Simone De Bastogne is a fictional villain in the Martin Mystery animated series. She appears in the episode The vampire returns. She was a Sixteenth Century vampire clan leader who resided in Paris with her consort Gerard.
Bio
She remained dormant until her coffin was disturbed by archeologists. She promptly turned them into vampires by sucking out their souls and set out to revive her clan. She searched for men who possessed a rare gene that her consort had but her search was fruitless. Her activities attracted the attention of Martin Mystery, Diana Lombard and Java the Caveman. When they confronted her, she noted the resemblance between Martin and Gerard and hypnotised him. Upon sucking out his soul, she was delighted to discover Martin was the one she had been searching for. She then took him back to her lair where he turned into a vampire. She announced her plan to bring back her vampire brethren from the Banished Realm. When Billy, Diana and Java tried to sneak in and rescue Martin, she awoke and quickly hypnotised them into going to sleep. When they woke up and tried to rescue Martin again, she sent her thralls after them and turned into a monstrous half-bat, half-human form and confronted them. The portal to the Banished Realm opened up and she ordered Billy, Diana and Java to be cast in. They acted quickly and broke all the windows as it was morning. Exposed to the sunlight, Simone was reduced to a pile of dust and her thralls reverted to normal.
Personality
Simone was a vampire dedicated to her clan's rebirth. She did not believe Diana or her friends could stop her and when they threatened her, she simply laughed it off. She was prone to prolonged outbursts of manic laughter. She was authoritarian and affectionate towards her fellow vampires, calling them her "creatures" and her "little family".
Powers and abilities
Simone had all the stereotypical powers of a vampire. She was also weak to sunlight as it utterly disintegrated her. During the course of the episode, she demonstrated the following powers:
- shapeshifting: she could look as a normal young human woman before revealing her true vampiric features. At the episode's climax, she turned into a massive half-bat, half-human creature.
- hypnotism: she could hypnotise people through eye contact when her eyes glowed a bright red. Once entranced, the person would follow her every command.
- vampirism: Simone could turn other people into vampires by sucking out their souls. The change took a few moments to occur. They obeyed her orders without question and had enhanced strength and agility.
- teleportation: she could instantly teleport herself and others over long distances by vanishing in a thick cloud or purple smoke.
- superhuman agility: she could cling to walls and leap considerable heights and distances.
- immortality: being a vampire, Simone did not physically age. The only thing that could truly destroy her was exposure to sunlight.