Techwright

Unless it was adjusted late in the game, so I would not have heard it, Back Alley Brawler is actually not a member of Freedom Phalanx, though he certainly runs with them a lot. He is actually one of the founders of The Regulators, a drug-culture fighting supergroup, that I think the Eagle Eye storyline in King's Row has you rebuilding. The confusion comes apparently due to mishandling by the original dev team. BABs is a member of the Surviving Eight from the Ritki War, and since most are Freedom Phalanx members, folks confuse the status group with the super group. Even one of the old wikis got that mixed up, though the other one corrects it. Also, technically they are not the original Freedom Phalanx. They are the game-starting members. The original group founded in 1932, just days before Brass Monday. Of that group, I think only Dark Watcher and Statesman survived to the modern era. I know Maiden Justice and at least one member of the duo Vambrace are dead. Elementar is presumed dead, but his passing is unusual and probably left open the possibility of a comic book styled return.

Aurora's Praetorian counterpart, if you can call it that, is the body that Mother Mayhem (Sister Psyche's counterpart) has forcibly taken possession of. You see her in the cut scenes at the beginning of the Behavioral Adjustment Facility raid (BAF). This merging is a callback to the origins of the game and the Earth Prime storyline, where Sister Psyche, in order to survive had to mentally take control of Aurora's body, allowing Psyche's body to slowly heal over time. Eventually, of course, they separated.

So, what's the name of the album this cover shot is for?

I personally prefer shoulder padding that conforms to the shoulder, not things that look like I dropped twin 1-meter modern art sculptures on top of my character's shoulders. So yeah, I dig Riptide's shoulders, too.

Though I'm not a fan of garish colors, at least all over (certain key spots like the power rings are more my style), I do dig the overall look of the character.

Ice/Ice + ?

I wasn't sure I would be able to get the supergroup base badge since I wasn't part of a supergroup (at the time). A few months back I discovered that for those who don't have a base, all you need do is find a base portal and hug it closely. A small ring around the portal will allow you to earn the badge. Also, there's a few spots in the game where day jobs overlap and you can earn two simultaneously. The one I'm always using is in the Vanguard base, right at the base of the stairs in the medbay. Logging out in that spot will accrue for both the Vanguard and Caregiver day job badges.

I'm loving my storm/illusion controller. He's practically a Swiss Army Knife: some ability to address every situation, and he tears through enemies. Now that may not seem thematic at first, but since I play him as a mutant with remarkable mental powers, I see both powersets as projections of his mental abilities. I could see a water/storm corruptor as well. Though I've not played that particular pairing, I've played the individual components, and they're quite potent.

That would make for a nice transitioning from one level zone to another. Say, start the mission in the highest area of Atlas and exit in the lowest area of Steel Canyon.

There used to be one in Independence Port but he insulted the Family, there was a Lusca out that day, and well...

If they ever go that route (and I hope they do) I'd love to have account-server monitors also for salvage and recipes. It'd be a lot easier for crafting if I could see in other characters' lists and didn't have to log into every character to find what I need for crafting.

Not a combo mechanics, but I love how ninja run, which was supposed to be just a cool-looking low-end travel power, actually opens up tactical moves for my martial arts scrappers, and a couple of other characters as well (Shield, for example). If a tank is not on the team, I can utilize NR to charge a collective mob, do a low somersault over the mob, land behind them, and hit dragon's tail to sweep them from behind. The mob now turns towards me, exposing their backs to the rest of the team. Super fluid moves, practical, tactical, and totally cool. For this and other effects, I'd really like to play NR all the time. Unfortunately, it is not slottable, and is a huge endurance drain in combat as a result. I'd really love to see Homecoming either heavily nerf the endurance drain or provide a single enhancement slot (purchasable from P2W, perhaps?) to allow for endurance reduction enhancements, similar to sprint, so that I can run this constantly.

Any "Learning Python Project" better come with a healthy selection of silly walks.

"Clipping", right. Not "cutting", like I was spouting. I've no idea what I was thinking, but lack of sleep was probably a factor. Thanks for getting the right terminology out there. I've corrected mine and documented the correction.

If someone is going to explode, they're going to explode, regardless. That said, I usually find beginning a correction with a courteous effort at putting the stigma on the problem, and not on the person pushing it, goes a long way to defusing the tension. Good documentation seals the deal. "Player X, I need to respond, and I want you to know I mean you no ill will. But if I may address the point that was stated (not "that you stated"), the documented facts do not back up that understanding. Here is the accurate information, and the sources to back it up."

