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

[_NOPE_]

PK is inspired by those "optimistic scientists" of the silver age of comic books - Mister Fantastic, The Flash, Hank Pym. Those that were confident that knowledge and learning would open new doors and improve things for everyone. That same concept is what the whole character is based on - along with stealing metaphysical concepts from the Ender's Game novels by Orson Scott Card, of course. 😉

[Gobbledygook]

I realize I'm late to the party, but I wann join!

My first toon was inspired by my favorite character.

That's a lie, I totally ripped him off from Marvel.

Can you guess who?

Give you a clue, he was a Claws/Reg scrapper. I knew better than to mimic the name or costume though. It is my current screen name though. He was my favorite, until the great Regen nerf.

 

My second second favorite toon I ever made, and one I am about to re-roll, oce I decide on a suitable alternative for energy melee, I drew inspiration from different areas. Having always been a fan of Superboy (Kon-El), I altered his origin a bit to make him the clone of Statesman. Of course, just like with Superboy, they couldn't completely replicate his D.N.A. as it had been effected by the well. They used the remaining genetic material from what they thought was a Portal Corp. lab, but actually turned out to be from a Paragon Protector.

[Myrmidon]

Before The Snap, the original concept for the Myrmidon was a mystical version of the Kryptonian. After all, most of us wouldn’t mind being like the most well-known superhero of all time and the concept fit.

 

Now that we have a slightly different reality after The Snap was reversed, the concept has morphed into something closer to either Dr. Fate or Doctor Strange; a master of the mystic arts.

 

 

Raven Mortus, my Dark/Dark Scrapper (the first character that I ever played) was modeled more along the lines of the Crow, which is one of my favorite character concepts.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Myrmidon

[Scarlet Shocker]

Despite having had a love of superhero comics for 50 years now, having first read British reprints of Marvel comics back in 1970, I've never felt the need to pull my inspiration from the MCU or any other source. I guess having a reasonably fertile and creative imagination I've always managed to enjoy my own characters without pulling them from other sources. I will admit I've dabbled with "tributes" (aping looks and powers of comic characters) but honestly they never last long. I find that with my own creation I can invest my own back story and emotions inthem which I simply can't with somebody else's character

[Bill Z Bubba]

Bill Z Bubba was always a Wolvie clone. Cigar, bad attitude, claws. Only went super reflexes instead of regen way back when because it sounded cooler.

 

And it is. 🙂

[Heraclea]

Heraclea at the outset was heavily indebted to Wonder Woman, and that's still her classic look.  My Wonder Woman and DC fandom died during the New 52, but the inspiration of the character remains the same.   Almost all of my Torchbearer characters share a basic backstory as women who are either from an island of Latin-speaking Roman Amazons, or who were recruited by them from Paragon City or elsewhere.  As such they are mostly originals, with only a few tribute characters like She-Ro.  There are a lot more mythological and folklore characters (Omphale, Penthesilea, Medeia, Vanth Rasnal, Potnia Theron, Belphoebe, Carracuca, Catrina, Pomba Gira) and music or music-history homages (Plaster Caster, Janitor of Lunacy) than superhero homages in that roster. 

 

There are also allusions to in game lore (Crey Proctologist, Arbiter Friendly) and a few puns (Ann Atomic, Grandma Gnosis, Maiden Heaven) in the Amazon roster. 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2020 by Heraclea

[The Fifth Horseman]

Silver Spartan: This guy actually began as an Iron Man ripoff design-wise, except I wanted to make him look "original" enough that he'd avoid getting generic'd. Tony Stark had a suit called the Silver Centurion, and playing around with loose associations got me to think of an entry from an old contest on Cracked ... and the Silver Spartan was born, with a name that instantly lent itself to a design theme (but then his backstory was your bog-standard military sci-fi fare with a small reference to HALO).

 

Engine Jean: It all began with a costume design inspired by... Samus Aran? Now, Jeannie doesn't look much like Samus, neither in armor nor out of it - the original inspiration was this piece of fanart, which for whatever reason I had the idea to color in blue and purple and then adapt in COH's costume editor into Maxie Machine . Then when trying to come up with a backstory I took a loose inspiration from the original team of Thunderbolts (villains create heroic personas to infiltrate the superhero community... only to eventually change sides for real), cue backstory and pallette swap to something looking more "heroic". 

