BlueBattler

I think that Statesman's death could have been written better than it was.

What I don't know is how much the game mechanics inhibited what the Devs might have wanted to do to give Statesman a proper sendoff.

Would most of the people who played the game be happy if Statesman had died saving their character from death at the hands of Darrin Wade?

Does the game mechanics permit a scene where Statesman staggers through a barrage of power from Wade and delivers a punch that knocks him down before finally expiring?

Personally, I kind of like the idea of Wade being able to steal Statesman's powers, but the Player Characters manage to step in to save-- perhaps inadvertently Redside-- Marcus's life.

Then the next two episodes would play off blueside with our heroes attempting to help a depowered Marcus-- who's perhaps a Dual Pistol/Street Justice character-- get his powers back. By the end of the last episode age would have caught up with the now-mortal Marcus who sacrifices his change to regain his power in order for that power to be used to stave off disaster-- either to save the life of Ms. Liberty or-- better still-- temporarily empower the Player Character with enough energy to prevent the Rularuu from invading Primal Earth once more.

That way the Devs get to kill Statesman, Marcus gets a heroic sendoff, and the Player Character gets to be important.

I know that not everyone is a Lorehound like me, but I wanted to publicly give the Devs kudos for the Valentine's Day missions.

I am enjoying the bits of game lore tossed in with the humor.

I don't always agree with everything that's done in the game storywise, but I wanted to say that I am really enjoying these.

Even my villain who got that tip thought that relationship was a bad idea.

I am hoping that the Devs are considering the input they are receiving on Statesman's death and are taking it into account as they wrap it up.

Personally, I want us to find out that Statesman's death was the only way that WE would be able to successfully defeat the Oncoming Storm ... or that Statesman's death actually helps defeat Wade in the long run.

I fully intend when Blue Battler faces down Wade for the final battle that he's going to call on the Echo of Statesman power so Marcus can get payback.

Posi may have to sell some Purple Recipes. As the "father" of the bride he has to pay for the wedding!

Hi all.

I still haven't done anything with Time yet, and I am considering three different options and would like some input.


I have Three IL/Kin Trollers, and I absolutely love the combination. (I love it so much that I made two different copies of the same character just so I could play him on different servers.)

I have an Elec/Earth Dom and I found it fun-- if somewhat hazardous-- to play.

I have never gotten Ninja beyond about Level 6.

Questions I have:

1. How well does Time synergize with the various primaries?

2. How will does Time work against EBs-- and AVs for when I'm doing a TF?

I am of two minds.

I can't imagine that it will be very good on the one hand.

On the other, I don't think that Moore's objections should really be much of a factor.

Does anyone honestly think that L Frank Baum or J M Barrie or Lewis Carroll would have approved of what he did to their creations in Lost Girls?

Is it any more ethical to use public domain characters in ways their creators would not have approved of than it is to use characters created under Work For Hire that are owned by DC Comics?

So is that particular hotel near enough for tourist sightseeing to not require a vehicle?

I was going to post this in Who's This?! but decided it needed its own thread.

So, supposedly we are going to get a new addition to the Freedom Phalanx (other than the proposed Player Submission) soon. (See above thread.)

Now it occurs to me that the Phalanx is a little ... how shall we say? ... OLD for new members.

By my count, the youngest of the current Phalanx (excluding Citadel), would be Manticore who has to be nearing SIXTY. (He was 19ish when the Freedom Phalanx novel took place and the "Who Will Die" story arc has established that as actually happening in the 1980s.)

So given that Mystery Character will be hanging around with characters who are all old enough to be her GRANDPARENTS (if not Great Grandparents), it occurs to me that it might be time for a new version of the Phalanx.

So NPC wise, who would you nominate as members of the Young Phalanx?

Personally, I see Citadel as filling out the Red Tornado Adult Authority figure role.

I also see Fusionette, Faultline, and Penny Yin as part of the group.

Every super hero group should have a magic user.

I nominate Mercedes Sheldon for that role for Young Phalanx. (She comes across as being much more competent than Percy Winkley.)

So who do you think should be a part of the Young Phalanx?

Any new information on the proposed Player Summit for this year? Some of us would like to know to make arrangements to see if we could possibly attend it.

Poor Clockwork King. He may just bust a gear with her wearing that outfit!

I think we need an intervention arc where we convince CK to move on and find a girl who isn't only going to call him when she needs rescue from the Rikti!

Fusionette would win the fight I have no doubt.

I do feel a little bad for Flambeaux now that I've been part of the same SG as she was....

A world without Statesman.

How do you accept the impossible?

Nearly a week after his death, and it still feels like some kind of bad dream that the entire city is trying to wake up from.

Statesman had been around longer than I had been alive. Longer than my grandparents had been alive. Everyone expected him to live forever.

Forever wasn’t nearly as long as we thought.

They closed school the day after we got the news. Just about every business in town was shut down too. It seemed like everyone was on the streets—but I had never seen the city so quiet.

So many people were crying … I had never seen so much grief.

Old men and women. Kids barely old enough to understand what had happened. Police officers. Even criminals …

I saw a Freakshow tank trying to cover his eyes with the giant mallets that had replaced his hands. His great metal body was shaking like his heart was breaking.

