Favorite Homage?

[Techwright]

On 11/23/2023 at 9:12 AM, drgantz said:

I also usually prefer original concepts.  Most of mine are original and some are punny parodies.  My Al Bundy homage is my only real  homage, but since Al wasn't a superhero, I added a humorous backstory to make him one.

 

There's room for both in this game, so long as the rules are followed.  If I were recommending to a new player, I'd say build a few unique characters to begin with, and work on a homage down the road when one is more skilled in the character designer and has had time to think about it in context of the rules.  Not harping on the rules so much as trying to keep the next sap from the frustration and sorrow of having his/her creation genericized.  Been there, done that early in the OG.

 

Besides, good homages can be a blast.  Surely there's a trio of players at some point out there running around in cardinal red attire (maybe one with an aviator's hat), dropping in on people and declaring "Nobody expects the..."

[High_Beam]

9 hours ago, Techwright said:

Surely there's a trio of players at some point out there running around in cardinal red attire (maybe one with an aviator's hat), dropping in on people and declaring "Nobody expects the..."

German Expressionist Movement?

[momentarygrace]

I did several on live quite innocently, until I was clued in that it was verboten, though I don't think any were exact clones some were darn close.

 

One of the first was an exact copy, visual and name but not powers since this character's powers could not be created in this game.

 

Yomiko Readman - The Paper, from Read or Die

 

Never generic'd, I suspect the likelihood of anyone recognizing her was vanshing small, too obscure.

 

She was renamed and remade as an elec/elec blaster without her signature outfit.

[Mopery]

The ones that don't get Gen'd, always...

[cranebump]

Forgot about this before, but I did steal a costume idea from this guy:

Kept the basic color scheme, but my guy (Souler) doesn't show off his gams like that. Also gave mine gloves. 

 

FYI: this character was repurposed as this guy for the Brit audience:

 

(aka Marvelman), and both of them were inspired by this guy:

 

Everything is an homage, to an extent (I am a part of all I have met). Direct copies? Another story. 

 

Oh, and off subject, but here's something:

How not to draw a natural-looking figure. It's like we were using a not-fully-posable doll as a model. Either that, or hombre's been riding bareback for hours and hours in his civvie guise.

[Skyhawke]

I'd just like to point out that Supercoat is paradoxically the best and worst superhero name, ever. 

[cranebump]

11 hours ago, Skyhawke said:

I'd just like to point out that Supercoat is paradoxically the best and worst superhero name, ever. 

Not to mention the whole super clothes family. Superpants. Supersocks. Supersupportgarment.:-)

[ZemX]

On 11/23/2023 at 2:39 AM, Scarlet Shocker said:

I fundamentally dislike "homages"

 

I'm with you on that.  Maybe someone really is just trying to "pay respect" to a favorite character from some other media but... tomato... tom-ah-toe.   It ends up looking the same from the outside as any lazy copy anyone else did and that means reporting and GMs having to go judge whether you crossed the line or not when their limited volunteer time could be better spent.

 

Parody is both safer and more respected and (usually) not a copyright violation if you must base a character on some other copyright work.  If I see someone with a clever pun/parody that is different enough from the original concept, I have a much more positive reaction.  

[Without_Pause]

The closest thing to a homage is something so far from it people won't pick up on it. My namesake here was originally a Claws/regen but never made generic due to the name being so different and being a female. I didn't even know X-23 was a thing at that point, and again, she doesn't look that much like her. I've looked at doing Hulk like characters, but I would pick a different skin color and outfit to where no one really thinks of the Hulk when they see the character. I've done American styled heroes, but never to the point of being a Cap wanna be.

[PLVRIZR]

Original 2004 Retail (pre-Issue 1) player, here, so of course I had a Claws/Regen scrapper...like every other player who started a Wolverine homage, only to be genericized.

Edited November 28, 2023 by PLVRIZR

[biostem]

I have a dual pistols/ninjitsu sentinel named "The Umbral Hawk", who is an homage to "The Shadow". 

[ZemX]

16 hours ago, PLVRIZR said:

Original 2004 Retail (pre-Issue 1) player, here, so of course I had a Claws/Regen scrapper...like every other player who started a Wolverine homage, only to be genericized.

 

The Live devs had to know what kind of mess they were getting their GMs into when they designed claws and regen powers into a superhero game.

[BrandX]

On 11/21/2023 at 6:17 AM, drgantz said:

Do you have a favorite homage toon?

What is its name, AT and powersets?  Is there anything else interesting about that toon?

