Techwright

I'd like to address something web chatter is fixated upon at the moment: the episode title "The Spies". The one who opened the episode is obvious, but the web chatter is crazy trying to determine who the spies are, supposedly, within the ranks of the Mandalorians. I mentioned one theory in the spoiler box above and argued against it. I could think of another Mando whom it might be, one that is currently by their lonesome, but I've doubts about that, too (see spoiler box below). There's a hardly-discussed theory I like best, though it also makes the title an odd one, because it would be an obscure reference to many people. Relayed was an idea by a Reddit user that "The Spies" is a reference to the Hebrew spies Joshua sent out from the 12 tribes to survey the land of Canaan, eventually called "Israel", their ancestral homeland that they were about to retake. This fits a major theme of the episode, and makes even more sense when... I've also had a new questions arise:

This episode should be called "THIS is the way!" We're back on track with great storytelling and pacing. Additional thoughts:

I wonder if we could repurpose one in the game for something else. I'm specifically thinking of the beastie new characters fight in the Galaxy City starting zone. That bit of storyline takes place right when GC gets hit. Has there been any final push to clear them out of GC? Reopening a portion of the shattered zone in order to clear it might give a chance for that monster to spawn at a GM level. I do think the aggression of GM's might be increased. Whether due to power creep or just better players, it's not hard to deal with them. Maybe move them around a bit, too. I'd love to see a Lusca show up to threaten the power lines crossing from the islands south of Peregrine Island.

Coming very late to this discussion, but I agree with this thought. That whole decade's cultural styles: Mid-Century Modern, Populuxe, Ray Gun Gothic, and Googie (both architecture and furnishings would be very appealing. In fact, I've literally got my Populuxe style manual by my side on my Mid-Century Modern chair as I type.

I'm not sure I follow that line of thought. I guess the confusion lies in the statements "day to day activities" and "able to make time for us". I'm not saying let's have the mayor issue us mundane tasks. This is a city that cannot function on its own without heroes. While I suppose having a powered mayor might be practical in what is arguably the most dangerous city on the planet, I cannot see either position not being closely involved with the heroes. Any plans for rebuilding the city, encouraging business to come to the city, etc. are going to need the feedback and cooperation of the heroes in order to succeed. The mayor will be fully briefed on the pulse of the city and larger concerns may require a hero team to address them. In similar fashion, the police try to function largely without heroes, but they've had to go to powered armor to just stay in the fight. Blue Shield is their only hero (lore-wise. I know we've got several players with cop characters.) It makes sense then that when the chief has a situation beyond the armored PPD officers' effectiveness that they'd call on the heroes.

Ever since returning to CoH, I've run a barebones base. It has every function I need, laid out in an efficient manner, but almost no style. I'd like to change that. I've a character or two in another solo-player base that has absolutely nothing in it. I've almost never played these characters, so it never matter. I'm wondering: could I build exactly what I want with their base and then somehow transfer the finished product, by swapping file names, etc. to become the base of my primary characters? If so, how would that be accomplished? EDIT: forgot to add that I'm thinking in these terms because I'd like to leave my efficient base in place to use until I'm satisfied with a more stylized base. Assuming it is even possible.

I was involved in a mastermind-only B.A.F. the other day. Lots of fun, if also the first real challenge to my latest video card from CoH. I got thinking: we occasionally will see a call for an archetype-themed or perhaps a powerset-themed task force, mission, etc., but is a costume themed gathering a thing? That is, do folks run a BAF, TF, whatever with only characters with an insect/arachnid theme (recent postings in the costume thread in mind) or robot costume theme, police costume, Universal monsters theme, etc. etc. ? I suppose role-playing types have probably run steampunk costume stuff before, but I'm thinking more casual, I guess. If so, any examples to give, hopefully with pictures?

You're just going to have to get used to it. The NCSoft attorneys demanded it as part of our continued existence.