 

"Booster Angel" / Athena 2.0 : Her entire universe was strongly inspired by Bubblegum Crisis, and she is a member of the local analogue to the Knight Sabers (echoing Priss in particular, although you wouldn't immediately see it from her costume). The major difference is that the line is a lot more blurred since not only the "heroes" are not human themelves - not just because both themselves and the "villains" are bioroid super-soldiers (directly inspired by Dark Angel - anyone remember that series?), but also the "heroes" are acting on the megacorp's behalf rather than fighting it. 

 

 

[GM Miss]

Hey guys! 

 

I love hearing about your inspiration for your characters. We just ask that you keep in mind that your characters don't feature any copyrighted content in their names, costumes, or descriptions. 

 

Happy Hunting! 

[RagabashMoon]

I have a character based on the stripper from the movie B***h Slap.  Her name is changed of course, but her costumes are similar to the outfits the stripper wears in the movie lol (as for them being copyrighted, I don't really see how a shiny gold dress that has existed in the game for years is 'copyrighted' is it?)

Let's see then my character Queen of Spades I actually created like 36 years ago in the old TSR Marvel Super Heroes Advanced game.  I first made her back on the Virtue server and I have a few screenshots of her hanging out in Gemini Park with Ghost Widow (one of the devs logged in as and RPing Ghost Widow) and Ascendant (a very famous player who I'm sure you all know who he is, he is missed) on the final days of the live servers.

[CursedSorcerer]

Well, let's see if you can name this Nintendo character that inspired this costume design...

[Rathulfr]

My primary inspiration was a certain alcoholic billionaire who invented a fancy suit out of scrap metal to keep himself alive and escape his captors.

 

@GM Miss: is that good enough for you?  😉

[Blastit]

I'm not really inspired by any one character. Closest was when I gave a guy chainmail paints and thought of it as his sort of "reverse Aquaman" suit. He had stone powers.

 

Usually I go for a clean, classic superhero look. Two main colours, an accent or two, maybe a neutral colour for a belt or boots. I also like making costumes that represent a character through different eras and genres of comics. Lately, though, I've been inspired by the more limited colour palette of early print comics. Using three different shades of red is still just a solid red suit but it isn't truly monotonous. I'm also making a lot more costumes without shirts or that are pretty much a pair of battle panties a lá Namor. Very pulpy Spaceman Homo Superior sort of deal. I'm also fairly inspired by He-Man and his friends and adversaries. They're very nude, very beefy and often inexplicable. You don't need a name or power theme for which a bull head would make sense, sometimes a dude just has one.

[Spotlore]

Hawkeye.  My character uses guns, but he is inspired by Hawkeye.  He has no powers.  Only skill and determination, and a little tech.  😛 

[Gremlin]

I love CoH but I'm not interested in comics and I don't find the concept of superheroes very interesting. Not surprisingly my toons aren't inspired by super heroes. On the other hand, I read lots of Sci Fi and Fantasy but none of my toons come from there either. I guess it never occurs to me to do that. Mind you, the back stories etc for my toons rarely end up the way I expect. Finding out who they are is part of the fun.

[cranebump]

Acrobattle (staff.ninjutsu) former SPOPS who walked out of his tour with some high tech body armor and that staff. I bought all sorts of temp powers, grenades, taser, etc. He’s a street level, neighborhood-based hero, a lot like a certain blind dude in red who patrols Hell’s Kitchen.

 

Major Viktory (SJ/WP) fell on a grenade to save his WWII comrades. His powers manifested then. He’s been a part of the supe scene ever since. Red costume base with white star in blue field on his chest. Wanna guess his comic book analogue?

 

Glogre (Rad/SS) is the result of a Soviet experiment. He’s not green, and he’s a brilliant hacker, but otherwise, he’s your basic “me smash!” guy.

 

Gym Beam (BR/SR) has an alien ship crash on his ranch in Texas. Recovered a weapon that also confers powers on its wielder whenever used (making him the only character I have that uses the slide sprint). Gym is based on the pun name, of course, but also an homage to my native state (which having moved away 3 years ago, I can honestly say I do not miss—hate the constant heat).

 

I love Busiek’s Astro City, esp the Silver Agent and Blue Knight (I think it was). But I have never attempted homages (thus, I feel I can mention them by name here). 

Edited March 28, 2020 by cranebump

[Herotu]

On 2/17/2020 at 1:50 PM, Gulbasaur said:

So... whose design has influenced your design?

More than anybody else? The other players! 😄 TRUE heroes!

[Extor Prime]

My main has always been a dime-store Green Lantern. I like constructs, what can I say.