On the Shoulders of Giants - Which superheroes have influenced your character creation?

[Gulbasaur]

I have a few heavily "Inspired By X" characters. They're not quite Clawverine, Eye-clops, Feline Female or the Incredible Bulk, but I've definitely cribbed a little bit from character design over the years in homage to characters I think are great for one way or another. 

 

Mother Blight, my rad/rad brute, is quite heavily influenced by the visual design of Mother Panic (a great little DC short run that sits on the extreme edge of the Bat-family - gets a little bit edgelord in places, but the rest is so good you forgive it). 

 

Corona Borealis, my dark/dark tanker, is basically DC's Apollo in backstory, but as an imitation Kheldian instead of an imitation Kryptonian. (Also, you should read the 2016 Midnighter and Apollo; it's a love story where someone punches a train golem and someone else headbutts a bullet into a demon's head  and also talks a bit about the morality of super-heroics as well as being the most fan-service thing I've ever read without it detracting from the plot). I've done as many of the effects (soul noir is unexpectedly good in bright colours) and auras (glowy fists and eyes) as I can to be as Kheld-a-like as possible. 

 

Doctor Fortune, my fortunado, is a homage to 90s X-Men with spandex and a trench coat. (His doctorate in is architecture - all Paragon City architects are secretly working for Arachnos, which explains their counter-intuitive layouts.) 

 

So... whose design has influenced your design?

[SeraphimKensai]

I have a Psi/SR stalker that I have a costume inspired by DC's Azrael, unique enough though to make it different.

 

Otherwise most of all of my toons are unique in bio, but the costumes are limited to what we can make.

[Dreamboat]

Most of my characters are heavily inspired by tokusatsu heroes (and in one case, villain). Mainly Metal Heroes, but there's a couple of Ultramen in there too (the first of those was the first character I ever made when Torchbearer started up), one Lion-Maru, one Sentai red I never play, one vaguely Janperson-esque...

The other big influence is Tatsunoko's old cartoons. There's one stalker that was heavily influenced by Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets, a tank inspired by Tekkaman, and my main character, Hissatsuman, is visually a completely shameless rip of Hurricane Polymar. I am not a creative man.

It's very rare that I stray outside of Technology origin.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Dreamboat

[Luminara]

Surprisingly, none, despite my interest in several comic book heroes.  My characters were always designed around a specific costume piece which sparked a new concept.  Co* actually pulled me out of comic book hero obsessions and drove me to explore my creative side.

[Shred Monkey]

I have an Interdimensional Bounty Hunter.  It's not a coincidence that this idea came to me after watching the Mandalorian.  But all my toons actually start with a build concept.  The backstory concepts and costumes solidify later as I level up.

[Snarky]

Howard the Duck. I still remember being one of the only white kids in an El Paso Jr High School and discovering this gem at the local store.  The influence to embrace the different and roll with it was priceless. Nice to see him in Avengers

[Gulbasaur]

9 minutes ago, Shred Monkey said:

But all my toons actually start with a build concept.  The backstory concepts and costumes solidify later as I level up.

I'm about 50-50 on this. 

 

I love Peacebringers, but sadly they were the first casualties in the power creep arms race. In the early days of Live (we're talking pre-CoV here), their versatility brought genuine value to teams and their visual effects are easily my favourite in the whole game. My tanker literally started as "what can I make look like a peacebringer?" and oddly dark/dark with Soul Noir effects is really close. I've just rolled a Praetorian kheld-a-like scrapper who I might reroll as a stalker. 

 

My current storm/water defender came about because someone said storm does lot of -res and someone else said it needs a lot of recharge and water is thematically appropriate and a very proc-friendly (for recharge and endurance). My costume process was "I don't know, a wizard?" and then Storm Lantern was born. 

 

My Duchess of Droids literally came about because I wanted an old woman with a cigar hanging out of her mouth in a tweed jacket and the robots seemed the most feasible accessory. 

[VileTerror]

Another "none" here.  I'm not here because of comic books.  I'm here because City of Heroes is awesome in its own right!  The semi-modern aesthetic with the (as of 2004, and frankly . . . still true even today!) unprecedented level of customization and personal ownership of the characters we make are what drew me in and kept me invested!

