Techwright

(adding orange answers to the hidden contents) I'm debating whether to watch it or not. I like Photon, Nick, and Goose. I'll not list all my dislikes, except to say [EDIT, EDIT...EDIT, EDIT, EDIT] Okay, maybe some flaming. I'll cool my jets. If I watch it, it will be for Photon, Nick, and the Lovecraftian humor that is Goose. I could watch a whole movie focused on just Photon. She was one of the better bits of Wandavision. (I'd really like Jimmy Woo back for the fun, if so.) More importantly, if I watch any Marvel show I don't care for, it's in order to gain MCU continuity before the next big project I do want to see. On the bright side, with the outcome of this movie, every Avenger might get his/her own cat to take into battle with them.

Most see her as the first spy, since she shows up first. They're trying to identify the second, if there is one.

That makes sense. The city where I grew up had two distinct names and stages. The first stage and original name was during the early days of the USA. The area was used as a summer home in the mountains for the rich of the Carolina coastline to escape the muggy heat. The second stage and second name was when many finally decided to stay in the area and incorporate. Thanks. Reading through that, beyond the origins that I sought, I noticed there was no mention of Atlas during the attack on Independence Point. Considering the detail otherwise given, that's a major oversight of the wiki. I'm also intrigued by the Sand Kings and the Storm Korp. (Shouldn't it be "Sturm Korp"?) I'm not sure how it could be done, but the idea of another connection to the past, similar to Cimerora, to participate in the desert guerrilla warfare with Dream Doctor and the Sand Kings sounds like it could be a fun new zone.

I've only animation to go on, I've not read the comic books, but in animation the former Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, is killed in an explosion involving the scarab. I think he was trying to activate it. Anyway, the scarab did become active, but damaged. It's why Jaime was initially able to control it, when, as you find out in the story, scarabs were meant to be parasites, completely compromising a host, rather than being a sometimes uncooperative symbiote.

Where do we even buy rouge in Paragon City? I feel like the old way would have had more significance since alignment changes were earned and not instant back then, but yeah, it might be fun.

I had...no idea... this could be interesting. The cameos alone will be crazy. The Muppets are one of those productions that everyone wants in on the act, even for a cameo. Baum wrote 13 of the books, I think it was? I was about 11 when I binge-read them. That said, he authorized at least one other to write more books, and his estate authorized others. I've read a few of those other authors' works and those that I read were just as good as the originals. Your daughter might have much to read for a while. As to the comment about the majority of the population not having read them: it was true for the Lord of the Rings as well, and just the first movie generated 20 million book sales, not even counting sales of The Hobbit, the Silmarillion, and Tolkien's other works. To that point, if you even knew the subject matter, you had an oddly drawn Rankin-Baskin animation for The Hobbit, and an even odder oddly filmed, rotoscoped, and animated Ralph Bakshi film of the first book only. The former returned and did a greatly trundicated Return of the King in animated form. It was less than an hour as I remember. Crazy. The point is, they found a way to communicate to the audience, and the audience got onboard. I've wondered if the big problem would be in connecting the young of high-tech today, with stories and Kansas characters set 120 years ago.

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.