Metal Men

## History

Project METAL (Municipal Enhancement Through Artificial Lifeforms) is a team of robots created by Will Magnus and Tilly Lace. These "Metal Men" are designed to be the ultimate answer to the needs of law enforcement, first responders, and crisis intervention.

## Membership

### Dr. Will Magnus

Will is a young graduate of Ivy University, specializing in robotics, mechanical engineering, nanotechnology, and several other fields. While his skills with robotics are top-notch, Will's co-creation of a device he calls the 'responsometer' got him recognized by many different tech companies. Though his skills were in high demand, Magnus ended up accepting a job at STAR Labs and took on additional grants from WayneTech to create machines to aid first responders. Will went a different direction, creating mechanical first responders.

### Dr. Chantilly "Tilly" Lace

Yes, she is quite aware of the song she was named after. She doesn't want to talk about it, though. Another graduate of Ivy University, Tilly is a specialist in artificial intelligence, computer programming, and chemistry. She is the co-creator of the "responsometer", having met Will in Ivy University's program for child prodigies. Tilly is the more practical of the pair, often entertaining the idea of developing military applications for her and Will's creations, though she does share Will's concern of the Metal Men falling into the wrong hands.

### Gold

* **Responsometer Serial Number:** M+L-079
* **Primary Designation:** Tactical Analysis
* **Secondary Designation:** Negotiation & Coordination
* Has a very human-looking appearance, making him an android. He is built as a negotiator and strategist, whose human design is meant to be more comforting to other humans he interacts with during negotiations, rescues, and coordination efforts.
* **Personality:** Charismatic, though prone to use of optimistic cliches that make him sound a bit phony. He is confident and cares about his team, but also is more than a little vain.

### Iron

* **Responsometer Serial Number:** M+L-026
* **Primary Designation:** Debris Clearing
* **Secondary Designation:** Demolition & Heavy Weapons
* The robot called Iron is a large and powerful robot built for demolition, clearing debris, and also packs the most firepower for situations that require such extreme measures. The oldest of the Metal Men, he was the first unit designed, meaning some of his hardware, while potent and reliable, is a bit outdated. Not that Iron has a problem with that.
* **Personality:** Iron is probably the most "cold" of the Metal Men. It is not that he does not care, he just does not display his emotions, often coming across as stern or even grim or dull. He, more than his siblings, is cognizant of the fact he is a machine and actually finds comfort in this. This is possibly caused by his responsometer being the oldest and less sophisticated of the group. When he does open up to anyone, it's usually Will, Tilly, or his fellow Metal Men... Iron also is prone to talking to inanimate machines, like parked cars or smartphones, as if they were persons or fellow robots. In particular, he often tries to carry on conversations with the soda machine in the lab that he has a crush on.

### Lead

* **Responsometer Serial Number:** M+L-082
* **Primary Designation:** Hostile Environment Navigation
* **Secondary Designation:** Medical/Prisoner Transport & Mechanical Repair
* Like Iron, Lead is a large and powerful robot. Lead, however, has more sophisticated armor shielding his chassis. He is also the team's mechanic, able to store spare components in his compartments. When in extreme environments, Lead can also act as a rudimentary ambulance, able to load injured persons inside himself for short periods to get them to safety. This compartment can also be used to store prisoners and has meta-gene negation technology incorporated into its hardware.
* **Personality:** Lead might be a bit clumsy and awkward, but most agree he has the most heart of the team. He generally cares about humans and his teammates and is always willing to put himself in dangerous situations if it means protecting innocent life.

### Mercury

* **Responsometer Serial Number:** M+L-080
* **Primary Designation:** Search & Rescue
* **Secondary Designation:** Infiltration & Reconnaissance
* Built using sophisticated nanotechnology, Mercury has little in the way of actual mechanical systems, only possessing a basic sensory and processing package but makes up for it with being able to change shape and size, allowing him to squeeze into tight spaces and adjust his form into basic shapes and simple tools to allow him to overcome different obstacles, allowing him to sift through debris to search for survivors or infiltrate infrastructure to operate as a scout for his team.
* **Personality:** Due to his limited sensory package, Mercury tends to have a rather dull view of the world around him. This outlook has given him a rather critical/cynical personality. Still, not wanting to be the sourpuss of the bunch, he does try to soften this humor... but he usually just comes off as a smartass. In his downtime, Mercury enjoys bullying Tin, but is quick to become protective of Tin if anyone messes with his "little brother".