 

The closest thing to a character who was based on an existing intellectual property was, ironically, my main villainess:  Commandant Nongratis.  I was largely inspired by Commandant Grayza from Farscape, but also a little by The Black Queen, Great Tyrant of Sogo from the Barbarella film, and made a bit of a parody character on the CoV Beta.  However!  Mercs/Traps is an amazingly engaging Power Set combination for me, and my attempt at a tongue-in-cheek character outfit design ended up making me very popular with other players  . . .  I wound up with a densely populated Villain Group for the first few months, and got me hooked on roleplaying.

 

But as far as comic books?  Nope.  As far as I'm concerned, City of Heroes transcends that medium!

[Abraxus]

My main, Abraxus (pictured in my avatar picture) was heavily influenced by a mixture of Moon Knight for appearance, and the various heralds of Galactus for a backstory.

Edited February 17, 2020 by Abraxus

[merrypessimist]

I'm not really comic influenced for character design.  Though now having read this thread I have an idea for a claw/sr detective character who's the bastard cross of Sherlock Holmes and Wolverine called Cluevarine.

 

Battlecry/catchphrase: Elementary, Bub! snickt!

Edited February 18, 2020 by merrypessimist
expansion

[TheOtherTed]

I only have two.  Lee Three, a super-spy working for an agency that's so secret even I don't know what it's called, is a direct fusion of Melinda May from "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and any of the main characters in "The Heroic Trio" (ok, not a comic - sue me).  I realized after watching both that the one thing missing from my MMO life was a character who could kick arse in painfully awkward heels.

 

The second started as a name only - The Paralegal.  I couldn't think of a concept to save my life, until I played one of those other superhero MMOs.  Suddenly I realized that the name was the answer to the question, what would Zatanna have become if she'd gone into law instead of show business?

 

Other than that, I did have a couple of characters who were accidental knock-offs of some comic or other.  I deleted one as soon as I realized what he was, and the other I was too invested in by the time an SG mate pointed it out ("so, basically, Wonder Woman, but with a bow and actual clothing").  I also have several characters who would fit just fine in the Gotham universe, and one who would make perfect sense in a Luke Cage comic, but, again, not intentionally.

[Chris24601]

Honestly, my biggest influence on hero creation is probably "Sky High."

 

My first hero on live was the grandson and third in a legacy of superheroes based on an old tabletop RPG character I ran.

 

Most of my later toons similarly followed the pattern of "Young hero comes into their own." It just feels tailor made for the 1-50 journey.

 

I'm also particularly fond of using in-universe lore for concepts. I hooked off the Nictus having been in ancient Egypt to write a PB hero whose past host was mistaken by the ancient Egyptians for the god Ra. 

 

Come Homecoming and the nebulous "seven year gap" gave me some other fun opportunities. Given his Batman/Green Arrow pastiche nature, it seemed obvious that my Archery/Tac Arrow Blaster should be one of Manticore's (pre-Sister Psyche) many illegitimate kids (think Connor Hawke or Damien Wayne). Those extra eight years mean an unknown love child from a one-night stand just before the Rikti War could be 18 by now. Given Manticore's penchant for calling your PC "kid" or similar diminutives and questioning your accomplishments/decisions in the missions where he turns up (or in the Shining Stars that you're the only one he's vetted enough to trust), it feels just like you'd expect the relationship with an estranged illegitimate kid following in his footsteps to feel.

 

So yeah... "Sky High" is probably my biggest influence on character concepts.

[Gulbasaur]

4 hours ago, VileTerror said:

But as far as comic books?  Nope.  As far as I'm concerned, City of Heroes transcends that medium!

Honestly, City of Heroes is probably the reason I read comics now. I didn't read them at all back in the day... and now I have a standing order at my local comic book shop.

[Rathulfr]

Iron Man and Superman are the templates for most of my heroes.  I don't really have one for villains: just whatever feels right, concept-wise.

 

[Sakura Tenshi]

Bullette Hell is basically female Giovanni Potage from Epithet Erased.

 

 

[Locsmith]

Most of my characters are ‘reality’ based.  They use swords or some kind of gun.  I decided to go the opposite way and built a Psi/Fire blaster.  I went with a female form and gave her a red an orange costume and red hair.  Called her Mind-Fire.  Was so proud of myself!

Spent about three minutes in Atlas Park before some one chatted me “Nice Phoenix clone.”

...

Damn.  It.

[Dreamboat]

1 hour ago, Chris24601 said:

Honestly, my biggest influence on hero creation is probably "Sky High."

I love that movie!

