Okay so here we go. For my first set of eight, the idea is that, with the Freedom Phalanx on the decline, the Vindicators step up and become the premier heroes of Paragon City, redoubling their dedication to justice and heroism even in the face of tragedy and betrayal. They're moving out of the shadows, sidekicks no longer, and ready to take their turn in the spotlight.
Global @Blood Spectre
So with any team, I tend to start first with the leader, and so today we'll be looking at Ms. Liberty first.
As you can see, what I did here was combined the little bit of Girl Next Door image that Ms Liberty has always had with a classic Silver Age Captain America sort of a look, to create a costume that's sharp, memorable, and almost so clean it's cheesy. She's got a replica of Statesman's cape slung over one shoulder and buckled on with a star shaped clasp. The "fat stripe" pattern on her legs allowed me to complete the stars and stripes look without making her look like a candy cane or a stand in for Where's Waldo. In general I was hoping for a clean, bold image, and I hope that comes across.
Next I moved on to Valkyrie, and boy did she need some help!
Now in Valkyrie's regular costume, one is struck with a garish amount of gold and brown as well as a rather bulky, blocky shapeless sillhouette which is offputting as well. That said, the gold armor is very much a part of her character, and so it would not do to scrap it entirely. What I have done instead is replace the bulkier armored top with a slimmer design that is built up in armor with chest and shoulder details, allowing Valkyrie to look well protected while avoiding the shapeless torso the bulkier chest options of the past left her stuck with. The Valkyrie set was all but tailor made from this, and so I borrowed from it heavily, as well as from other newer tech armor sets. Additionally, I highlighted her suit in a sort of a cold, icey blue, like the Nordic sky, which helps to break up all the gold and looks very sharp. I likewise added the high tech winged jetpack, to allow her to fly like her namesake while still keeping a sleek, high tech profile. Finally, and in many ways most importantly, Valkyrie's spear is at the center of her powers, and yet she doesn't use it. Instead she used a broadsword that really has nothing to do with her character at all. With the addition of Staff melee, she can finally become the character she was always meant to be. I chose this broad bladed War Staff because it was the only one that looked believably high tech and didn't also look like a toy in her big armored gauntlets.
For my third choice, I did The Woodsman, who I didn't even realize was on this team. Did he take Malaise's spot? He wasn't in the comics, as far as I recall? Well whatever, he's a cool character with a neat costume, so it was fun to put my own spin on it.
Now, unlike most of the team, Woodsman's original costume is actually pretty sweet. Improving on that would be a tall order, but here's my best shot. We don't really have a sweet rack of antlers like the devs gave the Woodsman model, but the organic armor horns are a good stand in. I put this in with the dreads and head scarf as well as the scruffy, wispy beard to give him a sort of a Forest King of the Music Festival vibe. The costume uses verdant greens, earthy browns, and stark white colors to convey Woodsman's connection to the seasons, the natural world, and the cycle of life and death. As a ghost, death is always close at hand, as symbolised by the skulls on his shoulder, but as a champion of the natural world, life springs from his feet, as shown by the verdant path aura.
Fourthly, I moved on to another character in desperate need of a make over; Luminary.
In a lot of ways Luminary has the same problem as Valkyrie, from a pallette perspective. It's an issue zero costume without a lot of detail to catch the eye, and a very limited range of colors. What I have done in this case, is to update her body to use the new reflective metallic type, and added apporopriate high tech details. Most notably, I put as many of the glowing loops on her as I could, because I wanted to make the name Luminary as synonymous with glowing light in the game as it is in the dictionary. So Luminary is lit up all over. I added the electric pattern on her body and legs in a slightly greener yellow because of the two tone effect this has on the lights from her hands and eyes. Finally, the new clockwork have given us awesome robot faces, and it would just be kind of a waste not to upgrade her in that fashion.
Number 5! Over half way done now. Let's take a look at.... Swan!
Hoo boy. Swan. This one wasn't easy. Swan's costume has been a punchline in almost every regular team I have been a part of. Even the guys writing Who Will Die have gotten in on the joke. Now, for starters, we know that if you use white on the tights pattern, it just ends up looking sheer and naked. So instead, I used textured cloths so I could mainly put her in white and have her still look dressed. I took a lot of my inspiration from Raven (of Teen Titan's fame), and decided to put Swan in a low hood that showed a lot of skin from the front, but preserved modesty in motion. I did my best to keep her full face out of the camera (because faces look kind of dumb under these hoods, IMO), put bold pink and red highlights to break up the monochrome, and added some pointed gloves and the Justice boots to make the whole thing Superhero chic.
Next up; Mynx!
More than any other character in this project, my Mynx stays closest to her original costume. I upgraded her from the Tights texture to the bodysuit so she looks a lot less, you know, nude. I also added a heavy studded belt to break up the uniformity, as well as putting the toy kitten on her shoulder. Also I upgraded her claws to laser claws, because yeah, laser claws are awesome. Finally, I knew the changes I had made would look best on a model in motion, so all the poses here come from the power editor, showing what Mynx will look like as she moves and fights, and while I am slightly concerned about the damage she does to her spine in the second image, I think in general she turned out looking about perfect.
Next,let's try a heroic take on the least heroic seeming hero in the game; Infernal!
Of course, Infernal is the dark and brooding type. He is not supposed to look heroic or noble. He's the team's dark knight, the bad cop to their good ones. Keeping this in mind I put his armor in much darker tones. Like with Valkyrie, I avoided the chunkier chest armors, and started with a slimmer top and built it up with existing textures, to allow Infernal to retain a muscular sillhouette.
And last but not least, Aurora Borealis! Yes at this time of year, yes at this altitude, yes in the middle of the afternoon, and no you can't see it! Oh, okay you can see it.
So now, the thought with Aurora here is to evoke the northern lights of her namesake. Aurora Borealis can occur in a number of colors, of course, but my favorite images have always been this otherworldly blue and orange blend that every movie cover in history has tried to recapture. So that is what I tried to evoke with Aurora's costume, that and her tremendous psychic powers, which I think the eye make up and the head piece really enforce.
The **** you talkin' about with that ****?
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