Origin
Frankie was the daughter of Toy Queen, a costumed supervillain that performed heists using an arsenal of toy-themed gadgets. As Toy Queen got older and retired, Frankie tried to strike out on her own, only to get arrested, ruining the relationship she had with her own daughter and husband. After being released from prison, her mom helped get her a job at the Lower Lair, a hole-in-the-wall bar for supervillains.
Creation
Playtime debuted in Minor Threats #1 by Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, and Scott Hepburn.
Major Story Arcs
The Bounty on Stickman
After The Stickman killed Kid Dusk, the sidekick of The Insomniac, a bounty was put on Stickman’s head. Insomniac’s superhero team, The Continuum, was desperate to brutalize the costume crime-fighters into going into hiding as the Insomniac upped his aggressiveness against them in the wake of his sidekick’s death. To find Stickman on their own before either The Continuum or The Insomniac got to them, Playtime recruited four other villains to find Stickman and put an end to the manhunt.
Her recruits included Brain Tease, Scalpel, Pigeon Pete, and Snake Stalker. Combining their skills and contacts, they chased leads all around Twilight City only to find dead ends, including sneaking into the night club for the supervillain elite which was a trap from Stickman himself. With this team now on Stickman’s radar, he tricks them into working for him thanks to convincing one of the members, Pigeon Pete, into betraying them.
Frankie and the others are teleported into the lair of The Insomniac so they could plant bombs and destroy it. Brain believed the traitor member was a ruse so the team planned to be at each other’s throats, forcing Stickman to arrive to whip them into shape. When the team tried to confront Stickman, Pigeon Pete revealed himself. Stickman started taking members out, but when he targeted Frankie, he angered Pete. Pete and Frankie went way back, and she was meant to be off limits. This forced Pete to kill Stickman, while nearly killing himself in the process.
When Insomniac finally returned to his lair, he was enraged that his vengeance was taken from him. He intended to take it out on Frankie, but she armed herself with one of her mother’s old gadgets from Insomniac’s trophy case and killed the hero. With Brain Tease taking the credit for Insomniac and Stickman’s deaths, Frankie made a deal with Continuum to stay out of her neighborhood. With Scalpel by her side, Frankie returned to the Lower Lair and began leading a new crime ring.
Fastest Way Down
Frankie quickly became the most powerful kingpin in Redport with Scalpel as her number 2 and girlfriend. She trafficked in alien technology and outlawed magic in the city limits. With the money she made, she invested it back into the neighborhoods, making Redport a better place to live. The residents of the city believed her in her fight. She also made sure to keep Brain Tease comfortable in prison since he was taking the rap for her killing of Insomniac.
Powers & Abilities
Genius Intellect: From a young age, Frankie had the engineering prowess and imagination to create toy-themed gadgets even her mother never thought of.