Michael Tomlinson

**Michael Tomlinson** • History • Quotes • Gallery

* S7
* 1989
* 1988
* 1987

### Family

Joycelyn Tomlinson - motherFrank Tomlinson - father *(deceased in erased timeline)*

Brian Tomlinson - brother

Catherine Baines - sister-in-law *(in erased timeline)*

Brooklyn Yates - girlfriend

### Other Relations

Max Hamilton - best friendJames DeLare - best friend

MJ Baines - best friend

Ellie - best friend

Rose McCarthy - best-friend
 Michael Tomlinson/New Era - alternate self

### Affiliation

The Fellowship of DewberryTomlinson Family

Dark Dimension *(formerly, unwillingly)*

### Occupation

Student at Dewberry High School *(formerly)*Host for the Dark Lord *(formerly)*

## Appearances

### Appears In

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60

*"For 23 years...23 **goddamn** years...I've suffered. Lived in pain...**every single damn day**. Every day...every day, waiting...just so I can do this. Just so I can say...**fuck you**,"*
― Michael to the Goblin King before destroying it with his scream, 2012[src]**Michael Tomlinson** is a main protagonist of *The 48th Street Fellowship*. He is deeply interested in comic books and fantasy lore, which earned him a membership with the original 48th Street Fellowship, being the only original member to not have lived on the eponymous street.

When he and his friends investigated a mysterious signal in St. James Woods, he was caught in a massive explosion and bombarded with strange energy. He later discovered he had the power of empathy, meaning he was able to absorb the pain of those around him into himself, establishing a connection to them whereby he felt all of their pain and healed them. Through this, the nefarious Dark Lord sought to use him as its spy to the human world. His friends eventually managed to free him and severed the Dark Lord's connection to their world.

After he was freed from the Dark Lord, Michael spent a lot of time volunteering, using his powers to remove the pains suffered by others in Dewberry. He lost his powers when the Breach, a massive portal to the Dark Dimension, was closed, allowing him peace for the first time in over a year.

A year later, in 1989, he reluctantly regained his powers to confront the Air-Walker and prevent the second coming of the Dark Lord. Because he had been possessed twice by the entity, Michael was now able to sense the hive mind whenever it presented itself, giving the group the edge they desperately needed. At the end of the fight, he swore a blood oath to one day return to Dewberry and kill the Dark Lord once and for all.

## Biography

*Main Article: Michael Tomlinson/History*

## Overview

### Physical Appearance

Michael is a handsome young man with unkempt blonde hair. His face is covered in light freckles.

### Personality

Michael is soft-spoken, amicable, courageous and honest. Like his friends, he is exceedingly intelligent for his age, having an enthusiasm for science, comics and pop-culture. He also displays a lot of the same interests as his friends, such as comics, music and films. He is also creative, having a passion for art and writing stories. However, his interests and social status resulted in him being bullied, finding solace only in the Fellowship.

Due to the nature of his abilities, as he matures Michael begins to suffer from mental health issues, most prominently depression and PTSD.

## Powers, Equipment and Abilities

Following the explosion at the St. James Institute, Michael discovered he could feel the pain of others and draw it away from them, allowing those around him to feel no pain or fear, but instead causing himself to feel it instead. While this makes him an excellent healer, since his powers are amplified by pain then the pain he experiences is amplified as well.

### Superpowers

* **Empathy:** Michael's power are expressed as an extreme form of empathy: by mentally burrowing into a person, he can draw out their pain and their fear, giving them a useful edge and establishing a connection to them. Unfortunately, this connection means that Michael feels all of their pain and fear.
	+ **Pain Amplification:** Unlike the other superpowered members of the Fellowship - whose powers are aided by the sensation of pain - when Michael feels pain then the pain and fear that he draws from others are amplified.
* **Scream:** Michael can channel pain into his vocal cords, releasing a powerful supersonic scream that can throw heavy objects away from him, causing vast damage. This is his sole defensive ability and is among the most powerful of the Fellowship. He is able to store emotion and "charge up" his scream.
* **Injury Absorbance:** Michael is able to draw injuries away from those he touches and reflect the damage onto himself, no matter how serious. He can then channel his pain into his scream. He has been shown to absorb several injuries, from Max's injury to his arm after fighting the Hospital Monster to saving Brian's life after he was disembowelled by Air-Walker.
* **Detection:** As a side-effect of being possessed by the Dark Lord twice, Michael can sense the creature's influence whenever it presents itself. This usually manifests as a strange sensation on the back of his neck, followed by a feeling of intense panic. The greatest such sensation was in 2012, which nearly caused him to pass out from the panic.

#### Weaknesses

* **Attachment:** Due to Michael forming connections with his ability, he was left at the mercy of the Dark Lord, who forced Michael to make a connection to him and make himself a living portal for the Dark Lord into the human dimension. This also allowed the Dark Lord to observe events in the human world and trick Michael's allies. This attachment also caused Michael to feel the pain experienced by any creatures that formed part of the Dark Lord's hive mind, especially those brought around by fire and light.

### Equipment

* **Screaming mask:** Michael can scream into his specially built mask, preventing collateral damage.

## Relationships

### Brian Tomlinson

> *"I love you, little brother,"*
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> -- Brian's last words to his brother before Michael leaves for 1953
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Michael has a profoundly close relationship with his older brother Brian.

### Brooklyn Yates

> *"I love you. I've **always** loved you. I'm sorry that...I haven't said it before,"*
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> -- Michael confesses his love for Brooklyn upon learning of their erased future, New 1989
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Brooklyn and Michael have a good relationship. It is repeatedly shown that the two are attracted to one another but neither want to ruin their friendship.

In 1989, the two of them have sex after agreeing to only a one night stand.

When talking privately about the two of them, MJ and Rose agree that Michael and Brooklyn may be soulmates.

Upon reuniting with each other in 2012, both Michael and Brooklyn obviously still have feelings for each other. When Brooklyn leaves her abusive husband, she and Michael finally get together. Following the closure of the Crack of Doom, Michael proposes to Brooklyn and she accepts.

Their relationship was wiped from existence by Jacob Hamilton when he travelled back in time and started New 1989. Nonetheless, in this timeline the two admitted their affection for one another.

### Max Hamilton

Max and Michael are best friends but are perhaps the most distant two members of the original Fellowship. Nonetheless, they consistently look out for one another and care about each other. Max said that inviting Michael into the Fellowship was one of the best things he had ever done.

### MJ Baines

Michael and MJ are close friends and are consistently shown to have each others back.

## Trivia

* Michael is the last of the original Fellowship to discover his powers, only doing so in "*The Dark Dimension*".
* He is the only original member of the Fellowship to have not lived on 48th Street, instead living with his family in a shack on the edge of town.
* He is the only superpowered member of the Fellowship to express disdain for his powers and was notably hesitant when it came to restoring them. He has become more accepting of them as the series has progressed.
* His favourite movie is *The Empire Strikes Back.*
* Michael is one of eight characters to have entered the Dark Dimension, the others being Joyceln, Cooper, Ellie, Catherine, Hope and Lucas.
* He lost his virginity to Brooklyn Yates. Their relationship forms one of the core subplots in the series.
	+ Michael and Brooklyn's relationship is given substantially more attention in the "Adulthood Trilogy" than the "Childhood Trilogy", where the focus is given more to Max and Ellie.
* Michael was named after a friendly homeless man that Joyceln met in the woods in 1953.

* Characters of The 48th Street Fellowship
* The Dark Dimension