# Metal Men Q **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488 "2006-08-28T02:38:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/1 "2006-08-28T02:38:19Z")
I never read the original Kanigher/Andru/Esposito stories. The Metal Men are getting a lot of exposure lately, with **JLA** and _52_. In both of these, they are shown to be complex constructs with tubes, gears, hoses and fluids. Based on my limited exposure to them–mostly guest appearances in the 70s **Brave and the Bold** and the one _Metal Men_ story by Gerber and Simonson in 1976–I thought they were simply lumps of their respective metals, animated by tiny Responsometer computers. Is that out the window now? Platinum sure doesn’t look like she used to. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/2 "2006-08-28T12:23:33Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > In both of these, they are shown to be complex constructs with tubes, gears, hoses and fluids. How does that work for Mercury? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/3 "2006-08-28T12:34:06Z")
> [@](#): > > How does that work for Mercury? [Scwartzenegger] Liquid metal![/scwartz] Actually, although I have quite a few of the original run of Metal Men, I don’t have the critical ones. It was suggested that the MM were robots built out of their respective metals, and the question of how they could morph into their odd shapes (Mercury was indeed “liquid”, but Platimun used to shape herself into impossibly thin wire, and the others changed their shapes as well) was conveniently ignored. I don’t recall anything about “Responsometers” in the original run, so I’m assuming that was something retconned in. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/4 "2006-08-28T15:07:14Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Actually, although I have quite a few of the original run of Metal Men, I don’t have the critical ones. It was suggested that the MM were robots built out of their respective metals, and the question of how they could morph into their odd shapes (Mercury was indeed “liquid”, but Platimun used to shape herself into impossibly thin wire, and the others changed their shapes as well) was conveniently ignored. I don’t recall anything about “Responsometers” in the original run, so I’m assuming that was something retconned in. Page 5 of their first appearance in _Showcase #37_: Will Magnus: This Platinum robot [Tina] is animated by a nuclear-powered miscroscopic activator! Magnus later refers to “built-in reaction responsers”. “Responsometer” is used for the first time in _Showcase_ #40: Platinum: You made me, Doc! If there’s a “bug” in my responsometer, it’s **your** fault! Each of the Metal Men has an “atomic-powered starter button” at the base of the neck, suggesting internal mechanisms of some kind, though details aren’t shown. Oddly, Magnus at one point carries the unconscious (if that’s the word) body of Platinum. If she was in fact a solid or near-solid mass of that metal (with a volume comparable to a human woman of similar height and build), she’d weigh about a metric ton. The first appearances of the Metal Men from _Showcase_ 37-40 were reprinted in [DC Blue Ribbon Digest #34 (aka Adventure Comics #497)](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6633641700), March 1983. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/5 "2006-08-28T15:15:34Z")
Interesting. As I say, the issues from the regular run of MM that I have don’t have anything about their mechanisms (I haven’t read ther Showcase appearances). The lines you quote seem to suggest pretty traditional robots, though. IIRC, in the initial run “Tina” was the only one to get a name besides her metal name (Aside, I think, from the girlfriend Tin builds for himself.) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/6 "2006-08-28T15:17:12Z")
In an issue of Action Comics written by John Byrne (must have been circa 1986-1987), he says the Metal Men are made of a special Magnus-invented polymer which mimics the properties of the metal he “assigns” to them, and the responsometer is a microscopic computer chip. Later on, though, we do see apparent mechanical parts to the Metal Men, and the responsometer looks like the unholy offspring of a cantaloupe and a golf ball. Bottom line…comic book science. Sometimes it takes a little hand-waving, sometime it takes a lot of hand-waving, but it’s pointless to spend too much time making it seem real. And this is coming from the guy who wrote the Legion Help File! ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/7 "2006-08-28T15:23:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Interesting. As I say, the issues from the regular run of MM that I have don’t have anything about their mechanisms (I haven’t read ther Showcase appearances). The lines you quote seem to suggest pretty traditional robots, though. IIRC, in the initial run “Tina” was the only one to get a name besides her metal name (Aside, I think, from the girlfriend Tin builds for himself.) From the [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Men), I learned that Tin’s girlfriend’s name is “Nameless.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/8 "2006-08-28T15:25:49Z")
> [@](#): > > In an issue of Action Comics written by John Byrne (must have been circa 1986-1987), he says the Metal Men are made of a special Magnus-invented polymer which mimics the properties of the metal he “assigns” to them, and the responsometer is a microscopic computer chip. > > Later on, though, we do see apparent mechanical parts to the Metal Men, and the responsometer looks like the unholy offspring of a cantaloupe and a golf ball. > > Bottom line…comic book science. Sometimes it takes a little hand-waving, sometime it takes a lot of hand-waving, but it’s pointless to spend too much time making it seem real. And this is coming from the guy who wrote the Legion Help File! Hah! Then what do you make of the Silver Age story in which the Metal Men fight a set of Plastic Robots? (Metal Men #21 “The Metal Men vs. the Plastic Perils”) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/9 "2006-08-28T18:42:46Z")
CalMeacham: > [@](#): > > Hah! Then what do you make of the Silver Age story in which the Metal Men fight a set of Plastic Robots? (Metal Men #21 “The Metal Men vs. the Plastic Perils”) [airplane]Well, I can make a hat…or a boat…[/airplane] ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metal-men-q/370488/10 "2006-08-28T22:27:28Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > In an issue of Action Comics written by John Byrne (must have been circa 1986-1987), he says the Metal Men are made of a special Magnus-invented polymer which mimics the properties of the metal he “assigns” to them, and the responsometer is a microscopic computer chip. I remember the story. The term he used was “resins,” not “polymers,” but they’re probably synonyms. Not sure how resins would mimic conductivity, but hey, I’m a Liberal Arts guy. Frankly, I just assumed that everyone ignores Byrne continuity.