Captain-Electric

Samuraiko's additional ending cut scene, for those of you who didn't see her post in the multimedia fan creation forum. I think of it as what happened in the seconds before my team and I showed up (we didn't leave his body).

Also check out my blurry new forum avatar, I used MS Paint to make a glowing Arachnos symbol on the ground look like an American flag.

Several other popular MMO news sites have also mentioned it.

1. Look at my signature.

2. Click the big link.

3. Sign your name, email address, zip code.

4. DONE in 60 seconds or less.

From my perspective, Statesman was "hurling himself at the mothership again." The biggest trap was Statesman's own arrogance. And that's not smack talk, this is a loss for me, but I prefer my characters to be "real" to me, and that means flawed. Statesman did what Statesman does, till the end. Salute! YMMV. And I'm sad not everyone enjoyed themselves; I wish I could bottle it up!

If you're an RPer and have the opportunity to do this IC, take it. It will be all the more epic. After a bit of fruitless attempts at revival, and shouting and yelling at the sky (just a little bit--we weren't that bad), and swearing murderous revenge, the eight of us came to our senses and committed to filling Statesman's shoes and upholding his principles. Years ago my namesake Captain-Electric was sort of "cursed" with a permanent sense of optimism after his science accident, so he doesn't often experience misery, but even he was grief stricken. One member of the team planted his shield in the ground where Statesman had fallen and laser-engraved a "last stand" message on it. Then Captain-Electric used his powers to solder it permanently to the earth and stone.

Then I took off my cape and draped it over the shield. Yes, I was prepared! Ha!

Some people hated it. I'm not speaking for them. I'm speaking for me, and what I observed in my SG's reactions. We were moved by it. Some members even became teary eyed! I don't know about epic, but I don't believe "epic" was the intention (that's for later ), but it was pretty damn moving. (DISCLAIMER: IN MY OPINION!)

Constructive feedback is good-- which includes constructive criticism. I'm sure I'll have more constructive feedback as time goes on. But the game still feels new, fresh and exciting for me...I may as well have started playing yesterday in that regard. How am I supposed to feel about it? For several years before I came to City of Heroes, about a decade actually, I wasn't able to stick with an MMO for more than three months. Two years into my subscription here, and I'm still moving through new storylines (written years ago for most of you) and major story arcs, still finding new things to like about old ones (old to me means I did it last year ), still smiling at their punchlines, still stumbling into new mission maps, still looking forward to never-before-seen zones, still meeting the most awesome teammates I've ever had the pleasure of getting to know, and still being surprised and impressed by player creations (I came in because of Issue 14, so it's been there since the start for me).

If loving City of Heroes is wrong, THEN I DON'T WANT TO BE RIGHT!!!

The worst part of it, for me, is the skill I've had to develop for "treading lightly" on the forums, a landmine field filled with spoilers; like a kind of "peripheral reading" Spider-sense, I'm getting better at knowing when to look away from a sentence or paragraph before I've read too much. Interestingly enough, I've begun to notice that it's often the extreme cynics who don't mind spoiling the game for everyone else--and will even make a special effort to do so--almost like they're jealous of other peoples ability to find joy in something. They're probably Redside.

(Kidding about that last part, I have a few Redside characters now, even if I can't play there for very long stretches at a time. )

A wonderful character till the end.

Rest in peace.

I know this is short notice but if you like to read Comixology comics on your PC or phone/tablet device, you've still got a few hours left.

The banner says "Marvel Mondays," so maybe they're doing this every Monday, but I'm not sure if the prices will be this low.

P.S. I should add that if it were later and I didn't suspect this had too many readers, and if I hadn't received a phone call when posting this, it would have been one of the dozens and dozens of posts I've deleted right after making it. I really hate getting into personal arguments about personal opinions on the Internet. It always takes everyone's eye off the ball and that's never a good thing for a discussion.

A few points that come to mind whenever I see these worries.

This also has something to do with limited resources. The devs can't work on a dozen top enemy groups at once if they really want to shine the spotlight on them. They have to decide what to spend their resources on. Resources include available artists and writers and programmers and team leads, and hours available to be worked. This isn't me knowing how the industry works, it's me using my brain.

It also has something to do with "darned if they do, darned if they don't." Would we all be happier if they solely focused on Arachnos for several issues? No. Would we all be happier if they focused on different "big-time" enemies for several issues at a time? No. So there you have it. They can't make us all happy.

It also has something to do with myopia. For me, Arachnos hasn't gone anywhere. Neither have the Rikti. And my namesake character is just now getting into the Portal Corp content for the first time. I love how I've been playing for two years and still firmly consider myself a newbie. There are seven years worth of content in this game, and it feels like it. There is still so much I haven't seen. I realize that puts me in an enviable position compared to some of you, but I'm not gloating. I'm pointing out that old content doesn't disappear when new content is introduced.

I've never had the impression that "OMG they're forgetting about the XYZ!" Unlike Marvel Comics, Paragon Studios doesn't have a gazillion writers and artists working on a gazillion interrelated and separate titles all at the same time. Of course, if NCSoft wanted to put up the money to make this game more like that, I'd be one happy paying customer. But that's not how the cookie crumbles, or something....

GG is awesome, I saw her fly right through a wall of Hamidon seeds at the Praetorian invasion, destroying everything in a single bound. It was a moment that would have made both Statesman and Chuck Norris proud. The wall then fell on me and a dozen other heroes, killing us instantly. Later, at the hospital, I bought us all a round of ice cream and we watched the news unfold on TV from our hospital beds.

More on topic, I never imagined that Paragon Studios would use this as an opportunity to erase Statesman's iconic imagery from the game, not least because Statesman's death should make him even more of an icon. I would have been disappointed if we DIDN'T see his image plastered on Issue 22's cover! With respect to this, I hope he gets a statue not unlike Atlas Square's or Blyde Square's behemoth memorials. I doubt that will happen, but Statesman has earned that much. A meager statue in a quiet park, I think not! Likewise, I will be disappointed if NPCs across Paragon City simply fall silent about Statesman, as present-tense acknowledgements of his existence are gradually removed from the game. I hope, instead, that NPCs speak of him in the past tense with reverie-- or gloating satisfaction, whichever is more appropriate for particular NPCs.

Like others, I have wondered if Statesman's fate was wrapped up somehow OOC--in his relation to Jack Emmert. I wondered if this would eventually doom him even before his death became an issue, no pun intended. My roommate could vouch for me, if he ever came to the forums--I called his death several months ago. Of course, if this were the case, the devs would never tell us, so we'll never know. But me, I hope it's not the case, because it would be no different than killing off any long-lived comic book character simply because people disliked that character's original writer. Statesman has passed through numerous creative hands now, and because of that--and like any comic book character--he's had his moments, good and worse. To attribute Statesman solely to Emmert this late in the game is shortsighted. He is no more solely the product of Emmert than Spider-Man is solely the product of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

And I hope the above suspicions aren't true, because I hope he returns some day. Then I'll know we're really playing in a comic book universe. Though I'm a fan of Statesman (the character), I'm glad he's dying, from a story-telling perspective. If there was ever a time to do it, now's the time, right before it seems like the heroes of Paragon would need him the most. Why's that? The answer, I suspect, is because Statesman isn't the main character of this story (or collection of stories).

That's right, folks. I am.