our hero. But then RMZ began work on OHR House: Heroes, and he drafted Powerstick Man as the host. And with that drafting came a new personality trait: the annoying jokester. Any time crisis hit the house, Powerstick Man could be counted on to crack an inappropriate joke for the occasion. And though the housemates couldn’t stand him, he became a favorite among the community of viewers. I, of course, groaned. I always thought he was funnier than that. I really liked the angle, though.

-House Paranoids-

In RMZ and Moogle’s adaptation to Gorillas, Mr.Triangle fought various characters from OHR House: Heroes through a virtual world of destruction, and eventually confronted Powerstick Man as one of the last opponents.

-Super Surlaw Chef-

Powerstick Man continued his House Heroes hosting duties during a cook-off between Bob Surlaw and a handful of cooking rivals while the group was waiting for an eminent attack from the House Villains and their robot army. He wasn’t as proud to be a host this time.

-Tightfloss Maiden-

Though he isn’t actually a character, he does show up as a discarded play toy down in the sandy caverns below the Edge of Civilization.

-Village People: The Videogame-

In the sewers of San Francisco, a brave adventurer may discover a floating doll in the image of Powerstick Man. No one knows how it got there, but it’s pretty clear that it’s going nowhere fast.

Other Cameos:

If there are any other cameos, I don’t know about them.

The Future:

Someday, Powerstick Man will return in a much fuller version of the original game, and then, beyond that, return again in the completed version of that original game. I don’t have plans for a sequel right now, but if I do, I’ll consider designing his next adventure as a point and click game. As of now, I don’t particularly believe that the RPG format is the best canvas for his future stories.

I’ve also been tempted to make spinoff games featuring other heroes from Powerstick Man’s world. As of now, only Junkyard Bob has that honor with the presently unfinished Junkyard Bob’s Mission: Impossible, which can be found as a team-switch tech demo on Castle Paradox. Once I get my epic games finished, I can set my mind on smaller games like that one.

I may also return to the revamp version of the game called The Adventures of Powerstick Man V2, but that will likely adopt an alternative storyline if I ever get back to work on it.

Beyond the games and the comics, the story of Powerstick Man has also been written as a series of novels, which chronicle the fall of Jimmy Knightly, his journey to the island of New Switzerland, and his subsequent transformation into the identity of Powerstick Man. As of this writing, I am in the middle of the third book, which begins the story of the Odor King and his rise and eventual fall. Unlike the game or the comics, these books actually have a functional story line. Of course, this means that they reinterpret the original story in a completely new format, but many of the game’s events still appear in various places throughout the series.

So that about covers the story of Powerstick Man. Hope it’s been enlightening.

Bonus Material:

Here is a sample of Powerstick Man’s evolution through the genres, as told through the battle with his first nemesis, Bald Hairypit.

The first genre comes from the original source, the comic I made in chemistry class:

The second half of Part 1 in The Adventures of Powerstick Man.

The second genre comes from the OHR version of the story, as told from the Extended Edition. I’ve taken liberties with the video editing to make it less standard:

The battle with Bald Hairypit, OHR style.

And finally, the third genre comes from the novel Modern Day Fantasy: Cannonball City. In the book, Powerstick Man’s name defaults to his alter ego:

Excerpt from Modern Day Fantasy: Cannonball City Chapter 13.

And as a final bonus, I thought I’d share the first three chapters of the original comic.

Click here for comic fun!

Thanks for reliving the past with me.