DISCLAIMER: this is long. period. this is a good time to immediately go into tl;dr mode and skip this post. ya'll been warned.
My Partner: GeneralKnowledge
Chosen Character: Frozen Memories
Archetype and Sets: Ice/Mental Blaster
Given Bio: Frozen Memories is a living conduit for the forgotten thoughts and memories of pain, suffering, and sorrow from a cold, frozen plane of Purgatory. It is his duty to take in the forgotten thoughts and channel them to where they belong. He has come to our plane of existence to punish those who have created an increase in the thoughts of pain to attempt to restore balance to his world. He is a very calm and collective hero with an intolerance for malice and a a cold and rough outer shell.
I was given the three following costume options and used them all to design my ummm... design. heh:
http://s796.photobucket.com/albums/y...en%20Memories/
I was influenced the most by this one in particular, the light battle armor look
Expanded Bio (unfortunately not too concise, sorry bout that):
Jacob Brennan was yer average guy, just trying to live a normal life, or as normal a life one could in Paragon City. With heroics being an everyday thing, he at least tried to be an average upstanding person as well and stop crime in ways he was able. While having good intentions, like many, being brave wasn't so easy for Jacob. While riding a bike down the streets of Talos Island, suddenly he heard a scream from an alleyway. Pedaling as hard as he could, he reached the opening to the alley, and peered down the way to indeed see a lady in trouble. Two robed ninjas were there as well, threatening her.
As much as Jacob wanted to help, the sight of the ninja scared him, and he raced away, fearing for his own life. He got as far as the end of the block before he came across a hero patrolling the area. Getting the attention of the hero, he frantically pointed back towards the alley and managed to get out that someone needed help. The bold, brave hero smiled and saluted Jacob, before telling him "Good job, son," before speeding off to the alleyway.
Jacob sat on his bicycle, awestruck at the hero, and just mindlessly watched him dart to the alleyway opening and then disappear into the opening. Not knowing if the lady was ok or what was happening, Jacob pedaled his way back to the alley opening and looked in. He saw the hero standing there comforting the young lady, both ninja crumpled on the floor. The hero noticed Jacob looking on and flashed a smiled again, giving him a thumbs up. Jacob smiled, relieved, but also felt a little bit of regret, and due to so rode off away as hard as he could. While there was a hero there to save the day, Jacob felt regretful about his own actions. He would live out his life this way, always wanting to do something, but never having enough courage to do so.
This wouldn't go unnoticed by the Higher Powers that Be. Upon his death he would be selected as an Agent charged with maintaining Purgatory. When told of this assignment, Jacob expressed that he didn't feel he deserved an honored spot. The Higher Powers agreed, and declared that it would be both and honor and a punishment of his actions on Earth. Jacob broke down and admitted that so many times he froze at the times when he really wished he didn't and the thoughts and memories of those times haunted him. The Higher Powers declared that Jacob would be known as "Frozen Memories" so his Earthly endeavors would always be part of him, to be a reminder to himself as well as the new souls entering Purgatory.
The day would come when Purgatory was ushering more souls into its plains than a realm of its kind could bear to contain. This caused the Higher Powers to react and to charge one of its own to intercede in the Earth realm. Given Jacob's past of regret, sorrow and base want to do good, the Powers sent him back to Earth, not as Jacob Brennan, but as the being only known as Frozen Memories.
Redesigned look:
Commentary:
This is more of section to explain myself, since his look is quite a different take on any of the three forms given. Couple of things influenced, this. Actually, just one main theme really. I saw the words "living conduit" and Purgatory and the general idea of a being from one of the metarealms and boom I had Spawn like ideas running all through my head. Prolly doesn't help that I'm anticipating the whole Image United comic thing, but regardless, a Spawn similar entity popped into my head and that's where my costume and bio writing took me. The bio is just my way of giving Frozen a human/person existence before he/it was it in a Spawnverse like manner. I even tried to connect the name to the hero as I usually like to do. Brennan is loosely meaning "sorrow"
Regarding the costume design, yeah... I took a page from the Spawnverse on this one and went along the lines of the Redeemer and other beings from the Spawn comics. It seemed fitting. I stuck with the colors, as it still gave Frozen a presence, just tweaked what details gave him the presence. Stuck with the various additions to his costume as they fit the persona, added the thorns as it struck me as something that would be incorporated into his being for the sharp striking painful memories. The cape and crown and skull motifs just seemed to fit as well to give him a regal/baron stature, as well as the immediate presence one would feel the first time one sees him.
Well, that's my redesign. I hope GeneralKnowledge like this. If not or not totally, it's cool, I know this was a bit of a yank in the design of the character. Nevertheless, the character is/was cool before I got it and I had a fun time designing my version of it.
Hi Grace!