 

3 hours ago, merrypessimist said:

I'm not really comic influenced for character design.  Though now having read this thread I have an idea for a claw/sr detective character who's the bastard cross of Sherlock Holmes and Wolverine called Cluevarine.

Now picturing Sabretooth calling him "Elementarunt".

[Haijinx]

I prefer the badass normal vigilante vibe ala Gothamesque scene. 

 

At least when they aren't going over the top making everyone olympic athletes with photographic memories and that BS.  

 

So my characters are inspired by that sort of mythos.  

 

[Lazarillo]

The "Lazarillo" character who shares my namesake was originally inspired by a P&P RPG character I made, who was, in turn, inspired by Kisuke Urahara from the manga series Bleach.  That said, there's not really any resemblance between the characters at all, since the P&P character was designed around 2004-ish, long before a lot of the inspiring character's major character development/revelations.  And the transition of my own character has also been...significant.  But way, way, way back in the day, that's where the seed was technically planted.

[Techwright]

I tend to like heroes of the pulp, serial movie, and radio genres of the 20s, 30s, and 40s.  So my main toons are loosely influenced by them

 

Cmdr Ray Gunn is influenced by the serial sci-fi movies and related comics of Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, King of the Rocketmen, etc.

 

Ace Barnstormer is influenced by the Rocketeer and Kato.

 

There is one other with a comic book influence.  Lesser Saint rad/rad corruptor was conceptually influenced by Desert Ghost (Xi'an Chi Xan) the little-remembered leader of the X-men 2099.  Desert Ghost had the powers of healing and destruction, one in each hand, a parallel to a rad/rad corruptors two power sets. 

[Aracknight]

10 hours ago, Snarky said:

Howard the Duck. I still remember being one of the only white kids in an El Paso Jr High School and discovering this gem at the local store.  The influence to embrace the different and roll with it was priceless. Nice to see him in Avengers

I'm from the 915.  Which jr high?

[Aracknight]

The Aracknight is somewhere between Spidey, Batman, and Snake-eyes.

[Charistoph]

Let's see, I have 3 that are definitely not totally representing the three tribes of Protoss, a person who's been granted power from the Green Isles who doesn't quite look like a Leprechaun, and one aborted attempt at trying to recreate Negaduck.   Then there's the Savage/Radioactive brute who has a costume which is a chained tiny Godzilla modification.

[RikOz]

Very few of my characters are directly inspired by any specific superhero, and sadly, my all-time favorite, Green Lantern, can't really be implemented anyway. Costume-wise, though, my comic fandom starts way back, and so the roots of most of my costume ideas start with the classic "tights". That's just what I see in my head when I think "superhero". My toons will make modifications as they level, represented in the different costume slots, but almost all of them have that "tights" costume sitting in the 1st or 2nd slot. Usually the 2nd slot, because the 1st slot is usually an "improvised" costume, homemade for when the character is first starting out. Then they get their professionally-made tights as soon as they have the "resources" (in RP headcanon, anyway) to replace the homemade suit. Thereafter, as they gain more resources and experience modifications are made.

 

As far as "concept", many of my characters start with inspiration from some non-superhero source, maybe from some other entertainment source, or maybe even from some random "joke" thought I have, and then my brain starts thinking about how I can translate that into "superhero". Two of my characters, for example, were inspired by TV shows I like. One is inspired by "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend", resulting in "Creyzee Ex", who is a former Crey employee, originally designed to look exactly like those martial arts-using, short-skirted, female Crey mobs. She was fired by Crey after claiming to be the Countess's lover (which, of course, the Countess denies). Another favorite show is "iZombie", so I rolled up eZombie - an escaped Vahzilok experiment with electrical powers. For a "joke" character, I thought, "How about a 'tribute character?" That ended up with a character who looks as much like Jack Black as I could make him. I dressed him like his wrestling character from Nacho Libre, named him "Mendacious D", and gave him a bio that reads, "This is the greatest superhero in the world. This is not a tribute."

[Idiotfool]

My main, Cartoon Man, has costumes of my favorite sword-wielding heroes from shows from my childhood. Lion-O, He-Man, Thundarr, Future Trunks, King Arthur, etc.

 

His nemesis, Sinnestar, is an amalgamation of the villains from those same cartoons. Put together Hordak, Skeletor, Mumm-ra, Monstar (Silverhawks), Wrath-Amon (Conan) and you get Sinnestar.

 

Most of my other characters are attempts at CoX lore-friendly designs. Ex-Longbow, Arachnos, etc.