Gear
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| Gear | |
|---|---|
| |
| Information | |
| Real name: | Richard Osgood Foley |
| AKA: | Richie Rich Push |
| Species: | Metahuman/Bang Baby |
| Hair: | Blond |
| Eyes: | Black |
| Relatives: | Sean Foley (father) Maggie Foley (mother) |
| Base: | Dakota Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude |
| Affiliations: | Static |
| Abilities: | Superhuman scientific and mathematical intellect |
| Weaponry: | Back-Pack Jet-Blades Jet-Board Zap-Caps |
| Voiced by: | Jason Marsden |
- You may also be looking for the episode "Gear"
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Richard Osgood "Richie" Foley was the best friend and confident of Virgil Hawkins (and one of the few to know of his double life). Yearning for powers his own, he temporarily became Push, and later Static's crime-fighting partner, Gear.
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[edit] History
He was the first person to learn of Virgil's powers after Virgil clued him in about them, and Richie, much due to him and Virgil being huge fans of comics, suggested that Virgil should become a superhero. At first, Richie was somewhat of Static's backer, sitting on the sidelines while providing him with his own (then) simple-minded inventions, like the Shock Box (their private walkie-talkie system) to the Zap Caps (which contained extra energy should Static run out of "fuel" during a battle).
Before discovering his own power, Richie was briefly lured to a life of crime when he was granted powers by Ragtag, becoming known as Push after his power to repel objects. Richie did come to his senses and turn on Ragtag and his metahuman gang. The Push power wore off as all of Ragtag's dubious gifts did.
At the third year of Static's adventures though, Richie began to intellectually advance. From having the Shock Box intercept police radio frequencies to making the Zap Caps play MP3 files, Richie went on a creating spree until he hit his peak. When he realized that he was getting increasingly smarter, he and Virgil deduced that he must be a "late-blooming" Bang Baby due to his second-hand exposure (from Virgil) to the gas which created the Bang Babies, with his super-powers being increased brain function. With it he created a ton of high-tech equipment, including a robotic backpack computer dubbed Back-Pack, and special roller skates equipped with jets in order to propel him into the air (under the same principle of VTOL airplanes).
After creating an outfit for himself, he became "Gear" and began helping Static on his missions. While he seemed to be in the way at first, Richie quickly got a hold of things and became a real asset to Static in the field. With his super-intelligence, inventions, and courage, he has been able to take on some of the most powerful metahumans and threats. He has defeated several metahumans on his own without any help, including Hotstreak, Kangor, Shiv, and Aquamaria.
In the 2040s, Gear was on the other side of the world, when Kobra's leader was captured, they used a hologram of Gear, to lure Static into a trap. This future version of Gear is overweight, as commented by the younger time-displaced Static, when the younger Static returned to the past, he told to Gear "maybe you should lay off the fries", indicating that Gear may be not so overweight anymore in the future.
[edit] Powers and Abilities
Richie possessed a superhuman intuitive talent for inventing mechanical devices as a result of an ability to perceive the potential energy and kinetic energy present in the components of mechanical systems. This ability allowed Richie to instinctively know and understand the potential and functional operations of any machine or technological device in his visual range; a skill that combined with his increased intelligence allowed him to conceive, design, build, modify, disassemble, and countermand machinery. This ability was for the most part devoid of consciously working out theoretical and design principles behind the inventions.
[edit] Background Information
Richie Foley is based on Rick Stone, one of Virgil's friends in the Milestone Media comics. Rick, however, did not know Virgil was Static; aspects of Frieda Goren seem to have been added.
In an interview, Dwayne McDuffie stated that Richie was given superpowers because it was becoming "increasingly difficult to work Richie into stories, without having him order Static around all the time over the Shock Box." Regarding the response of fans, he said, "Gear worked out very well for us, the ratings improved after he showed up and he arguably bought us an extra season on the air."
