Techwright

You're just aimin' to misbehave, ain't ya?

By "poltergeist" are you meaning the more generic term "ghost" or are you focused on the differences between the two? If you search this thread on terms like "ghost" or "phantom" there are several creations of the supernatural. For example, @Virtual Green had a pair of postings about a ghost pirate. EDIT: several body parts can use the Spectrum pattern. This can be colored to grey or a pale green or blue to aid in a ghostly appearance. You may also want to check out the costume contest thread pinned up top over in the General forum. I know they've had some contests related to ghost and even pirates, which folks tend to associate with ghosts after the movies made such popular. Many of the pictures have been posted elsewhere but the thread will tell where to look. As to firefly, I assume you mean the creature also known as "lightning bug", as opposed to the pyromaniac Batman villain of the same name. I can't say I have seen any lightning bugs, but I can think of elements. Search this thread for my two creations Conflygration and Dr. Nightlight. The former might provide inspiration for the insect elements, while the latter might provide inspiration for the lighting. There is also the possibility of using the full-bodied mode of the beastly aura, which pulses, colored to something greenish-yellow to mimic the bug's light flashes.

This is exactly what I have been doing and I have been doing so to power past the end drain teen levels. SO changes have smoothed that somewhat, but if low sets added a +end bonus, as someone suggested, I would be willing to use them without the START 2xp boost. One thing it might make interesting: gold side content with xp gains turned off to focus on story. Having a tricked out character would be a boon for this.

Away from my gaming PC as I write this, but does fire have the dark color set? Wondering if you can tune it to resemble black fire. You may like it bright though, going for the balrog look.

Did you...did you just share your thought and opinion? 🤔

Yeah, nope. News reporter trying to make news there. There's absolutely still a market for superhero films, but now having a quiver-full of good ones given to us over the last few decades, fans expect a better-quality script. They can forgive other details like less than top-quality CGI (the extremely popular Avengers: Infinity War suffered from that) but it always goes back to the script. I'm very puzzled why Hollywood hasn't figured this out after decades. It's the same thing with westerns. The western genre was never dead, it had just been glutted with lackluster scripts. As soon as films like Silverado, Unforgiven, or The Revenant showed up this same class of reporters were amazed that the films did well.

Not everyone will recognize the cold, ruthlessly calculating, and fastidiously groomed psychopath that is Dr. Fitz, second-in-command of framework Hydra (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), but they should. Come to think of it, where's his HYDRA lapel pin?

It is my guess that they are biding their time until the animated version completes (perhaps with the next film) and possibly Tom Holland's turn as Peter Parker has nearly run its course. I'd not be surprised if there was a passing of the mantle film with either Tom or Andrew Garfield.

From the standpoint of player-created memorials, what if we took our thinking outside of the box? The "box" being the game, that is. If I recall correctly, in the original game were there not player-created webpages that displayed information about living players related to various supergroups? Perhaps I'm thinking of another MMO. It is those former works that I suggest might provide inspiration. I recall a lot of variation in this, everything from "here's their global and screenshots of their characters" to detailed descriptions of their in-game nature, to real-life photos and a paragraph on their real-life nature. While the latter of these would not fit the game and forum guidelines, perhaps it might be an optional part of any consideration for outside of the game and forum. Could a standard among players be reached as to what should appear on such a page for either living or deceased, and pages be created and added to a commonly agreed upon website? Say, for example, a section within the Unofficial Homecoming Wiki set aside for this? Players already are helping by contributing to the upkeep of the wiki, so perhaps, at least as a temporary solution, a section could be created. If temporary, that would at least allow for time for a slower, more-thorough process of considering more permanent solutions, and it would keep all information collected and ready to go if a more-satisfying solution were discovered. We could then add links in the Fallen But Not Forgotten section directing viewers to more information found in the collected repository. Or perhaps, if the wiki is rejected as an option, an entirely new repository could be created and maintained. Just my 2 cents.

