Foes of the Superwomen of EVA #6: Ms. Gsptlsnz
"Mid-way into Evangelion pilot Asuka Langley Sohryu's burgeoning 'side-gig' as a superhero (when she was making the change from Power Girl to Supergirl), she found herself beset by all manner of weird happenings, from being crank-called in the middle of stopping a bank robbery, to finding her Unit-02 posed like a buddha statue in its cage, to coming home one day to find her fellow pilot Shinji in a maid's outfit and her guardian/commanding officer Misato dressed as a butler (and even speaking with a stereotypical 'upper-crust' affectation). The source of these strange occurrences eventually revealed themselves to Asuka when she met the heartily-laughing face of one Ms. Nxly Gsptlsnz, a magically-powered imp (or as she described herself, 'superior being') from the 5th Dimension.
Asked why she's been messing with the girl of steel, Gsptlsnz (or 'Gispy' for short) explained that following the end of the Ninth Age of Magic as a result of Second Impact-and the ensuing start of the Tenth Age-the higher-ups of the Fifth Dimension called for non-interference in the affairs of humanity (or 'Thirdies' as they liked to call them) until the world got itself back into some semblance of order, an edict that found itself prolonged in its active status thanks to the unpredictability that came with the Angel attacks. Bored out of her skull and wanting to bring a bit of fun back into the Third Dimension, Gispy secretly snuck off and decided to see what could be done to amuse herself in the (in her eyes) backwater dimension. The (re)appearance of superhumans in this world-specifically, Tokyo-3, the 'epicenter' as it were of the Angel attacks-got her funny bone tingling, and when determining the target of her pranks and jokes, she opted for the one superhuman who, in spite of their super-senses, wouldn't see her coming a mile away. Hence, Asuka being her patsy.
Gispy then laid the 'ground rules' for Asuka if she wanted to get the imp out of her hair. All she had to do was get Gispy to say, spell, or otherwise reveal her name backwards, which would send her back to the 5th Dimension and keep her there for three months, Earth-time. Catching on right away, Asuka feigned confusion when asking her to clarify if she herself had to say it or if Gispy had to, a prolonged back-and-forth that frustrated Gispy enough that she was easily goaded into saying her own name backwards (Znsltpsg) and sending herself back home, much to the imp's chagrin.
Supergirl wouldn't run into Gispy again until the three months had passed, by which time the Angel War had been won and the respective conspiracies of SEELE and Gendo Ikari had been thwarted. Supergirl and a number of other superpowered women of NERV (or associated) had also formed the Justice League by then, so the next time Gispy came a-callin', she now had more fish to fry. One day, when coming back from a mission, Supergirl, Wonder Girl (Rei Ayanami), the Flash (Mari Makinami), Ms. Martian (Hikari Horaki), Green Lantern (Misato Katsuragi), Blue Beetle (Ritsuko Akagi), and Zatanna (Maya Ibuki) had arrived at the team's HQ ahead of the rest of the other members, only to find that someone had done some very...interesting redecorating of the place (which included, among other things, a wing full of various forms of portraiture depicting a certain Kensuke Aida). Immediately figuring out the culprit's identity, an annoyed Supergirl called out Gispy, who appeared cackling and holding her sides. The appearance of a 5th Dimensionite immediately drew concern from Maya, who explained to Ritsuko the notoriety of the 5th Dimension's inhabitants as powerful tricksters that shouldn't be taken lightly.
To prove her point, Gispy, on the pretense of wanting to bring back the popularity of 'funny animal characters', turned each of the seven Leaguers (with a snap of her fingers) into cartoony animal versions of themselves:
-Asuka became 'Supersquirrel' (with all the angry chittering that ensued)
-Rei became "Wonder Gerbil" (with her immediately sensing the irony in this, given the previous existence of multiple clones of herself)
-Mari became "the Splash" (a seal, her newfound flippers making it quite awkward to move around at any speed)
-Hikari became the bug-sized "Ms. MartiAnt" (who immediately cried out for people to watch their step)
-Misato became the duck-billed "Green Loontern" ("You're dethpicable!")
-Ritsuko became "Blue Beagle" ("HEY! I'm a cat person, you little-!")
-And Maya became "Za-panda" ("Well, that's the end of these fishnets...")
Not quite done yet with the 'just'a lotta animals' before her, Gispy also informed them that, not wanting a repeat of her first encounter with Asuka, she'd changed the rules when it came to sending her back to the 5th Dimension: they now had to get her to say or spell her own name backwards TWICE in a row. Sarcastically wishing them luck, Gispy *poofed* out of their HQ to go cause mischief elsewhere in Tokyo-3, leaving the seven transformed heroes to figure out how they'd get out of their present situation...all without the luxury of opposable thumbs.
When pronouncing her name, Gispy enunciates as such: Guess (transforms into a riff on the classic Claudia Schiffer jeans ads)-Pit (transforms into a parody of the title character from the Kid Icarus videogames)-Les (conjures a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar into her hands)-Ness (turns into a spoof of the classic 'photo' of the Loch Ness Monster)."
*Author's Note(s)*
For today's entry, I felt it was time to bring a bit of 5th Dimensional hijinks to the DC-based Superwomen of EVA, but in lieu of Mr. Mxyzptlk, I opted to let his better half, Ms. Gsptlsnz, be the impish prankster that draws Asuka/Supergirl's ire instead. (Mxy does exist here, though in this case, because of the 5th Dimension edict, he's had more time for self-reflection and has become the imp equivalent of one Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski, in contrast to his more excitable girlfriend.) I also wanted to do a take on Gispy that was a stark contrast to her previous comic book portrayals, her sardonic counterpart from Superman: The Animated Series, and her interpretation from the live-action Supergirl series.
As for which anime character to serve as the basis for a SWOE take on Gispy? Well, originally I wanted to use Martina from The Slayers as the model, but then a better choice came to me in the form of the fast-talking, overenthusiastic title character of Excel Saga. Thus, for the Deviation I made, all it took was dying her hair and changing her clothing's color scheme into the one more traditionally associated with Mxyzptlk.