### Tin

* **Responsometer Serial Number:** M+L-050
* **Primary Designation:** Technical Support
* **Secondary Designation:** Cyber-Warfare & Telecommunications
* The littlest of the Metal men, Tin is the team's expert hacker and operator. He is small but sophisticated in his design. He is highly intelligent and has all of the most sophisticated software, though a bit lacking in hardware.
* **Personality:** He is a crucial member of the team, but does not seem to think highly of himself. Prone to demeaning himself, Tin is always eager to prove himself as he is not happy keeping to the support role he was designed for. Tin is jealous of the rest of the team's chassis and abilities. Though Mercury may pick on Tin, most of the others count Tin as one of their favorites. In particular, Gold weighs Tin's advise heavily. Copper counts Tin as her best friend, often carrying him around on her back to help him get around when his tiny legs impede his speed. Tin and Copper often refer to themselves as 'Bronze Buddies'.

### Platinum

* **Responsometer Serial Number:** M+L-078
* **Primary Designation:** Medical Aid
* **Secondary Designation:** Crowd Control & Crisis Counseling
* Platinum, like Gold, has a human-like appearance, so as not to be threatening to victims of shock or trauma. Platinum also has one of the most sophisticated personality systems of the Metal Men. Platinum is a mechanical medic, able to give first aid and even perform field surgeries when necessary.
* **Personality:** Fun and flirty. Platinum is prone to the Florence Nightingale Effect, having been smitten by a number of her patients, and generally having an attraction to humans. Though Will was her first crush, she has since given up pursuit of him, instead now more concerned with the idea of getting Will and Tilly to realize that they love one another.

### Copper

* **Responsometer Serial Number:** M+L-029
* **Primary Designation:** Law Enforcement
* **Secondary Designation:** First Aid & Vehicle Operation
* Designed early on, but shelved due to Will's lack of a desire for anything resembling a military application, Copper was built to be a robotic policewoman, able to perform all the functions of a cop, ranging from tactical interventions, first aid, crowd control, and given a humanoid appearance to make her better suited for public relations. As an inside joke, due to Tilly's insistence that such a robot be built, Will designed her chassis to greatly resemble a mechanical version of Tilly. The fact that Tilly doesn't see the resemblance and is insistent that she looks "nothing like Copper" just makes the joke all that sweeter for Will.
* **Personality:** Copper was pre-loaded with sarcasm and 'gallows humor' to allow her to better fit in with human police officers. She likes to refer to people as "sir" and "ma'am" but does so with a somewhat sarcastic slant to it. She does treat some of her teammates differently than others. For instance, Copper sucks up to Gold, who she has a crush on and considers Tin to be her best friend.

### Nameless

In Earth-27, Nameless is an artificial intelligence that was born in the wild of the Internet through random coding glitch, but was discovered by Tin who then helped the AI develop an identity. Nameless' name (or lack thereof) was given to her by Tin as the AI did not want to hastily choose a name but agreed that having some sort of name was required for easier communication.

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* Originally the project was named "Military Enhancement Through Artificial Lifeforms". It was changed after death of Will's brother who died in Khandaq. Iron and Copper were developed during this early, phase, the rest of the robots (Tin, Platinum, Gold, Mercury, Lead) after project's repurposing.
* There were one hundred responsometer's based on neural maps of Will, Tilly, their families friends and colleagues:
	+ Units 22, 23, 24, and 25 (Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese) were destroyed by Unit 27 (Cobalt). Cobalt was destroyed by Iron.
	+ Units 32, 33 and 49 (Germanium, Arsenic and Indium) were used in development of Tin. The first two were shelved due to incompatible built, 49 because his cocky attitude didn't feel right to Will.
	+ Units 51 and 74 (Antimony and Tungsten) were shelved during creation of paramedic robots.
	+ Unit 81 (Thallium) had a mental breakdown and was fried.
	+ Unit 10 (Neon) was destroyed by Will because he believes it was his glitchy responsometer.
* The Metal Men debuted during Hell on Earth in Star City.
* The chassis of Unit Metal-10 was taken by John Corben.
* Chassis of unit METAL-6 (Carbon) is now used by Cliff Steele. Will gave to Caulder as a favor to get Dayton Fiber.

### Notes

* *"Most people are probably familiar with the Metal Men being T-1000 type of robots, able to shift their entire form on the fly, often for comedic purposes. While I do want to keep the somewhat lightheartedness of their character, the majority of the Metal Men of Earth-27 are specialized hard robot units built for specific purposes."* - Roy.

## Links and References

* Appearances of Metal Men
* Team Gallery: Metal Men
* Membership of Metal Men

1. ↑ Earth-27 Rosters: The Metal Men
2. ↑ Network Files: Iron
3. ↑ Network Files: Tin
4. ↑ Network Files: Platinum
5. ↑ Network Files: Lead
6. ↑ Network Files: Copper
7. ↑ Network Files: Cliff Steele 1