I would like to suggest holding up on mastermind (MM) for the moment. Maybe run it as a second character. While the MM's pets do most of the fighting, there's still a lot to control. A team will compensate for this, allowing a new MM a little leeway to figure it out, but running it solo as a first-time player might be a tad complex. Scrapper or brute for melee should be good. Brute has a mechanism for ramping up its abilities as it fights. Sentinel might work. It tends to have scrapper-level defenses and range-striking offenses, though not as powerful as a blaster. In other words, more survivability than a blaster, but still having the advantage of taking several shots out of enemy reach. This seems to fit your quote of "not necessarily aiming for the most powerful or optimized build just something fun and versatile to help me explore the game at my own pace." I do agree with @UltraAlt regarding powerset picks. Some can bring complications. In counterpoint, some can counter inherent problems to the archetype. Take the example of an energy/energy blaster, which is one of my mains. Blaster's are notorious "glass cannons": high damage/low defenses. However energy powers come with inherent knockback (KB). While it has been maligned in teams when used incorrectly (the "correct" way is to line up the shot with a wall or other obstacle behind the opponent to stop his movement), KB will throw your charging opponents violently backwards, often dropping them on their backs for a few seconds of a stun effect where they cannot fight, but you can unleash damage upon them. In essence, it is a strong defense. KB can be enhanced, or converted to knockdown (KD: basically dropping the opponent on his back where he was standing) using a special enhancement at the sacrifice of one of the 6 enhancement slots for a power. This satisfies the needs of a team, and still grants you a level of protection for an otherwise vulnerable archetype. Ice is an interesting powerset to consider in whatever archetype it is found. While not the highest damage, it can be enhanced to be notable in its damage, and more importantly, Ice can slow, trap, or even freeze-in-place an opponent or group of opponents, depending on the individual power's inherent abilities and how your slot it's enhancements. It is fantastic in team use, and can be used quite effectively in both team and solo to reduce the likelihood that an opponent can fight back while being damaged.

Frankly, if Chris Evans is going to reappear as Captain America, the fanboy in me wants the Captain Carter version, either teaming or opposing depending on what moral polarity this Steve Rogers turns out to be.

I don't know their globals...yet...but I'd like to show appreciation for a new crop of people who've stepped in to try their hand at leading Incarnate content on Excelsior. Running that as often as some of the well-known names have run it has got to be exhausting, possibly to the point of game-quitting, and I feared there would fast approach a day where Incarnate trials would be extremely rare. But I've lately been seeing names I don't recognize organizing and running these, maybe not flawlessly, but still making them happen, with a lot of heart, and for that I'm grateful. I will learn your globals as you keep at it.

Might want to double-check your picture settings. At least for my computer, I'm not seeing anything when clicking the links.

"Riot of color" is a pretty good description, and yes, that'd definitely similar to what I did. My choices were made by seeing which colors seemed to enhance the glow of the partner color. Some of the choices look weird, perhaps even dull or dark, but change when combined with a specific power's look bringing out their luminosity.

I do that constantly. I find it very healthy. Some things I've done when I tire with the leveling grind: 1. Review my characters to see what they're lacking. I'm always surprised when I find out a long-played character hasn't got all the badges for Drowning In Blood, for example, and it's a relatively quick trial to run. 2. Shuffle characters not being played to each of the Day Job locations to be earning badges and benefits while you're elsewhere (including playing another game). 3. Maintain a gold-side character. Don't rush him up the security rank/threat ladder. Instead, be willing to turn off XP for long chunks of time in order to fully complete contact story arcs, getting a fuller feel for the Praetorian story. I don't play my gold-side character constantly, just a mission or two at a time. It's like eating fine-quality chocolate: something to be savored, not rushed. 4. Try an AE arc 5. Look for the lesser done content and invite a team. Examples: the Zig prisoner breakout on the streets of Brickstown, getting your gold badge on the ski slopes, doing the "Who Will Die?" story arc (but perhaps just a contact per session), the gold-side trial (which name I can never remember) which runs very quickly, hourly, but nobody seems to remember. I ran all my first 15 or so characters through this when some kind soul took a few weeks to invite teams to it hourly. 6. Work on getting enhancement sets for your characters, including those under 50. There are folks who spend hours with the Mids Reborn Hero Designer. I personally don't have the time for that, so I research what I can and add enhancements sets in as I can. One day l'll have a completely tricked-out character, but I'm in no rush.

I've always enjoyed tinkering with the light aspects of my character Lumineon (currently a radiation blast/energy sentinel). I've previously brought up both the original game character's look and changes to him (see the linked info), but I've never previously taken his costume development in a radically different direction. For his newest costume, I decided to go a minimalist route. Unfortunately, that required jettisoning the neon and black-light mimicry attempts of his previous two costumes, as these were highly depend on specific costume pieces that didn't work with a minimalist look. However, it did free me to explore a full-spectrum look, and I like what's come together. The new look is as much about the aura glows as the costume itself. I've used 3: the wings in an indigo hue (purple-blue), the beastly aura in a yellow-green, and flight/pathing aura in an orange-red. The overall effect combined with his powers (which each have neon/black-light mimicry choices distinct from every other power) really conveys a "full spectrum of light".

Mine might not be a popular viewpoint, I accept that, but approaching Endgame, I'd always believed it would be the swan song for the Avengers cast, not for the team. Actors age a lot faster than comic characters. The Avengers team has had a huge roster in the comics over the years, not as big as the X-men (when that is a collective term for all things "X"), but still quite sizeable. Characters moved in and out of the roster fairly frequently. At the announcement of the 2012 Avengers movie, I recall people questioning why this character or that character were included in the movie roster when other characters were not. So, all that to say: what I'd anticipated was that the MCU Avengers would go forward re-Assembling the team, possibly adding characters like Wonder-Man to the team, refreshing the dynamic for the next decade, just like the comics team does. I even wondered if Avengers: West Coast or Great Lakes would form. (Okay, so maybe not Great Lakes. Unless they're to be the modern goofball team like the Guardians of the Galaxy.) I realized there might be some disassembly, such as found in WandaVision and the fallout from that, but I was really surprised when I realized Marvel didn't have a plan with immediate action to re-assemble the core team. I think that and the hints at a Young Avengers team as replacement, instead of integration, had me upset.

1st and 3rd images I would actually prefer to the character's in-game model. 2nd image looks to much like the Ice Queen. Let it go. 4th is a bit creepy in look.

That is an ...interesting... list. I've actually seen a couple of them. Highlander 2 was definitely a bizarre part of the franchise. It felt like someone else was writing the story based off of half a page of Cliff Notes from the first film. That said, I'm not sure I'd have scored it a zero, but there it is. Police Academy 4 I saw about 30 years ago. I saw all the films in the franchise, but have trouble remembering which is which. It was just so homogeneous. I'd probably not have scored it as zero either. Lower scores, sure, but that would have been all the films, too. They're popcorn flicks. Bolero is on the list? I never saw it, but I remember there was a lot of hype around it. Sad that John Candy's final film, Wagons East! is on that list. He deserved a better send off. His Cool Runnings still brings a smile to my face.

It's the one where, strangely, Red Skull was an Italian piano prodigy who was forcibly given flawed super-soldier serum by the Italian Nazis and turned into Red Skull, who then proceeds to carry on their work after WW2. I think Cap wore a motorcycle helmet for part of the film. Curiously, the clearly low-budget film had some pretty recognizable names in it, like Darren McGavin of "A Christmas Story" fame, and "Deliverance" veterans Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty. Bill Mumy ("Lost In Space") was in there, too. It was an odd show, but its all we had at the time, so I watched it a few times. Might be fun if you are in the mood for cheesy popcorn flicks sometime.

He was in it? So yet another MCU actor taking a different role in the spider-spinoff universe.

Wait, wait, wait! The score has now climbed to ...15%. Yes! I'd wondered if I'd ever heard of a lower score. Then I checked. Yes, yes I had. Morbius (2022) 15% Batman & Robin (1997) 12% Jonas Hex (2010) 12% Madame Web (2024) 11% Fantastic Four (2015) 9% Captain America (1990) 6% Even the extremely low-budget, never released (sort of), intentionally pathetic Fantastic Four of 1994 scored a 27%. That's just humbling to the modern stuff.

That title is confusing (or bait 😉). It's the Spider spinoffs universe that's stopping production. The "Spiderverse" films, those with the name "Spider-verse" in them, are a hot button item, and will continue to be made. This is a good thing. Other than bleeding money profusely, the spinoffs were not really "family" films, and Spider-man is very much a family-film kind of property. Even the darker moments of some of the best Spider-man films do not reach the level of violence seen in the Kraven red-band trailers. So basically Sony created niche films. The other thing is: these characters were intended to be seen in connection with Spider-Man. Isolating them from him, therefore, is a turn-off to many.

Well, in the Endgame lore:

Talos Island [-5077.6 32.0 5831.7] (cave door with close shrubbery up against the eastern war wall) - The shrubbery up close to the cave door caused multiple snares to our team, once when using a team transport to reach the cave, and once upon exiting the cave. Each time the game funneled all the team into the same spot to a viewer's left as they face the cave. Some characters were able to escape, a couple had to be teleported out. EDIT: Not sure if it matters, but this was associated with a Citadel TF final mission.