Redlynne

Please note that NONE of these outcomes is a positive experience for a NEW PLAYER, and all of them make a very bad FIRST IMPRESSION on someone who has never played the game before.

So I re-iterate ... even though there hasn't been enough time yet for Paragon Studios to *do* anything about this since I filed my bug report and petition ... this NEEDS to be fixed before Freedom, and Free to Play, go Live.

Sadly ... that was NOT my first impression of Antoinette's work. But now that it has been said, it unfortunately cannot be UNSAID. And now I too am reflexively seeing a grooming disaster interpretation, whether I want to or not.

This makes me think that the Battalion is simply the Rikti Dimension counterpart to the Nemesis Army. The difference is, the Warrior Caste Rikti not only defeated "their" Lord Nemesis, but also managed to kill him (it sounds like) ... meaning that the Battalion has not been a problem since (unlike the situation on Primal Earth).

Virtue server = Beta Server ...?

I tried the Justice Boots with kneepads, and they just looked ridiculous on her.
But that was just that one costume piece that "didn't fit" on her (imo), because of the shape and styling. If unique kneepads were designed for Valkyrie, I'd want them to match the styling used for the Enforcer Chest Detail and actually be affixed to the knee(s), rather than being a plate that sticks up from the shin of the boot.

Oh I don't disagree with you there. I just didn't spend the time to keep running back and forth to ICON so as to exactly match the precise shade of blonde that (original) Valkyrie has. Or if you've got a better color mix for blonde you'd like to suggest, I can whip up a new costume on the Test Server really easily to make use of it and go and grab some new screenshots using it. It's not like I'm "wedded" to that exact pair of shades of yellow. The thing is, when I tried deviating from it, I kept winding up with something that looked "too brassy" and kept backing out the changes. I just went with "good enough" to get the idea across in this case.

Yeah ... but ... I don't exactly have access to that sort of thing in the costume creator on Test Server ...

You're not the only one. I've been noticing that same sort of effect on my opinion too! The more I look at that Metallic Tights and Justice version of Valkyrie, the more I keep thinking, "Yup. That's her!"

In fact, it's getting to the point where I look at the original Valkyrie costume ... and feel disappointed (and sorry for her). Now, granted ... I'm a bit more biased in favor of my own creation than most people around here (I assume), and I'm not ashamed to admit it. But I still think it would be totally awesome if David had the NPC Costuming Team use "my" Valkyrie as the basis for a Valkyrie 2.0 when Steel Canyon gets revamped (or even earlier, if they can swing it on the schedule).

I'd love to ... but Noble Savage would have to give me "access" in order to do that with the publicly available costume creator (which somehow, I don't think he can swing for me).

So I work with what've got available to me, and figure that if Noble Savage (and friends) *do* pick up "my" Valkyrie as the basis for a Valkyrie 2.0 update, the final result won't look exactly like my costume code save file (and I'm fine with that).

COMPETENT.

No matter what powersets are chosen, the COMPETENT Controller will always be better than the INCOMPETENT one.

/em blushes

Thank you.

Yeah. It does. And its only upon (personal) reflection, no pun intended, hours later and looking at it again that *this* sort of metallic look for Valkyrie just really *feels right* for her.

And to be fair to the original artist(s) who created Valkyrie pre-Launch, I'm using quite a few costume parts which weren't available for them to work with "back in the day" and so this exact "look" for Valkyrie simply wouldn't have been possible to do until recently. The art team would still need to graft on the Spear and Baldric unique pieces to finish out the design, but that's not exactly something I can help them with.

Okay ... is anyone else feeling chills running down their spine?

DAVID ... you know those CoT costumes you did which previewed at SDCC and which spawned a big backlash here in the forums? Yeah ... THOSE. I want you to walk over to Protean's office (when you can find the time) and ask him if War Earth has any Circle of Thorns (or their analogues) in it ... and if Valkyrie (and possibly even Battle Maiden!) may *unknowingly* be "linked" in some way to them. I'm thinking that those new CoT costumes you made, which the players have rejected for Primal Earth CoT, might be VERY useful for depicting any Circle of "Thorns" from WAR EARTH!

Valkyrie herself is from Primal Earth, but her weapon (which "made" her Valkyrie) is from War Earth. Battle Maiden is from War Earth ... but did she "escape" to Praetoria, which would mean that Battle Maiden is a fugitive from her own dimension? Is there a Circle of "Thorns" in War Earth, that is Tech Based, rather than Magic ... and if so, do they want Battle Maiden and Valkyrie's Spear (and thus, Valkyrie herself) ... back?

