A Hero Forge doubles screenshot I took of two legendary icons from the Circus of the Superstars, or COTS: Rolf the Wolf (ringmaster that doubled as drum major in charge of the marching band, drum corps, and other units), and Graham Gurdetha, principal percussionist and section leader of the musical units. Graham is a descendant of the infamous William Gurdetha, who had been a circus drummer at one point himself. Thus, he felt it was obligatory to do the same thing. (Rather confusingly, Rolf is actually the wolf's surname; his first name is also William. "So many Williams in this world," he said, "but I always said rhymes are powerful, and so I am to be known as Rolf the Wolf."

Although CNG had already got to some of the performers, it did its full act of making the elite group of the circus all superheroes when COTS went out of business in 2020. The performers used the circus theme for their superhero identities, and so Rolf's superhero name is Ringmaster. Graham goes by the codename Rhythm Bear to represent his talents at percussion (alongside other percussion-themed superheroes such as Rhythm Lion and Rhythm Rat).

Graham has four brothers: John, George, Henry, and Xavier, who also made careers out of being musicians in the circus. All five bears play percussion instruments, although some of the bears branched out to other instruments. Henry is also strictly a percussionist, but Xavier, for example, also plays the trombone and bagpipes. John is a trumpeter and bugler for the most part (and he credits Rolf for being his inspiration because the wolf is also a trumpeter in both respects). George plays the piano.

The legacy of the circus lives on in the performances of the marching band, drum and bugle corps, fife and drum corps, and the jazz bands and combos.

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TRIVIA: In my universe, many canon characters from cartoons and video games came to the real world through freak accidents, and among them were the SWAT Kats, T-Bone (Chance Furlong) and Razor (Jake Clawson). Although heroes and not villains, the duo still took up percussion instruments, and the circus later hired them as part-time "escort drummers" (meaning they march at the front of the parade, beating their drums in such a way it gives the impression of a town crier shouting, "Hear ye, hear ye!"). Though they mastered multiple percussion instruments just in case (becaue CNG got to them, too), the most common sight is to see Chance beat a bass drum when marching, while Jake plays a field drum (rope-tensioned snare drum).

When the circus musicians decided to play jazz music, with Graham on the drum set and Rolf as bandleader and head trumpeter (in a style similar to legends such as Maynard Ferguson), the duo followed suit by learning other instruments. Chance plays the trombone when playing jazz, and Jake plays the alto and tenor saxophone.

Encouraged by his buddy, Chance is also learning the trumpet and the bugle, and is taking a few lessons from Rolf.

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COTS (Circus of the Superstars), G-52s, etc. (C) me and me alone
SWAT Kats (C) the Tremblay Bros., Warner Bros., and everybody else who owns the rights; I own nothing of that sort. The above paragraphs simply describe the stories I have written, in which the duo learn musical instruments to rehabilitate themselves so that they do not fight as destructive saviors. This is also because Super C made them allies to the G-52s, and he holds them to a higher standard.

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Birdland (Maynard Ferguson): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOmK1rzxblI