Alison Blaire

## Background

### **1978 - 1996: Alison Blaire**

Alison Blaire was born to Judge Carter Blaire & pianist Katherine Blaire in the Long Island suburb of Gardendale, New York. Her parents had a tight & tense relationship because her father was a strict law student while her mother was a free-spirited entertainer. Their relationship ultimately came to an end when Katherine walked out on Carter while Alison was just four. Katherine's departure had a strong effect on Carter, who decided to keep her leaving a secret from Alison for the rest her life. He then raised Alison with the help of his mother, Bella Blaire.

As Alison entered adolescence, she developed dreams of becoming a singer. But her father, now a judge, became increasingly intolerant of the idea. Instead, Carter forced Alison to choose a life path similar to his own. Her grandmother was more sympathetic to young Alison & encouraged her to explore her creative energies. Alison became an academic star & despite her father's actions, she became a singer while continuing her path to law school.

While performing at a high school dance show, Alison's mutant powers manifested & she was forced to blind all in attendance to save herself from persecution. After this event, Alison hid her mutation for years, afraid of what she was capable of. This only caused further alienation between her & her father. When it was time for her to attend college, Alison began to explore her mutation & continued excelling in her musical career. She created her own unique performing suit, with mirrored clothes, make-up & a pair of roller-skates. She also gave herself the nickname, Dazzler. At her graduation ceremony, she informed her father that she was not going to be attending the law school he'd selected. Instead she opted to pursue her career as a singer, with or without his blessing & financial support.

### **1996 - 1999: Dazzler**

Because of her powers, both the Hellfire Club & the X-Men sent entourages to her performance to recruit Alison to their respective ideological side. The X-Men sent Marvel Girl, Angel & Iceman to identify & possibly recruit her while the Hellfire Club sent a group of Hellfire Knights to take her by force. The combined powers of Dazzler & the X-Men suppressed the foes. Professor Xavier then offered Alison a position within the X-Men but she declined, choosing to focus on her career.

Subsequently, Alison became an increased target for super heroic phenomena. In addition to the X-Men, Dazzler had also been saved by the Fantastic Four. As Dazzler was becoming more popular in the club circuit, Alison was becoming more known in the superhero circuit as well. This co-mingling of superheroes & career proved both beneficial & detrimental to Alison. Regardless, she continued to follow her dream. But it seems as everytime she survived another brutal encounter, it was at the expense of her career.

Alison signed on as a singer with a reputable agent Harry Osgood & began dating med student Paul Jansen. But Harry became increasingly curious over the nature of Alison's stage effects, questioning her "technological secret." When Harry confronted Alison about the nature of her powers, she stormed out defending her secret identity. When Harry was kidnapped, Alison made it her mission to find & protect him. After defeating his captors & saving Harry, she confessed to Harry that she was a mutant. Not knowing how the first non-superhero would react to such a revelation, Alison breathed a sigh of relief when Harry gave her his support & vowed to keep her secret safe.

Alison's "technological secret" may have been safe regarding the average citizen but for the government, it was a pressing affair. Alison was whisked away by Project: PEGASUS against her will to undergo several strenuous tests regarding her mutant powers. As time went on, Alison became increasingly intolerant toward the members of PEGASUS. The researchers found that Alison had no natural limit to her abilities & could have unlimited energy potential. Intolerance swiftly turned into aggression, Alison used her powers to free herself from the confines on PEGASUS.

Upon her return home, Alison could not hold down a gig, inconveniencing both her manager & her band. She began speaking more with her grandmother, although relationships remained tepid with her father. The relationship became more icy when Alison began wearing her mother's locket as a tribute to the woman she never knew. After months of courting, Dr. Jansen couldn't adjust to Alison's unconventional lifestyle & broke up with her.

### **1999 - 2003: Dazzler**

It took time time but things turned around for the singer & she booked a tour the West coast. After Ali's last show, she was courted by none other than Warren Worthington III. Warren had developed a crush on her when they first met & become infatuated with her. After butting-in on her date, Warren took her for a flight, which led to a romantic evening. Along with her budding romance with Angel, it seemed that life would finally reach a harmonious center. For the following year, Dazzler lived her dream & could truly be herself with a fellow mutant.

Sadly, it didn't last long as her father fell into a psychological stupor & she discovered her ex girlfriend Vanessa's vocal coach was actually her mom. Carter awoke to confront Alison with the truth about her mom. They learned her mother had slowly denigrated into a drug addict then left to be with her new lover. Taking on the alias Barbara London, her mother has followed Alison throughout her budding career. After Barbara & Carter attended Alison's performance, the family was reunited.

However, other complications arose. Ali met a man named Nicholas Brown, who gave her several social connections to the West Coast elite, which included the bald & overweight famed musician Roman Nekoboh. Roman had a particular interest in Alison & began to pursue her romantically. Ali was ready to give-in to Roman's advances until Nick he asked her to leave Harry to live a life of sex & drugs. She refused & finally agreed to go to dinner with Roman to hear his movie proposal. After agreeing to star in his movie, they began a relationship. Roman soon found financial backing for the movie & "Dazzler: The Movie" was formed. Without her permission, Roman publicly announced that Alison was a mutant. Upset that he would betray her, she ended the relationship & became the target of anti-mutant groups.