And do not forget Clarke's Third Law ... that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistiguishable from magic!

Does anyone else hear The Wheels of Possibilities for stories to tell starting to turn ...?

First of all, I have to say this ...

First post *because* of a Red Name RESPONSE!

*Ahem!*
(happy happy...)

Where was I?
Oh yes ... pontificating ...



To be FAIR, David, the original Valkyrie avatar actually IS almost certainly the best that could be done with the original costume creator tools pre-Launch. I have memories of working with the costume creator in Issue 2, and I remember how *liberating* it felt to get new costume parts in Issue 4 (sneakers! mini-vests!) which in turn allowed "looks" for characters that simply weren't possible previously.

So the game has "grown" and moved on from where it was originally, in terms of capabilities for things like the costume creator, and we can now "do things" that simply weren't possible back in the pre-2005 time range. But just because we CAN do them, doesn't necessarily mean we SHOULD do them!

My personal effort with Valkyrie (seen above) was partially to answer a question in my own mind, that if Valkyrie's "look" were to be updated, exactly HOW should it be updated? And even more importantly, what should it be updated to? Basically, what "parts" do we have available to us, already, to support such an effort? As it turns out ... there really isn't all that much you can *DO* to change Valkyrie's appearance without making her a totally "different" character, unrelated to the original. And for me (and I assume, a lot of other people), that sense of Continuity between "looks" for a character is absolutely essential. It's okay to "evolve" the look of a signature character, so long as you're making EVOLUTIONARY changes to their appearance, rather than REVOLUTIONARY changes. I personally, far more enjoy seeing that thread of Continuity between Before and After in a character's appearance, since both give me greater appreciation for the underlying nature of the character that informs these decisions.



So to drag this back around to the case of the *original* Valkyrie, standing there in Steel Canyon ... her original look is very much an "armored" appearance, but it's a Low Tech sort of look which makes you think that she'd rattle when she moves (as plate armor like that is prone to do) and that it may somehow restrict her movement(s) when fighting. The nice thing about this is that she *does* look like she's Protected by her armor, without the armor looking Big and Bulky ... but it still looks like "garage tech" armor of the kitbash variety, rather than something custom fitted and purposefully built for her.

I *tried* evolving Valkyrie's look using the Valkyrie costume pieces ... but the Shoulders (especially with the wings on them!), the Gloves (not the Smooth/Bare ones) and Boots (with wing motifs) are just so HUGE on her frame ... and this is a 7 ft tall woman here(!) ... that you just *look* at them and think, "how is she going to move around in that getup without telegraphing all her movements to her enemies when fighting?" Ironically, the sheer size of the valkyrie shoulders, gloves and boots made her "look small" inside of them (despite being "hugely tall") and somehow ridiculously proportioned ... with oversized feet, hands and shoulders on a (now) too small body frame.

Needless to say, bulking up her Chest and Bottom pieces with Armored parts, didn't exactly help either. Even worse, the selections in the Armored top and bottom menus didn't really offer a "good look" for Valkyrie that would *look good* for a character like her. In part, that's because you wind up having to revert to the original pieces for lack of much of anything better to work with.

So after rejecting the "Go Large" option of big, rattle-y armored pieces ... I decided to go the other direction, in response to those Marvel pics of Thera posted upthread (and which I quoted in my previous post). Instead of going for a "Plate Mail" sort of look, or even a "Tech Plate Mail" kind of appearance, I was thinking more in terms of going minimalist ... with a result of "less ARMOR bulk, more Woman Warrior" kind of effect ... where you pay less attention to the costume, and more attention to the person wearing it. The thing that I like about the Metallic Tights is not that it's "shiny" or reflective, but that it looks like ARMOR ... but is more of a High Tech, *sleek* aesthetic, that looks like the wearer has total freedom of movement, and could do gymnastics while wearing it.

