JKCarrier

As I see it, one problem with the MCU is that Infinity War/Endgame did almost too good a job tying everything up. All at once, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, and Vision were gone (not to mention Loki and Thanos and, for different reasons, Black Panther). Hulk and Thor resolved their biggest personal conflicts. Most of the other characters achieved, if not a happy ending, at least a place of closure. It made for a powerful conclusion, but it left the franchise in a position where they essentially had to start over from scratch. Marvel's initial movie success was really "catching lightning in a bottle", and that's extremely hard to do twice (as DC found out when they tried to duplicate Marvel's success).

Sounds like you maybe haven't looked at those issues in a while. James was the leader until he died in Alpha Flight #12 (he was later retconned back to life, as is usually the case...).

So, Night Requiem just dinged level 30 -- mostly solo, although I did end up joining a Mapserver League to speed him through the last couple levels. This was my first Stalker, and it's quite fun. I really like being able to sneak up and Assassin Strike a Sky Raider Engineer, for instance, to prevent him summoning his Force Field Generator. The Dual Blades combo attacks (Weaken, Sweep, et. al.) are a little underwhelming, but I like it otherwise. I'll probably put him aside for a bit, since I was in the middle of leveling another character before the contest started, but I'll come back to him.

Oh right, I had forgotten about that. IIRC, that was John Byrne's idea, to reconcile the two versions ("Doom just has a little scar" vs. "Doom's face is totally messed up").

Yeah, as presented in the original comics, Doom and Luthor have very similar origins. I always thought that was a funny coincidence. At one point, there was a theory floating around that Doom's scars weren't actually that bad -- maybe just a little slash on one cheek or something. But Doom is so colossally vain that he considers that a "hideous disfigurement". It's a cute idea, but there have been too many instances in the comics where someone saw Doom's unmasked face (even if the audience didn't get to see it) and reacted in horror.

More story-arcs, more maps, and maybe even a new villain group or two to bring some novelty back to the leveling-up process. I know, I know, most people just speed through 1-49 anyway. But us die-hards who still do things the old-fashioned way would enjoy it.

Your character name: AI PopStar Your Global handle: @JKCarrier Your base’s name: The Dungeon The shard it is located on: Torchbearer The passcode for entry: DUN-6462 The category your base is entering under: Novice Contributing builders’ names or Global handles: @JKCarrier Any additional information you wish the judges to know beforehand: I like to think of it as simple, but elegant.

Rolled a Huntsman Soldier of Arachnos, a Kinetic Melee/Invulnerability Brute, and a Dual Blades/Ninjitsu Stalker. Since I've played Soldiers and Brutes before, I went with #3: (Random name and costume) I decided on some additional restrictions for myself: 1. Not going to look up builds or advice for these powersets. I'm going in blind and figure it out as I go. 2. Not going to send him any INF or other goodies from my other characters. He's starting from scratch. 3. Not going to invite him to my super group. No teleporters for you! Ride the train, like a regular schmoe! Wish me luck!

Oh God, Apex. I still have nightmares from my one attempt at that fustercluck. Never again.

It's a very cool base, I like the way you incorporated the functional items into the décor. "Branding" your teleporter room as a branch of Portal Corp. was a clever touch. E.B. is right, there are so many eye-popping bases around these days that it's hard for anyone to stand out. But you clearly put a ton of work into this, and I'm very impressed. (But what do I know...my base is literally an entrance, a room full of teleporters, and a third room crammed full of storage/crafting/vendors...)

VERY well-done arc, PW. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Extremely clever how you came up with in-game analogues for the various real-world institutions under attack. I was also very amused that even was calling B.S. on this phony enterprise. 😉 I was a little under-levelled for this one (25), and had some trouble with the Elite Bosses. But nothing a few trays full of Super Inspirations couldn't cure. 😄 Thanks for a fun, cathartic, fascist-smashin' good time!

I've been accused of being a packrat in real life. But in-game, I hate seeing that stuff pile up. Every session, the last thing I do before I log off is pop into my base and vendor anything and everything that can be vendored. I feel you on the IOs...I've got a pile of level 10 Taunt, Confuse, and Sleep IOs (created back when I was chasing the crafting badges) that have been sitting in the Market at rock-bottom prices for like a year. They'll probably never sell.

A boost to Damage Resistance, because you're wearing a hardhat?

I wonder how much of this concern is just because "Sally" is such a cute name? I mean, nobody complains about the unprovoked beat-downs we give to Hamidon on the regular...

"Why did the farmer hit his mule with a 2-by-4?" "Because first, you have to get his attention." Sally is in a place she shouldn't be. She doesn't mean harm, but she's going to be a danger to any civilians she runs across, and vice-versa. You can't explain this to her, because she's a dumb beast. So the easiest, most humane solution is to give her a good smack -- not enough to cause permanent damage, but enough to convince her to turn around and go back where she came from.