Nerf Powerset Trash Talking. Or NPTT, if the other is too long for ya.

Polar Cola Man: I took inspiration for this sponsored ice controller hero's backstory from old-time radio announcers pitching products, as well as a little from the Saturday morning commercials of the 1970's. There's probably a dash of Booster Gold thrown in for good measure.

Building on that I'd add a few points: 1.) Black & White with Red is a power tri-color set. Don't believe me? Go watch the famous "rose" moment in "Shindler's List". The film is black & white, and those tones make a backdrop that just makes that single red flower completely arresting. I was told a looong time ago, in either my art composition classes or my adolescent psych class (or both) that black, white & red are the first colors our growing infant eyes are tuned to see, and as a result it remains one of the most powerful color combinations to even our adult minds. 2.) There can be too many colors as well as too few. I was reminded of this myself recently when trying to do a makeover for a character whose look was pretty lackluster. I dove into the forums for inspiration and noticed a similar-looking character but whose look "popped". I came to realize it was because the fewer colors & patterns he sported created a much cleaner look. So I went back and stripped out two colors, keeping 4, got rid of a couple of costume pieces that had a lot of visual busy-ness about them, and the character's look really caught people's eyes after that. 3.) minimalism can be a key. Back to that "Shindler's List" red rose: One of the reasons that worked is that it was singular, minimalistic. There wasn't red all over the screen. Try it with a build. Build an all black and white costume, then go get that belt with the large jewel in the center, and make the jewel blood red. You'll see the costume really "pop". It need not be black, white, and red, but don't feel you have to use any 3 or 4 colors in equal portion all over the costume.

(Edited to correct terminology) I think the best tip I can offer is: be willing to experiment with "clipping", that is, two or more costume elements that should not occupy the same space but do. Lots of clippings are just annoying, like capes that flow into legs (literally), or hair that pushes through high collars. But some of my best costume results, especially helmets, are the result of one or more clippings that, with the proper use of color, blend to look like the developers had intended their interaction. Here are a few of mine to give finished product examples, as well as an enlarged false-color image on the beak-like helmet of Watch Commander to show you what parts were blended to achieve the result :

Talos Island. While I don't like the Northern 40%, per se, the central island makes up for it. For a big city zone, it just feels so village-like cosy, with most needs fairly close together, you'd almost expect a barbershop called "Floyd's" on the center square. Had it a bridge from the tram to the Founders Falls gate, I could see my characters looking for apartment space...just not next door to Dark Astoria. Hazard Zone, I'd have to say Striga Island. I've not spent enough time in the red zones, nor the gold zones since joining Homecoming in order to comment on either group.

Forgefather may be the best concept use of the Celestial Aura that I've seen, outside of its original costume use. I really get the sense of some sort of heat venting from his equipment.

I suppose I play thematically because I know, or rather assume, that the developers likely did the best testing to balance two powersets when they are themed. Never really gave it much thought before. I do know when I built a character that was water / psychic, I had a lot of surprised reactions from p.u.g. teammates.

I've mentioned it before in another thread months back, but I'd not previously known there was a secret submarine base in Atlas Park that not only had Ms Liberty as a trainer in it, but also had all the Freedom Phalanx and base-like teleporters next to them so you could launch your team's task forces from the sub base, rather than traveling to the zones, like we do. It sounds spiffy, and it is, except the only vendor there is a merit vendor. Had the base a standard vendor next to Ms Liberty, this would be my default place to avoid the crowds under Atlas. Also, I can't believe I didn't know this for the year I've been back in the game, but I just realized there's an "echo" tram system that connects all the Echo zones and Orobouros. (This was set up after I left the original game, I think.) If you use either a base with portal to one of the Echo zones, or the cosmic base portals to any Echo zone, you should be able to take the Echo tram straight into Oro, theoretically before you're 14, bypassing the O-portal restriction. (I've not tested the security rank restriction, but I have ridden the Echo tram network to the big O. ) Just this past week I finally paid attention to the neighborhood names in Dark Astoria and realized one of them must have been named for Sam Raimi, of "The Evil Dead" fame. I'm now wondering what other neighborhoods have homage names.

Watching the feed, and then the cut-out, I was thinking what a truly bad time for the video to fail. We'll now have conspiracy theorists stating that the whole thing was faked and they used the gap to swap video footage.

Loved it. Picture perfect, except for the loss of video feed at the moment when the Falcon 9 touched down on the drone ship.