And that appearance of being *protected*, while at the same time totally free to move yields a "look" that is almost totally at odds with the original Valkyrie costume. The original costume looks "functional" and yet in some ways "limited" by its own appearance (rattle rattle, some freedom of movement restrictions). Valkyrie's original costume looks imposing in a DEFENSIVE way, in that it looks like it would "take work" to punch through it in order to do any damage to her ... but it doesn't look too terribly imposing in an OFFENSIVE way in terms of what she can "do to you" when you face off against her. The Metallic Tights (in my mind, anyway) changes that impression of her. It makes her look much less encumbered by her own armor, and therefore much more Predatory and Dangerous. The sleek Metallic parts look "well crafted" ... as opposed to being a hand-me-down or cobbled together in a garage from spare parts ... and purposefully made for Valkyrie *specifically*. The Metallic appearance also makes her look faster in terms of how quickly she can/could move in battle (swing her sword, use her spear, recover from parries, etc.).

In my mind, at least, going with a sleeker, Metallic Tights styled armored look makes Valkyrie look more imposing in an Offensive way ... while yielding up only a minimal tradeoff loss in Defensive protection potential (if any). And then there's that whole Purposefully Custom Built High Tech vs Scrounged Scrapyard Low Tech thing going on, too ... which brings its own set of prejudices and assumptions.

The thing is ... I still wanted to get "wings" on the costume somewhere other than just the headpiece. Fortunately, the Justice costume pieces have stylistic flourishes to them that look like "wings" without going overboard. The Justice parts also hybridize nicely with the clean lines (and curves) of Metallic Tights so as to not clash, stylistically, with the rest of the costume. This then gives nicely balanced "echoes of a theme" continuity to disparate parts of the costume, helping to tie everything together.

Plus ... let's be honest with ourselves here. You can't dress up Valkyrie in an all golden, All Valkyrie Parts costume ... simply because that's what Battle Maiden is wearing (in all iron greys and olive drabs) over in Neutropolis! You want Valkyrie to *look different* visually from Battle Maiden (who she's "kinda sorta" linked to, no matter how you might want to explain it away). You don't want to put them both in the exact same costume parts with only a color change! That both looks and feels lazy! Which basically means that an "All Valkyrie Look" for *Valkyrie* is "out" simply because that "look" is already being used by someone else.

So I took "my" Valkyrie (costume) over to stand by Battle Maiden in Neutropolis and grab a screenshot ... just so you can appreciate the differences. Note that "my" Valkyrie costume is unchanged from the first set of screenshots where I had her standing beside the "original" Valkyrie in Steel Canyon ...



Which one looks like the High Tech sidekick of Positron/Keyes ... and which one doesn't?



And just for giggles, I had "my" Valkyrie draw her Legacy Broadsword while standing next to Battle Maiden ... just to show the contrast.



Anyone want to lay wagers on whether or not this would be a "fair fight" between (my) Valkyrie and Battle Maiden ... just based on looks ... if they were to go at each other in a comic book? All I know is that the two of them would have very different fighting styles ... where Valkyrie would be relying on her height, reach and unencumbered mobility to get past an opponent's guard to "do some damage" to them. Battle Maiden, on the other hand, would fight in more of a "turtle mode" (relatively speaking) where she offers few openings or weak points and takes hits on her armor to negate/mitigate incoming damage. It would be a fight of the Quick and Defensive vs the Resistant and Wrathful, I'm thinking.

I see (my) Valkyrie as being more of a Willpower Scrapper ... and Battle Maiden as more of an Invulnerability Brute ... just in terms of appearances based on these costumes. And yes, I know that Valkyrie is listed in the Paragon Wiki as a Regen Scrapper ... but I also know that Willpower didn't exist when Valkyrie was conceptualized pre-Launch.



Oh and in case it wasn't already clear ... thanks for the reply David!

<smirk>

That might be because it's actually fairly close to what you see Crey Infiltrators wearing in Brickstown. Colors are changed away from Basic Black, of course, and there aren't any cybernetic implants (visible), and "back in the day" when Brickstown was developed, the Strappy Shoes hadn't been released yet, so you won't see those on Ladies of the Crey.

But I did want a "power suit" business executive look (this *IS* the City Representative, after all!) who would be wearing "heroic blue and white" colors ... hence, what you see.

What do you have against Spartans ...?

That would add +20 slots to the Forms (total), which couldn't be spend on Human Form. You'd essentially get +8 slots for Nova and +12 slots for Dwarf. That is of course more than the +14 slots method I'm suggesting, but my method can spend those slots on Human form, while yours can't.

Even in the pic featuring Anne Hathaway on the bike in a frontal shot, I'm still not seeing anything remotely like a stiletto heel. I see a horizontal bar that functions like a stirrup for the boot(s) ... but I'm not seeing anything like a 2+ inch heel (or more) on those boots she's wearing. What are you seeing?