THE ALPHABET PET
Real Name: Inapplicable
Identity/Class: Terrestrial construct
Occupation: Robotic agent of Magneto
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Magneto
Enemies: The X-Men (Ariel, Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Storm, Wolverine)
Known Relatives: Inapplicable
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Magneto's secret headquarters
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men: The Alphabet Pet Battles the X-Men Coloring Book (1983)
Powers/Abilities: The Alphabet Pet was programmed to unscramble any word or phrase fed into it verbally or from the Compute-a-Letter Energizer. Once the word was unscrambled, the Alphabet Pet could generate realistic holograms related to the actual word itself or any letter contained within. It could also generate holograms of the object or objects that the word represents (such as water from the letter "C" or "sea"). Using the words fed into it, the Alphabet Pet could also generate holographic mazes or puzzles using the words. (see comments)
History: (Uncanny X-Men: The Alphabet Pet Battles the X-Men) - While trying to do a word jumble, Magneto plotted against his enemies, the X-Men. The letters soon gave him an idea and days later, he finished work on his robotic creation, the Alphabet Pet. Testing its capabilities, Magneto fed a list of names into the Alphabet Pet's computers, causing the robot to generate a puzzle using the names. Not thinking the robot to be much of a threat to the X-Men, Magneto used his magnetic powers on the robot, causing it to generate a gigantic letter M. Pleased with the result, Magneto used his Compute-a-Letter Energizer to feed an entire dictionary worth of words into the Alphabet Pet. He then fed the scrambled word "fist" into the robot and commanded it to unscramble the word and make it come alive. Sure enough, the robot unscrambled the word and generated a giant fist, which hit Magneto in the face. Dazed but still pleased with the Alphabet Pet's progress, Magneto programmed the attacks of eleven different animals into the robot to prepare it for possible sneak attacks. Magneto then announced that the Alphabet Pet was ready for a real match and soon sent the Alphabet Pet against Wolverine, ordering the Alphabet Pet to sting the X-Man. The Pet quickly generated numerous letter Bs, which attacked Wolverine, trapping him with a giant B-Trap. Nightcrawler quickly came to the aid of his fellow X-Man, demanding to know what the Pet had done to Wolverine. The Pet answered with a riddle: "What letter of the alphabet can you swim in?" Nightcrawler explained that he couldn't swim and the Pet responded with a giant letter C, filled with water that Nightcrawler could not swim in. Cyclops soon arrived on the scene as well and the Pet responded by firing a giant letter I at the mutant. Cyclops managed to jump atop of the letter I and control it for a moment, only to have the I become the words "ICE" and "CUBES." The words then broke apart into individual ice cubes and covered Cyclops, pinning him to the ground under the sheer number of cubes. Storm next attacked the Alphabet Pet but the Pet generated the word "STORM" and blew winds from its letter O. The winds trapping Storm, Ariel picked up the Alphabet Pet and asked why it was attacking the X-Men. She explained that she could love its cute and cuddly form were it not attacking. Upon hearing the word "LOVE," the Pet became temporarily confused about its lack of emotions. Colossus then exclaimed to Ariel to hurl the Pet in his direction but before Colossus could make a move, the Pet generated the word "MONSTER" to encircle the steel mutant and emprison him in a maze. Seeing all of his X-Men incapacitated made Professor X deduce Magneto's hand in their predicaments and the Professor soon joined the fray as well. Professor X then claimed to the Pet that his real name was "O. T. Engam" and challenged the Pet to battle of word scrambles. He then challenged the Pet to unscramble his own "real name" by saying it backward. When the Pet did so, it could not find a word in its banks to match and malfunctioned, exploding. With Magneto and his Alphabet Pet defeated, Professor X explained to his X-Men how the word "Magneto" was not programmed into the Alphabet Pet's banks in order to protect Magneto himself from the Pet's attacks.
Comments: Created by Owen McCarron.
While the
story
was kinda silly, I see no specific reason why this coloring book
has
to be out of continuity. Some of the characters seem a bit out of
character
(Magneto especially, see the image to the right) but one has to realize
that
the coloring book was made for children so therefore, he's just acting
a
bit more simplified for child readers. Given the appearance of the
roster
of the time, this coloring book (despite being made in 1987) would fit
in
continuity somewhere between after Kitty Pryde took on the alias of
Ariel
but before Storm went to the mohawk look. I'd say somewhere in between
Uncanny
X-Men#169-174.
Update 1/31/2021: I recently
discovered that the coloring book actually originally came out in 1983
and that my copy was a 1987 reprint. Since the coloring book came out
in 1983, fitting the story somewhere in between Uncanny X-Men I#169-174
makes perfect sense as those issues also came out in 1983! --Proto-Man
While not explained in the coloring book, I figured that the Alphabet Pet's powers had to be holographic in nature as it was able to generate words in physical form. And since science was used to create the robot, I doubt the Pet's powers were magical in nature
An funny thing of note in this coloring book: Wolverine does not pop his claws one time in the entire book (nor does the book even mention his powers at all), nor do any other of the X-Men use their powers, aside from Colossus always being in his steel form. I suppose Storm could have easily fought her way out of the Alphabet Pet's winds using her weather manipulation powers and Nightcrawler could have easily teleported out of the "sea." Cyclops could have blasted the giant letter I with his optic blasts and Wolverine could have slashed his ways out of the B-Trap.
For some reason, I picture the Alphabet Pet having a green body with yellow toenails, a yellow tail, yellow lips, red mouth, and yellow eyes with red irises.
This profile originally had a 1987 publication date
but I have recently (as of 1/31/2021) discovered another copy with the
copyright date of 1983, meaning that my copy originally used for
reference in this profile was a 1987 reprint and the Alphabet Pet
actually first appeared in 1983, not 1987!
Profile by Proto-Man.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Alphabet Pet has no known connections to
The Compute-a-Letter Energizer
The Compute-a-Letter Energizer was a device created by Magneto to feed large amounts of words and letters into the Alphabet Pet via a small cord that attached to the Pet's forehead. Using the Energizer, Magneto fed the Alphabet Pet an entire dictionary's worth of words, except the name "Magneto" to protect himself from the Pet's powers.
--Uncanny X-Men: The Alphabet Pet Battles the
X-Men
images:
Uncanny X-Men: The Alphabet Pet Battles the X-Men, p12, pan1 (The
Compute-a-Letter Energizer)
p24, pan2 (Magneto talking about how cute the Pet was)
p41, pan1 (The Alphabet Pet, fullbody shot, main pic)
p42, splash page (The Alphabet Pet, headshot)
Appearances:
Uncanny X-Men: The Alphabet Pet Battles the X-Men Coloring Book (1983)
-
Owen McCarron (writer, artist)
First posted: 09/11/2007
Last updated: 01/31/2021
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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