Kurrent

My bet is on Hero 1.

I certainly got the impression that the mask is indeed bonded to her now, but it might just be that she doesn't want to take it off. Madeline Casey's Carnival mask definitely exerted a strong influence on her, extending to controlling her mind; maybe the extremely powerful psyche of Vanessa DeVore is having a similar effect on Desdemona. Or maybe she considers the mask so powerful that she can't chance anyone taking it, so she keeps it on at all times.

Or on a more human note, maybe she just doesn't want anyone to see her cry.

Never mind Mr. Yin, I can't believe Clockwork King let his little Penny show off for the boys (and some girls) like that.

I'm literally crying from laughing so hard. This. Is. Amazing.

Okay, here's my casting call:

Brad: Jonathon St. John-Smythe

Janet: Azuria (you know they've stared at each across the hallway in the basement of City Hall for years!)

Frank: Dr. Aeon. Or maybe Vernon von Grun. Both make me a little uneasy, which is perfect.

Rocky: Cap'n Mako (he's naked all the time, which is close enough for the role of Rocky)

Riff Raff: Darrin Wade (sure, he's sneaky and sinister, but the real selling point is imagining him doing the Time Warp with his trenchcoat)

Magenta: Mynx

Columbia: Katie Douglass (oh yeah, you can see it too, can't you?)

Dr. Scott: Tin Mage Mk II (there is an eerie resemblance...)

Eddie: Wretch (just freaking because, that's why)

Criminologist: General Hammond (from Fire Base Zulu. Yeah, that place over there, you know, in PI. Through the portal. Yes, it's still there.)

Time Warp Dancers: Valkyrie, Crash Cage, Desdemona, Dominatrix, Ms. Liberty

You know, the first character that popped into my mind when I saw this close-up with the short, spiky dark hair and the right arm that looks metallic was... Clamor.

Psi Knight. Yeah, that was one of the tip missions that has much more emotional punch than you're expecting. It was very reminiscent of the Terra arc by Ginger Yates, and the Pyriss arc for villains.

Seconded. The entity self-referred as Dillo most gracious accepts our airsounds of acclaim and veneration. *hoorgb*

One troubling assumption is made in this otherwise very logical line of thought. Who says that Darrin Wade WASN'T an Incarnate before usurping Statesman's power?

With the sheer amount of research he had put into Incarnates over a decade of planning, I find it very hard to believe he wouldn't have been able to make some of the same steps forward along the incarnate path that our characters have been traveling. In fact, it makes much more sense to theorize that he has been slowly advancing his power step by step, using what he steals from the Midnighter Club and his own discoveries to facilitate increasing his own abilities. It would certainly be easier for him to conduct this research in the Rogue Isles, given that he would have access to both Trapdoor and Stheno over there. And having the powers of an incarnate would certainly make a confrontation with Statesman a much more survivable prospect that it would be otherwise.

Append my name to that list as well, please. I've had to scrap several costume ideas simply because the white tights look more like filmy body paint, especially on the "with skin" pieces.

Please also count me in with the players asking that everyone remember that when we talk about modernizing or updating costume pieces, we really would like the original pieces to remain usable in game.

This needs clarification: the OLD Diabolique. The pre-GR Praetorian, on her timed mission where you had 30 minutes to beat her. Because she had all her current powers like Siphon Speed and Siphon Power to keep you debuffed, Force Bolt and Force Bomb to keep you KB'd and juggled, her inherent Phase Shift like the Illusionists (which she can attack through, just like them, and given her inherent translucence, it's mighty hard to tell when it's active and when it isn't), essentially Superspeed given the constant Siphoning, her AV resistances and defenses (since there were no EBs way back once upon a time), and Flight... BUT back then, she knew you were on the clock, and she would RUN like the freaking road runner whenever she started to take damage. Not just running on the ground, where she was expert at pulling someone into a mob of ghosts, but she'd actually fly to the very top of a skyscraper, stranding anyone with SS or SJ out of range, and she'd just sit up there and wait while the minutes ticked away. It was up to the flyers and porters to bring her back down, IF she'd actually come back to ground level. Often she'd hang out on the fire escapes or building ledges, or even just hover out of reach of the ground pounders. And remember, this was before Jet Pack temp powers that you could buy or craft. I remember some excellent teams failing her mission, just because of her running and using her powers to their fullest potential to run out the clock. THAT Diabolique remains the most irritating, frustrating single enemy I can recall in the game. The current one is absolutely nowhere near as irritating as the original one was.

I also think the most annoying enemy group already exists, but I say it's the Apparitions/Awakened in First Ward. The Subjugators, Oppressors, Spectres are all just painful to fight, regardless of what you bring to the fray. Throw in some Conduits and Mindstorms from the Crazed and you've got a mission that will have you pounding your head against your computer desk.

You know, that's a good way to put it: "adolescent style creepiness."

He's very much the spoiled little boy who pouts because the cool kids won't let him play with them, so the first chance he gets to MAKE THEM PAAAYYY, he jumps at it, goes drastically overboard with his revenge and then realizes that with all the cool kids dead now, he can NEVER be accepted by them.

He's a whiny brat with delusions of grandeur who killed dozens, maybe hundreds of people out of a perceived slight, he never takes responsibility for his own atrocities, and he continues to behave like a twelve-year-old boy trying to impress the girl who will never give him the time of day. The one slightly positive thing he accomplishes in the entire arc is the result of him screwing up yet again, not because he suddenly sees the error of his ways and tries to redeem himself. I don't get any real amusement from him, just some contentment that at the end of the arc, he can't kill any other victims or ruin any other lives.