Always optimistic, Alison attempted to start from square one to pick up the pieces of her life. Rejected from the most menial of work, Alison gave up hope & was left to peruse parties as a low-level socialite. After attending a Hollywood party at Alexander Flynn's home, who began taking her out with him. He convinced her to take up drinking once more, creating a media frenzy that listed the once proud musician as a queen of sin in the papers. Unable to get gigs, Alison resorted to using pseudonyms to get a waitress job, but even then she was still assaulted by villainous characters & quit.

After dealing with assaults for a year, Dazzler returned to Professor X & asked for training. Professor X used his connections to get Ali hired by fellow mutant rock star, Lila Cheney, who was also a friend of the New Mutants. However, her inability to seize the spotlight was difficult for Alison so she joined the X-Men. Xavier provided Ali with a new uniform that amplified & gave precision to her powers. Wolverine doubted her ability so Dazzler agreed to let him test her skills. Wolverine & Colossus hunted her but she outsmarted them both, earning their respect.

## Romantic Relationships

* Vanessa Took: Girlfriend (1995 - 1996)
* Paul Jenson: Dated (1997 - 1998)
* Warren Worthington III: Boyfriend (1999 - 2000)
* Roman Nekobah: Boyfriend (2002 - 2003)

## Powers & Abilities

* **Mutant Physiology - Sound Conversion:** She has the ability to transduce sonic vibrations which reach her body into various types of light. This ability seems to operate over a great range of frequencies & a great variation of sound pressure levels regardless of the complexity, dissonance, or randomness of the sound. Dazzler prefers the sound of music, particularly that which is rhythmically sustained. Not only is music more pleasant to her ears but the steady beat of popular music provides a more constant source of sound to convert. She also demonstrated she could absorb the sonic waves of Black Bolt's devastating voice.
	+ ***Sound Release:*** She has the ability to release the absorbed sound in one burst.
	+ ***Echolocation:*** Dazzler can use her conversion ability to act as a very crude form of echolocation. After singing through an amplifier for a minute, she has displayed the ability to see humanoid shapes through a brick wall.
	+ ***Sound Immunity*:** She has the ability to transduce sound also protects her from being deafened by loud noises.
	+ ***Superhuman Hearing*** She has highly developed ears, enabling her to detect sounds that others cannot register.
* **Mutant Physiology - Light Projection:** Dazzler possesses a body-wide energy field that controls the energy levels of the outer electron shells of her body in such a way as to cause the cascaded release of photons. The released energy is far greater than the incoming kinetic energy & therefore must involve an outside energy source. Left undirected, Dazzler’s light will radiate from her body in all directions, producing regular flashes of white light. By conscious control over the light she produces, she can control its direction, frequency/color, amplitude/intensity & duration. She can produce numerous effects with the light she converts from sonic vibrations.
	+ ***Blinding Flash:*** She can create a pulse of light on the order of several thousand watts seconds of power, which temporarily blinds people with its brilliance.
	+ ***Lasers:*** Dazzler can generate a coherent beam of light, approximating a laser beam, with which she can cut through virtually anything.
	+ ***Photon Blasts:*** Alison can let off a blast of concussive solid light.
	+ ***Illumination:*** She can cause a bright glow all about her body to create light.
	+ ***Strobes:*** She has the ability to generate a pulsating strobe-light effect.
	+ ***Dazzle:*** Dazzler can create a chaotic cascade of sparkling lights and colors that severely upsets other people’s equilibrium.
	+ ***Holograms:*** With effort, she can even create holograms of human beings and other three-dimensional beings and objects.
	+ ***Rocket Burst:*** Ali can gain vertical altitude by directing a quick column of light beneath her.
	+ ***Destructive Shield:*** She has the ability to create a destructive shield of light around herself with laser light that can vaporize small projectiles.
	+ ***Light Mist:*** She can create a glowing or hazy almost fog-like effect that obscures the surrounding area.
	+ ***Omnidirectional Ultraviolet Light:*** With extreme effort, she can generate omnidirectional waves of ultraviolet light of sufficient intensity to destroy metal objects, even metal structures several stories high.
	+ ***Light Immunity*:** Her body, especially her eyes, shields itself against any injurious effects of her light abilities & against those of bright lights in general.
* **Physicality:** Dazzler is a highly skilled athlete.
* **Hand to Hand Combat:** She has become a good combatant thanks to her training with the X-Men.
* **Fine Arts:** She is a talented singer, actress, dancer.

### Weaknesses

* **Power Limitation:** She cannot directly use sounds produced by her body as a source for her power.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** Unknown
* **Strength:** Unknown
* **Speed:** Unknown
* **Occult:** Unknown
* **Weapons:** Unknown
* **Energy Projection:** Unknown
* **Strategy:** Unknown
* **Fighting Ability:** Unknown

## Trivia

* She frequently dyes her hair pink & once dyed her hair black.
* For all her performances, Dazzler wears a necklace with the microphone locket that her mother left behind when she divorced Alison's father & left.
* Some of her fans are Juggernaut, Colossus, Julia Carpenter, Pixie, Northstar, Molly Hayes & Kitty Pryde. Mystique admitted that she liked her music but denies it in public.
* Some that expressed a romantic interest in her are Human Torch, Colossus & Beast.
* She has a thing for older men, which is apparent in crush on Wolverine & relationship with Roman.

## Notes

* The original character of Alison Blaire belongs to the Marvel Universe.