So I've gone over Antonio's gallery of copycat characters. Now I want to look at the other reasons why his "universe" fails to sell itself.

#1: His characters are flatter than tissue paper.

This is likely a response to Antonio's idolization of DBZ, but he seems to think flashy powers and a single personality trait are all you need to make a compelling character.

No one* has any motivation aside from "I want to be the strongest" and/or "I want to show my rival who's boss."

* The one exception is Clamorous, whose entire reason for being is "I wanna marry Bowman~"

Blue Tornado himself is just a grab bag of traits that make him sound more badass: he led multiple top secret missions in the Marines; he's a multi-degree black belt in multiple disciplines; he's invited to lead a superhero team despite being the newest recruit solely because he's so powerful and has "leadership experience"; he's a private detective...

He powered through being in pain from the poison in his systems just because he's that tough; he's possibly faster than the guy with super speed...

Instead of his lack of familiarity with the team or his powers being potential reasons why he might not become The Association's leader, it's because he might decide "he wants to fall in love" instead.

Well, okay, there's also Trickster, who apparently just wants to watch the world burn. But he's just a Joker clone, so he doesn't count.

No one shows any indication of actually wanting to, you know, help make the world a better place.

#2: The "original" changes Antonio made don't make any sense.

Pufferfish don't have a venomous bite. Submarines make poor central hubs for global defense organizations. Amphibians don't live in the ocean. Running backwards means you can't see where you're going.

He doesn't put any thought into whether or not something makes sense, and this isn't just "yeah, realistically it wouldn't work that way, but it looks cool so that's good enough for me."

This is stuff basic research and common sense should answer.

#3: Most of the villains have the exact same powers as their rivals.

This even extends to stuff like "they come from the same dimension" and "they get their gear from the same dealer."

While having similar powers makes sense in some cases, like the Aquaman/Black Manta clones and the Flash clones, it's just lazy as hell to have the exact same powers on both sides of the field.

#4: There is no plot.

Let me rephrase that: there is no plot that doesn't revolve around Blue Tornado being awesome.

Just because DBZ gets away with "a bunch of muscular dudes punch and throw energy blasts at each other and oh yeah, one side wants to blow up the planet or something" doesn't mean you can do the same, Antonio.

#5: Why are any of these characters connected?

Aside from Onyx and Bowman being a couple, no one has any reason to be on the same team, and this is doubly true for the villains.

Heck, you could take Puffer and his "take over the world" goals and tie them into Blue Tornado's origin.

Let's say he's sick of humans using the oceans as a garbage dump (case in point: the nameless mad scientist who poured toxic waste into that pufferfish's habitat) and doesn't see Green Whale doing anything to solve the issue.

So hey, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. First, kick the worthless Green Whale off his throne, then make the surface dwellers pay for their crimes.

There, I just gave Puffer an actual "unique spin." You're welcome.

#6: Characters who exist only as one-note plot devices.

Jon's sister is there to give Jon a reason to be exposed to the pufferfish in the first place.

The elite team of soldiers Jon led only serve to give him "leadership experience."

The nameless mad scientist unwittingly gave the pufferfish those remarkably beneficial mutations so they could be transferred to Jon.

The nameless previous leader of The Association decided he wanted to start a family and retired, right on time for Jon to be offered his spot.

Every single one of these characters could be fleshed out and become interesting players in their own right, but no.

The only reason they exist is to make Jon more special, because heaven knows there's nothing compelling about him as a character on his own.

Though at least Jon's sister hasn't been killed by a random villain to motivate him to become a hero. Yet.

Heck, I even came up with a better origin story for Blue Tornado and Black Ant that gives them more of a reason to be nemeses!

Luis uses the information Jon found for him to steal the amulet and obtain his powers.

Now he needs to get rid of Jon before the detective can hear about the theft, put two and two together, and go to the police.

So Luis follows Jon to his sister's lab. She's in another room or something at the moment, and never mind the security risk of letting a non-employee near such a valuable specimen unsupervised for right now.

Luis opens fire, hitting both Jon and the pufferfish, then makes his getaway.

Some of the fish's blood ends up getting exposed to Jon's wounds. Jon's sister is able to respond quickly enough to save his life, but the "Evolved" DNA blends with Jon's and his powers manifest shortly thereafter.

The pufferfish element is still pretty pointless since Jon doesn't have any traits in common with one, but at least we don't have random tornadoes and a fish just happening to bite Jon by freak chance.

And as an added bonus, it isn't such a blatant ripoff of Spider-Man's origin.

Besides, if Jon just visited his sister for lunch or something, it takes out the insulting "female scientist needs an untrained man to help her do her damn job" implications from his origin.