Bubbles | |
Biographical Information | |
Real Name | Michelle LaFleur |
Aliases | Bubbles, the Amazing Bubbles, Michelle Pond |
Gender | Female |
Class | Ace |
Wild Card Traits | Energy absorption, energy projection, increased mass and density |
Social Information | |
Place of Birth | United States |
Citizenship | Citizen of the United States |
Occupation | Aid worker |
Event Participant | American Hero |
Base of Operations | New York City |
Affiliations | Team Diamonds, the Committee |
Relatives | Adesina (adoptive daughter), Amplifier (half brother) |
Allies | Ink, Hoodoo Mama |
Origin | |
First Appearance | Inside Straight |
Creator | Caroline Spector |
Michelle Pond, aka The Amazing Bubbles, is an ace with the power to absorb and re-release energy, storing it temporarily as fat in the interim.
History[]
Michelle was once a very famous teenage model. She dropped out of sight after most of her money was embezzled by her parents and, more importantly, after her wild card turned and changed her appearance. In the early 21st century she became a contestant on the wild card-themed reality TV show American Hero, where she met and became lovers with Ink. Michelle was one of nine contestants who left American Hero to join John Fortune, Lohengrin, and Bugsy in stopping the joker genocide in Egypt.
The success of the Egyptian campaign saw Michelle and the others inducted into the United Nations as a founding member of the Committee on Extraordinary Interventions. After spending a year in the world's various trouble spots, she was present in New Orleans when Tom Weathers caused Little Fat Boy to explode, and absorbed the energy he released. This caused her to balloon to giant size and enter a coma for more than a year.
While in the coma, Bubbles had visions of Adesina, a young African girl in trouble, and once she awoke she embarked on a quest to the People's Paradise of Africa to rescue her, with Hoodoo Mama in tow. Bubbles faced many dangers in the rogue state, and eventually faced off against its leadership, first being personally responsible for the death of Alicia Nshombo, and then fighting the Radical in a bitter stalemate soon after.
She participated in the Talas incident where she killed Aero after mistaking him for the Mummy. This and other horrors witnessed in Talas subsequently left mental scars on her.
Wild Card Traits[]
Bubbles can absorb any kind of energy directed against her and transform it into fat tissue. She can then release this stored energy at will in the form of energy bubbles. She can control the density of these bubbles making them as soft as soap bubbles or hard enough to hurt people and load them with enough energy to burst upon contact with people or things. There is a limit to how fat Bubbles gets when absorbing energy, when she reaches this limit she will stay the same size but instead get more dense the more energy she absorbs.
Appearance[]
Prior to becoming an ace, Michelle was a very beautiful thin young woman. After her wild card turned, her weight fluctuates wildly depending on how much energy she has absorbed and she is generally very heavy.
Personality[]
Bubbles is quietly bitter about her past as a model. She cares little for body image, and the fame and wealth associated with being famous a model. Frequent betrayals in her life have left her somewhat guarded about people, yet she still genuinely cares, and is often among the first to wade into action when people are in need.
Trivia[]
- Bubbles has frequent sexually explicit email exchanges with Ink.
Selected Reading[]
- Wild Cards Volume XVIII: Inside Straight 2008
- Wild Cards Volume XIX: Busted Flush 2008
- Wild Cards Volume XX: Suicide Kings 2009
- Wild Cards Volume XXI: Fort Freak 2011
- Lies My Mother Told Me (short story) 2013
- Wild Cards Volume XXIII: High Stakes 2016
- Wild Cards Volume XXVI: Texas Hold'em 2018
- Naked, Stoned, and Stabbed (short story) 2019
- Wild Cards Volume XXIX: Joker Moon 2021
- Wild Cards Volume XXX: Full House 2022
- Wild Cards Volume XXXI: Pairing Up 2023