First, Welcome! Second, let me add my voice to the others. I'll gladly help guide someone through a task force if I know they're new, and I've done it often. Just let us know. Perhaps we old hands might handle this better like taking a second to ask if anyone is new to a TF/SF (Task Force/Strike Force), or even just a mission. Do we have a list of acronyms anywhere to which we can point new players? If not, we really need such. I'd even suggest adding it as an optional window (probably scrollable) within the game.

Reading another forum's post, I just learned after all these years that Paragon City's Chief of Police is Conrad Bochco and, via Homecoming wiki, its current mayor is Mayor Morales. Apparently we don't even have a first name for the mayor. (Or gender, I think.) Based on what I see in the Homecoming wiki, we apparently don't have more than a passing reference to them. May I suggest that this be corrected, and possibly any other prominent political types (Water Commissioner?), by one or all of the following selections: A physical presence within the city. The mayor, for example, would be a natural in or around city hall. The police chief could have an office at the police HQ in Kings Row. If out in the open, it would make sense to have them escorted by several heroes or power-armored PPD NPC types. Use of them as mission givers. Both of them make perfect sense in this capacity. Use of them as event characters. This is already done with Fire Chief Hopkins over in Steel Canyon. See one possibility below. Use of them in future task forces/strike forces. Adding the characters as useable characters in the Mission Architect. Adding the characters as NPC's for base design. Event suggestion: I saw talk the other day as to best and worse events. If the idea of new events is being batted around, may I suggest the following: Police Chief - random, but only in any zone with a police station. Hero rescue. Word has leaked of Police Chief Bochco's itinerary, and as he moves into the zone to go to the police station for a "surprise" inspection, the Chief and his armored PPD escort has come under heavy fire from one or more gangs eager to put him down. The call goes out, and heroes must join the fight to protect the Chief to the police station or to a designated extraction point. If the Chief's PPD escort completely falls, he will be highly vulnerable. If he's defeated, emergency medical teleporters remove him and the event fails. One or more archvillains appearing, and/or a "mcguffin" to keep the chief from teleporting away make the challenge more interesting. While I like the idea of the Chief moving to the police station, an extraction point may be more practical, due to cases like Faultline, where the police station is close to the entrances and little more than a trailer. That said, though it is more work, having a slight variation depending on zone might keep it interesting. Faultline, for example, might have the Chief appear from a distant building or even the sewer network as his origin point and move towards the police station, where additional NPC PPD await to secure the Chief upon arrival. Mayor - Any Paragon zone not in ruins. similar to Police Chief event scenario, but the Mayor makes a stationary appearance (with defensive escort) to interact with NPC citizens at a rally or special event (like the opening of a new store). The event channel announces the rally, starting a short counter towards an attack, allowing Heroes in other zones time to move to the zone in question. The mayor must be moved to an extraction point without suffering the loss of his/her full NPC escort, which will leave the Mayor extremely vulnerable. Failure if the mayor must have an emergency medical teleport. Other possibilities for this event scenario include either having multiple villain groups attack the target (so we're not just repeating a Nemesis invasion, for example) or having the multiple villain groups be pulled from the groups present in the zone. For example in Talos Island, you could have Warriors, Tsoo, Circle of Thorns, etc.

It's kind of sad that they put a bounty of 1000 for a hard-to-find-on-the-streets type, yet post only a 200 500 bounty on Skulls (blue side) that are abundantly available to street fighting. (EDIT to correct the number of Skulls.) Side note: this is the first time I can recall hearing the name of Chief Conrad Bochco.

Star Wars: Visions II trailer premiered at Celebration 2023. If you've not seen the original, Visions allows other artists to create short stories within the Star Wars universe, portrayed in their unique style. I'm unclear if they consider these to be canon or not. They're more art form storytelling. I'm wondering who did the claymation in this one. Same studio that made Wallace and Gromit?

Frankly, the Pershing episode would be entirely watchable if they just took it back to the cutting room and edited it to remove unnecessary filler. I get where they're going with that story. They just took a bicycle when it should have been a Lamborghini.

How far back does the lore go regarding Paragon City? I'm going to put in one caveat and state that I know that underneath, Oranbega has been there seemingly forever. So beyond that... Do we have references to it's earliest above ground settlement? American Revolution? French & Indian War? Native American Tribes? etc.