 

You might guess from my profile pic that I have a homage to Al Bundy.  He is a StJ/WP Brute.

I originally named him Al Bundy, but that got generic'd.  Then, I changed his name to Touchdown Bundy.  That lasted about 2 years, and then got generic'd.

I then changed his name to Touchdown Hero and changed his background story to make him younger and to live in Paragon City instead of Chicago.

Here is his background story:

 

 I'm the greatest athlete, after all I played High School Football and scored 4 touchdowns in a single game, winning the 1996 Championship for Statesman High School. Unfortunately, my football career ended due to a career ending marriage.  I married a lazy redhead, had two worthless kids and spent the rest of my life selling women's shoes. One day, I was hungry after work and I knew that my wife wasn't going to cook anything, so I stopped at a restaurant, hoping to get some food from the trash. After I walked in, a guy walked in with a gun and said this was a robbery. I didn't want to wait for the police, because then I would miss Hondo again. He then pointed his gun at my face. If someone puts something in my face it had better be food, so I brought out the Marines and Special Forces (my fists) and pummelled him into the ground. The restaurant then gave me a free meal and I was on the news. I realized that I could get used to this, so now I am a superhero.

 

Honestly, I would wonder why Touchdown Bundy would get hit with generic.

[Without_Pause]

1 hour ago, ZemX said:

 

The Live devs had to know what kind of mess they were getting their GMs into when they designed claws and regen powers into a superhero game.

They did Super Strength with Invulnerability and an Epic to have Laser Beam Eyes. They ran towards that mess. 

[Skyhawke]

56 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

They did Super Strength with Invulnerability and an Epic to have Laser Beam Eyes. They ran towards that mess. 

 

Then someone said "Hey, let's do Shields" and all the GMs started banging their heads on their desks.

[Seed22]

On 11/22/2023 at 8:09 AM, Excraft said:

Are homages allowed now?  I had thought they were verboten. 

Homages have always been allowed. Problem with CoH players is that a lot take homage to mean direct copy, so they get rightfully genericed to the point where I think it would be beneficial for someone to pin a message with the literal dictionary definition of what homage means.

[lemming]

My favorite easily recognized homage that got Generic'd was Heltor Skeletor.    Costume was a little too spot on. 😄

 

And my Claws/Regen Scrapper that was on live, not a wolverine clone, more a homage to Hell Cat, though also from 20 years as a champions character.

[Excraft]

On 11/30/2023 at 12:45 PM, Seed22 said:

Homages have always been allowed. Problem with CoH players is that a lot take homage to mean direct copy, so they get rightfully genericed to the point where I think it would be beneficial for someone to pin a message with the literal dictionary definition of what homage means.

 

Problem is and always has been that what is or isn't an "homage" differs greatly between players.  I think it safe to say most everyone can agree on what a direct copy is.  See the above post as an example.  I've personally seen others who are definitely not direct copies get reported and genericized while other groups are allowed to have flagrant ripoffs INCLUDING copyrighted names and still be allowed to keep them.  All depends on who you know here.

[Azari]

Foxy, tribute to the legendary hero Punchy. (Many variations. First one was Energy Melee/Regen PVP scrapper. Also have dark/temporal blaster, empathy/psi defender, spines/fire brute, and a few other versions.)

Edited January 5 by Azari

[High_Beam]

You know what's better than an homage?

 

[BastionWalls]

Dammit, @High_Beam, look what you made me do

Omelette du Homage-Traps/Beam Defender

[DoctorDitko]

My most shameless homage was a Zatanna-esque magic user named Anna Taz.

Her origin was as a small-time stage magician who was mistakenly kidnapped by the Circle for use in one of their spells. Her exposure to the mighty magical forces filled her up, rather than emptying her out.

 

Her battle cry was:

 

Ydorap emoceb tnemgnirfni!

or was it:

Tnemgnirfni emoceb ydorap!

 

(I can't remember whether Zatanna's spells were reversed word-by-word, or by whole sentence.)

 

I seldom play her, but so far she's survived!

 

Edited January 6 by DoctorDitko

[Doc_Scorpion]

Very much an IYKYK kinda thing...  But chatted with this individual on Excelsior last night...  Spot on Kirito (Sword Art Online) homage/parody.

Edited January 7 by Doc_Scorpion

[Scarlet Shocker]

am I the only one who wants to answer "Stilton, Brie or a very mature Cheddar"? to this thread?

[Healix]

LOLOL...favorite fromage