Half a dozen Warriors raised their weapons in salute and said “Statesman!” over and over again. They shouted to their voices were hoarse, and then they did it again.

Tsoo Sorcerers offered invocations to their ancestors wishing his spirit a safe journey …

Even the Circle of Thorns seemed stunned by his passing. For once, they stood shoulder to shoulder with the citizens of Paragon and did not try to do them harm … even their demons seemed shaken to the core by what had come to pass.

Me … I could barely speak.

My name is Marcus Cole McCallister.

And if it weren’t for Statesman, I’d never have been born.

It’s a story that Mom’s told so many times that I forgot just how lucky I’d been.

Mom was in labor. Dad was driving her to the hospital in Talos.

And Statesman and Lord Recluse were having one of their countless battles.

Statesman was winning.

He was close to beating Recluse once and for all. He knew it. Recluse knew it. The entire world knew it.

So Recluse changed the rules.

He broke from Statesman, grabbed my parents’ car—and threw it into the bay.

Statesman had a choice.

Put an end to Recluse once and for all—or save lives.

He chose life.

Statesman not only dug my parents’ car out of the water, he flew them to the nearest piece of land—one of those godforsaken islands—and delivered me into the world.

Mom and Dad have a picture on the wall. It’s a picture of them, baby me, and Statesman.

Mom and Dad are still soaking wet. Statesman is standing between them, holding me—

And I’m wrapped in his cape.

I was still young enough to think Statesman was cool when the first Rikti War Invasion came. I still have nightmares about it.

I was in class when one of the bombs hit. My classroom—my school—was leveled.

My best friend died that day.

I remember being there in the dark, calling Timmy’s name, trying to get him to wake up—knowing that he never would. His cousin Sally was sitting next to me, crying—

And we both knew we were going to die.

But we didn’t.

Statesman pulled tons of wreckage apart looking for us. Somehow he just knew we were there—he knew we needed him.

And he saved us.

I want to say I never forgot what it felt like when he reached into the darkness and pulled us to safety, back into the light, back into life …

But I did.

I was 17 the day Statesman died.

And like every other kid in school, I thought he was a joke.

We made fun of his helmet. His cape. The way he talked. How short he was compared to modern heroes.

We called him old fashioned. We called him a relic. We said he was behind the times.

We laughed at him.

No one’s laughing now.

No matter how dark things got, no matter how hopeless it seemed, we always had hope that as long as Statesman was there fighting for us things would be okay.

Now he’s gone.

And the world still needs heroes.

I’ve always been a little tougher than the average kid, always able to hit a little harder than anyone else my age.

Maybe Statesman had something to do with that—or maybe there was something magical about the island I was born on. I don’t know.

I never thought about being a hero.

I dreamed about it, sure. No kid in Paragon doesn’t dream about being a hero.

I dreamed about swooping in and beating up the bad guys, about saving the prettiest girl in school from a fate worse than death … whatever that was.

I wanted to be Manticore. I wanted to be Night Fox.

I didn’t want to be Statesman.

I wanted to be cool.

I was such an idiot.

We all were.

We forgot what Statesman had shown us. We forgot that heroism is more than fancy costumes and energy blasts. We forgot there’s more to being a hero than beating up a bad guy …

I can’t bring Statesman back.

I can’t tell him how sorry I am that I didn’t respect him more when he was alive.

But there’s something else I can do.

Like I said, I’m a little stronger, a little tougher, than most people.

It’s not much, but it’ll have to be enough.

I can’t fill his shoes. No one can. There’s only one Statesman, and we’re never going to have him back again.

But I can be a hero.

I am going to be a hero.

Not like Manticore or Night Fox.

I’m not going to wear dark colors and haunt the rooftops, striking terror in the hearts of criminals.

I’m going to wear red and blue. And white stars.

And my name?

I’ve thought about that a lot.

I’m not going to call myself Statesman, Jr. or anything like that. I can never live up to the legend that the other Marcus Cole created.

There have been a lot of heroes in Paragon City … and a lot of them have died being heroes.

But there’s always more heroes to continue the fight.

Statesman. Miss Liberty. Galaxy Girl and Dauntless. The Grimm Fairy. Tin Mage. The Justifier. The Alpha and Omega Teams.

Heroes die, but heroism never does.

When one falls, yet another hero steps forward to take up the fight.

So that’s my name:

Yet Another Hero.

Rest, Statesman.

You’ve earned it.

Your City—your world—will be safe.

We’ll see to that.

I promise.

I ran this tonight with some friends on the original Blue Battler. I only break him out for special things like this.

Statesman should have been able to get in a parting shot or two ... or actively had to sacrifice his life in preservation of someone or something else.

The best I'm hoping for right now is that Statesman's spirit manages to take part in the final victory over Wade in some fashion.

He could have been handled much better than he was.

I just hope his death is handled better than that of his daughter.

And honestly, the reason I'm kinda "meh" about it is less "Oh it's a shame Statesman's dead" than "Nothing is going to change in the game other than Statesman being out of it."

Now if the game was going through a major revamp as a result of Statesman's death ... more villain groups running rampant through the streets, people losing hope and faith in their heroes ... a zone or two being lost in the fallout of his ending ... yeah.

I don't see that happening.