Thanks! Crisis was when? Some of these big comic events I get confused by, especially when they keep using the successful name for additional events.

Blue Beetle has been around in one form or another since the late 1930s, but he's never been an A-lister, despite his importance within the comics. The comic has changed ownership at least three times since its creation, with DC being the current owners. There've been 3 characters to don the title. I'm actually surprised the Ted Kord version hadn't been used over the years in team animations like 1970s' Superfriends, but the Jaime Reyes version, which was more or less a complete re-imagining of the concept, has been gaining steam in some animation this past decade or so, especially in Young Justice. Perhaps this film will push Blue Beetle into the A-list like the movies did for Guardians of the Galaxy. The Electric Company find was great! I was a first-gen viewer and I don't remember BB. Spidey was a constant presence. I remember Morgan Freeman quite well, too.

Sounds like the possibilities of an "All Storm" team just got even more interesting. Sorry, what is "it will live about two mobs"? Maybe its because I've had less coffee today, but I'm drawing a blank.

All-mastermind B.A.F. today. The speech balloon wasn't mine but got me laughing. I took two shots, and merged in the league roster from the second.

I commend you for your selection of a clearly superior coffee blend. I could use that come Monday morning. About 1/4 teaspoon should suffice.

I've managed to identify the battle droids in the trailer, and we've actually seen them before, so no need for spoilers, I just didn't pay close attention to them when I first viewed them. These are Magistrate Elsbeth's droids. We last saw them when she was acting as a warlord over a village in the episode The Jedi of The Mandalorian. So best guess is that either Elsbeth has dispatched them against Asoka, or Elsbeth's boss has sent them. This might also explain why their energy staves are able to resist Ahsoka's light sabers. Elsbeth was the one who had the pure beskar spear. It's likely she's got connections to the First Order's supply of stolen beskar and may have put some into her guards' weapons.

Star Wars: Andor, season 2 Disney+ series premiering probably August/September 2024 footage was shown exclusively to those at Celebration 2023, but not a trailer Every 3 episodes, according to reviewers, will represent a year. (First season every four episodes represented an arc.) B2EMO was not in the clips, but was actually onstage and interactive with the audience. Possible Spoilers:

Tales of the Jedi season 2 was announced by Dave Filoni. Filoni went on to make an interesting point: with season 2, he's going to be "master" to several "padawans" within the animation studios. As he put it, he's hoping to pass on to a new generation what George Lucas passed on to him so that the animation side of Star Wars will remain strong for long to come. To that end, these people will be crafting the show under his guidance. Personally, I find this smart. Dave Filoni is the clear heir to George Lucas regarding knowledge of the Star Wars universe and skill (perhaps better) at crafting the shows. However, at this point in time, it is "all eggs in one basket". Were something awful to happen to Dave, it would be hard to move Star Wars animation forward. They've been doing something similar over at The Mandalorian.

Star Wars: The Acolyte Disney+ series premiering in 2024 (4 episodes are already done apparently) Stars: Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix), Lee Jung-jae (Squid Games) Set in the High Republic era, considered the Golden Age of the Jedi, when the dark side was the underdog, the series will be a dark-sider's tale. Specifically, it is believed to be set 100 years before the Prequel Trilogy Reviewers who saw the teaser at Star Wars Celebration report that it has high production values, and one referred to its tone as "between The Mandalorian and Andor" Unlike Andor, this has a lot of aliens in it. Leslye Headland is spearheading this show: "What I pitched was Frozen meets Kill Bill" (pitch to Lucasfilms that is.) Other comments note that samurai films are a strong influence on the production. Spoiler:

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Disney+ series moved to post production Jude Law stars along with a handful of kids People have compared it to 1980s Amblin Entertainment fare like Goonies and E.T.. Some have even mentioned Stranger Things. Just to be clear, it has now been stated that it is not a kids movie. Spoiler discussion based on review talk of a private viewing of a teaser at the show: