What do *you* do with alternate costumes?

[Wild Claw]

So out of curiousity, what do you do with the alternate costume slots for your characters, normally?

 

Personally, I usually have one alter-ego/civilian casual wear, one civilian formal wear, and a supergroup version of the regular costume (because the colors never work right from costume item to costume item).

 

Depending on the character I might have also have a clubbing costume, and a formal costume version. If the character tends to side-switch a lot: an alternate good/evil costume. And that's about when I start to run out of ideas for an individual character unless they're that one shapeshifter faerie I keep rerolling.

 

So what kind of alternate costumes do you run?

[Xeres]

Pretty similar.  I have a "off duty" costume which is just casual wear.  One dressy outfit (dress / skirt or suit).  Usually a more armored version of the primary costume and the alternate costume.

[DougGraves]

Very different costumes for the same hero.  Living Ancestor had an egyptian themed costume, celtic themed costume, etc.  Tomb Fisted Kid has his cowboy with a skull classic look, more skeletal look, demonic look with texas longhorns, etc.

 

A few heroes have a civilian look and their superhero costume.

 

90% of the time I play with the same look.  I use the alternates to try out different costume.s

[Heraclea]

Depends on the character.   Most of my characters on Torchbearer have a supergroup themed costume based on Heraclea's themed colors of red, gold, blue, and white, usually incorporating Roman pieces.

 

Grandma Gnosis (ill/rad controller) has variations on a theme: little old lady, little old lady commando, little old lady succubus. 

 

SheRo's costumes are the joke: homages to She-Ra, Supergirl, Captain Marvel, and Fusionette.

 

Maiden Heaven, like Heraclea's, are all just variations of the core theme: in her case an angel in white and gold.

 

Plaster Caster's costume are a mix between Roman artillery commander and Swinging 60s / hippie.

 

Catrina moves between Aztec Jaguar Warrior and Skull Faced Bride.  Her supergroup mode is based on the Virgin of Guadalupe with a skull face.

 

There are many characters whose basic costume fits the concept so well that they don't change it much: Trolls Girlfriend, Witchfinder General, Carlos Rey, Man from Uranus. 

[Abraxus]

*EDIT*  This pertains more specifically to the costumes obtained via the Halloween Event, rather than regular costume slots.

Nothing more than creating a few extra power trays to display them, in case I feel like playing with them.  When they expire, the trays appear empty, then get deleted.  It's kind of like the holiday itself.  It gets closer, and we celebrate its impending arrival by participating in the events surrounding it.  Then, when the holiday is over, the remnants of it disappear quickly, and we move on to the next holiday, and the next event.  I don't get too attached, or try to weave these abilities into the fabric of my characters.  But, that said, I sure do enjoy the process!

Edited October 2, 2019 by Abraxus

[Oubliette_Red]

So far I have created only 1 alternate costume, on one of my characters, combat outfit and 1 civilian outfit.

Typically, my characters have their 'working' outfit, then multiple civilian outfits.

I have friends I play with regularly and some of them will change outfits between missions, never repeating the same one. 🙂

I had a character on Legacy that had her 'hero-ing' outfit and all the other slots filled with night-clubbing outfits.

[oxmox]

In case I get tired of the original outfit or come up with another concept for the character or improvement on the original design. I usually end up with 2 or 3 costumes per character.

[Extor Prime]

Slot 1: Classic costume that I wear the most.

Slot 2: same classic costume but without a cape. Worn when fighting indoors or generally in cramped quarters so that the cape doesn't get caught on stuff or get grabbed in melee.

Slot 3. Praetorian costume. Slightly altered version of the classic (same gloves, boots and pauldrons, but based around Ulterior rather than Justice set. I love these two sets). Worn when doing Incarnate stuff or going to Praetorian Earth. Or when I want a little variety.

Slot 4. Praetorian costume without cape, see above.

Slot 5. Centurion costume. Worn when working in Cimerora so as not to freak out the locals too much.

Slot 6. Mystic/"Mage" costume, IDK why I made it, but if we ever get a medieval setting of some kind, I'll wear it there. Right now I wear it as my Halloween costume.

Slot 7. Armored costume. Full-on enclosed tech looking armor set. Worn in hostile environments such as sewers or in spess. Not that it matters because my character is an energy being and he doesn't really need to breathe. But might as well look the part, you know?

Slot 8. Arachnos operative. A knock-off of Arbiter get-up, along with the spider helmet. Worn when working in Rogue Isles (I'm a vigilante).

Slot 9. Casual wear (black trousers, boots, black shirt with my favorite dark red skinny tie, trenchcoat, aviators to cover my glowing eyes and a cowboy hat). Admittedly a bit edgelord due to being almost all-black, but generally elicits positive feedback.

Slot 10. Formal. Black suit, dark red tie, boots, cowboy hat, aviators (I like cowboy hats and aviators, alright?).

Edited October 2, 2019 by Extor Prime

[Tahliah]

It depends on the toon, but on my main, I have the blueside/redside costumes, a swim suit (for swimming with sharks and other watersports like "surfing" on my hoverboard), a Halloween costume, a "holiday" and a winter costume, a "legacy" costumes (she was my first toon on live so her first costume was pretty awful, but I love it for nostalgia's sake) and a couple that are just different because I play her a lot and sometimes want something new to look at.  Heh.

 

I don't usually do risque costumes (nothing against them, I don't mind them on other people's toons and have seen some awesome ones; it's just not me), BUT I did do one that was rather . . . unclothed on a robot MM.  As it turned out, I was going to be running with someone who had his/her kids playing, and I felt that it would be best if I had a family-friendly costume for her.  So off I went to get that 'bot some clothes on. 

 

On alts, I rarely have more than one or two costumes unless I play them a lot and decide they need a new look for some reason. 

[Tahliah]

Just now, Extor Prime said:

Slot 2: same classic costume but without a cape. Worn when fighting indoors or generally in cramped quarters so that the cape doesn't get caught on stuff or get grabbed in melee.

Oh, this!  I have a couple of winged toons that I use a costume slot to de-wing them for cramped maps.

[quixoteprog]

As other people have said my alternate costume slot is mainly to accommodate cramped instance maps. In my case, though, I usually have one slot with a micro version of my guy that is as small as he could be made. I usually don't change the appearance otherwise. Might be fun to have a slot with a helmet on/off thing for those with helmets.

 

I'm not enough of an RPer to be interested in "casual wear". If there were some sort of game effect to it, like your aggro distance was smaller if you were "blending in with the civilian population" I'd probably go through the time to make up something for that.

 

There are a lot of costume possibilities that this game just never touches.  Maybe if the interface were more user friendly I'd do more with it, but it takes so, so much more time to pick out and assemble all the pieces than I am willing to spend.

Edited October 2, 2019 by quixoteprog

[Trademarked Name]

1. Streetware/Secret Identity/day-job/uniform. (One of my alts, Monkey, has a "flying monkey" outfit his boss has him wear. She's a real witch.)
2. Evil/parallel universe/doppleganger: Same exact costume wearing a handle bar mustache and/or goatee. (Would LOVE it if I could put a mustache on a helmet)
3. Winged or caped version of toon that you Bind to your fly or hover power with toggle cmd. (they cast a spell/become blessed/mechanically transform/mutate and temporarily are granted wings).
4. Some toons need 2 versions. Teen girl who transforms into a giant robot or grotesque monster is a favorite I like to see.
5. Go to facemaker and do a slot with same costume but opposite sex. "Oh crud! I put on that girdle of femininity/masculinity again......I'd be upset, but it looks incredible with these boots!"
6. A costume slot for different levels? You started off your crime-fighting/vigilante career wearing a hoodie and welding goggles, but you got street wiser and scrimped and saved enough to eventually buy some spandex. Then you got into that supergroup which has a R&D division and now you've got body armor! (When you exemplar down, you can revert your appearance to the hoodie/goggles).
7. All-black/dk grey/dk purple colors?......STEALTH SUIT.
8. All colors White and light greys: 1920's film noir outfit.
9. Back to facemaker:  Shrunk down or giant sized version of your normal self. (Magic potion? Shrinking/grow suit? Evil villain hit you with an de-aging ray! Eeevil!)
10. And the number 1 use for alternate costume slots....COSPLAY. Boom! There it is. Don't tell me you didn't see it coming.

[AboveTheChemist]

I don't alternate costumes during gameplay nor do I really worry about having a "civilian clothes" version. If I find I dislike a costume before level 10 I might use a slot or two coming up with a better design. Otherwise, my general pattern is to stick with their costume until either level 30ish (which is when I upgrade them to IO sets), or level 50, at which point I might slightly modify their existing costume. The exceptions are my two Live server characters that I re-created on Homecoming. One character's costume was recreated exactly and I haven't changed it, but with the other I completely updated her costume at 50. In the case of the latter, hers was the very first costume I ever created and while it holds some sentimental value, I felt like she deserved an updated look at 50, since she never made it to 50 on Live.

 

I do quite like the idea of making a smaller version of oneself for more confined missions. I may try that out.

[PSLAnimal]

I never run out of gag costume ideas.  My main, PSLAnimal, was notorious back in the day on server events for his 1970s powder-blue leisure suit.  And, at the recurring Talos Island beach parties, he always wore a pink Speedo.

 

I could easily fill up another dozen costume slots.

[Sidious]

I play a Sentai most often so it tends to go:

1. Normal

2. Sentai

3. Powered up Sentai (think Dragon Shield)

4. Super Sentai

5. Black Ops Sentai

6. Oni Sentai

7. Living shadow Sentai

8. Mecha

9. Celestial Sentai

10. Not a clue but it's gonna be fun designing it.

Edited October 2, 2019 by Sidious

[Chuckers]

I've used one slot for an aura that I want when soloing but might get too annoying in a team situation. 

[Echo Night]

On the character I'm currently leveling (Hollows Darkborn,) he is a demon with his normal costume and then the rest are victims he has possessed through out his lifetime which spans centuries.

Edited October 2, 2019 by Echo Night

[JetMalakai]

Usually two or more causal outfits, one formal outfit, and one swimsuit. I have one who wears a fantasy-military coat over light armor, and I have three variations of that: with the coat, without the coat, and one where the coat is shredded to look like battle damage.

[Nafsmar]

Man I must be an oddball  because I rarely if ever make multiple costumes for my characters. I try to get it just right at creation and just stick with it. Guess my imagination needs an imagination!

[biostem]

6 hours ago, Wild Claw said:

So out of curiousity, what do you do with the alternate costume slots for your characters, normally?

A lot has to do with the character's concept.  For instance, my current "main" character started out as a member of a paramilitary organization.  Her initial costume was very much in line with a typical military uniform.  As time went on, and she "loosened up" a bit more, her costumes became more casual.  My more technical-oriented characters tend to take the "Iron Man Approach", in that they'll have a basic suit, a covert ops one, an aquatic one, etc.  Other characters will update their appearance to reflect their growth in power or for RP reasons...

[Call Me Awesome]

7 hours ago, Wild Claw said:

So out of curiousity, what do you do with the alternate costume slots for your characters, normally?

 

Personally, I usually have one alter-ego/civilian casual wear, one civilian formal wear, and a supergroup version of the regular costume (because the colors never work right from costume item to costume item).

 

Depending on the character I might have also have a clubbing costume, and a formal costume version. If the character tends to side-switch a lot: an alternate good/evil costume. And that's about when I start to run out of ideas for an individual character unless they're that one shapeshifter faerie I keep rerolling.

 

So what kind of alternate costumes do you run?

As a general rule, nothing.  A very few characters have an alternate costume but mostly the slots are ignored.

 

Back on Live in the old Hami raiding days we frequently had a "theme" party on Guardian and I'd play with costumes then.  I recall CMA had a "Sgt Pepper" beach party outfit with bright colors, tall military hat and a speedo for tanking Hami on Beach Party day.  This was way back before the Hami change when it was a social event as much as a raid and a good time was had by all.

[Charistoph]

With my Main here, there's the original version's sets which were set up as his "street beat" version, and then made some more based on his experiences, including a "magic" version and a "Justice" formal set.

 

The Homecoming version has a different setup with some homages, but then, his powers are different (original was Stone Armor/Energy Melee, HC is Shield Defense/Stone Melee).  His adventures have lead him to that certain Praetorian zone, so he has a Resistance set and Praetorian Police set to "blend in".  That's where he is at now, so we'll see where he ends up.

 

My Peacebringer is a bit different.  I made him to look like a slightly disheveled survivor of Galaxy City for his initial costume, but with some power, like energy wings, showing.  Then I set up him with some variations of his power to grow in to.

 

That's all I've done so far, but I'm not in the habit of adding costumes until they get out of Steel Canyon, for some rather historical reasons.  One I've been thinking of for an old character was to have him transform with one of his mega-buffs, ala Super-Saiyan, then go in to a "powered-down" costume at the buff's end.  The character's created and gotten out of Praetoria, so we'll see if he gets to that point.

[Aracknight]

My Scrapper's (blueside) main costume is fairly basic, black and white colors and an official-style belt, all tights no cape.

 

Then I have a Vanguard variant (purple and gray) with the Vanguard symbol on my chest for when I do MSRs, a red and white Longbow costume when I'm feeling especially heroic or like trolling bad guy npc's when I adventure redside.  After that is a variant of my main costume with Cimeroran armor, helmet, and cape over it for ITFs, and then a civilian casual outfit.

 

Row 2 starts with a red and black variant of my main for when I side switch and go badging redside when I finish blue.  After that I intend to make a Santa style suit over my main costume for the winter holidays, a shredded battle-damaged version of my main, an armored-style costume for when things Get Serious, and I'll leave the last slot open for trying new pieces or just as something to keep open for a costume or theme party.  Or a really basic dark costume for Hami raids.  I read that somewhere that helped lag.

 

Suddenly feels like less options, now that I describe it more, heh.

[SaintD]

Every time I open costume customization my alternate costume slots briefly remind me of their existence by forcing me to click on my main costume slot to modify it depending on my whim for that day or week.

What I personally do, is ignore them.

[EmeraldFox]

Well i got one slot for civilian.  Other slots I thought id be inspired by the bat and am working on costumes for differnt rp situations for my hero.  Ive allready got a stealth suit designed and am working on ideas for say a winter camo costume and trying to come up with ideas for otehrs