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Illusion/Radiation Controllers are my favorite character in the game. Ill/Rad is amazingly flexible, in that it can Blast, Control, Defend (buff/debuff) and Tank. It can be the team spy. An Ill/Rad can solo AVs and GMs probably easier than any other character . . . before Incarnates.

An Ill/Rad is useful on any team. Some types of controllers have conflicting powers . . . The Ice Controller trying to use Ice Slick tends to get a little frustrated with the Fire controller who keeps using Fire Cages (which prevents knockdown). Ill/Rad doesn't have those kind of problems. You have a wonderful team buff that everyone loves. (No complaints about "I don't want SB!") Great Debuffs that help the team defeat foes faster and more safely, an AoE Heal, a rez and some unique powers.

One way to complete TFs faster is to have a Team Spy. Ill/Rad, with Superior Invis, Deceive and Phantom Army, is uniquely effective for this . . . just add Recall Friend from the power pools. You can run around invisible to find objectives and click glowies. Are there foes on or near the glowie? No problem . . . Deceive one or two, or even send out Phantom Army to draw a group's attention while you click on the glowie unnoticed.

If you are considering rolling up an Illusion/Radition Controller, I suggest you read my Ill/Rad guide, linked in my sig below. The guide has lots of information on the powers, how they work together and suggested builds leveling up as well as a final end-game build. You will also find lots of strategy tips.

Thunderclap is actually a Mag 2 Stun . . . which means it will stun only Minions on its own, not lieutenants. However, as Mental Maden suggested, stack it with the Mag 3 stun in Flashfire and you can stun Bosses. (The animation is awesome, however.) Like Mental Maden said, Hurricane is a very situational power . . . only use it in "panic button" situations or when trying to "herdicane" or maybe a strategic choke point. I generally keep it set up with a bind for an a easy-to-use toggle button.

The Lockdown proc has limited value in most hold powers. It is a 15% chance to add a Mag 2 hold, right? Char and Cinders will, on their own, hold minions and lieutenants (assuming they hit), and will hold bosses 20% of the time. So even if the proc goes off (and you see the nice tesla cage animation), it is actually doing nothing if the foe is already held. The proc will only provide any value at all against bosses who were not held by Char or Cinders initially. So, 80% of Bosses x 15% means that only 12% of bosses ONLY will be affected by the proc. Bosses are what percentage of groups? One out of five or less? Assuming it is one out of 5, then 12% x 20% = 2.4% So that proc is only having an effect on 2.4% of foes. It looks like it is going off a lot more than that, but it is only having an effect 2.4% of the time (or less). Not worth a slot in my opinion. I prefer to slot Char with some additional Acc and Damage. In Cinders, add an extra Acc/Dam/Rech from any set.

I personally would never skip Hot Feet on any Fire Controller (other than maybe a Fire/TA). The combo of "Flashfire+Fire Cages, run in with Hot Feet" is the core to a fire controller. Fire control gives up some control powers for that damage in Hot Feet. If you (or your wife) wants to control from range in the air, consider Illusion, Plant or Mind as a primary. Grav works well with Storm, too, but it is not a great team controller. Earth/Storm is a wonderful ranged controller, but you need to be on the ground to use Stalagmites.

A few other points, mostly in agreement with the others:

Better plan to have both the Numina and Miracle procs in Health, and add a Miracle Health for the bonus. Put a couple of Miracles in O2 Boost, too.

Gale: I rarely use it . . . a single Acc in the default slot, as it has reduced accuracy. If you use it a lot, add more accuracy or it will miss a lot.

Fire Cages: It mostly needs Accuracy and EndRdx. At level 50, that Gravitational Anchor Chance for Hold is wonderful in this power. Procs will generally do more damage than slotting it for damage.

Snow Storm: Two EndRdx if you use it regularly, otherwise 1. The most important part of this power is the -Recharge, which cannot be enhanced.

Flashfire (and Thunderclap): as Pinkpup said, get rid of the knockback proc. The only exception might be if you really, really want the Ranged Defense from Stupify, but that proc is one of the dumbest in the game. . . If the guy has just been stunned, why do you want knockback?? Put a Recharge in the 6th slot for Flashfire, move the slot somewhere else for Thunderclap.

Steamy Mist: You know you can slot it for Defense? So that Luck of the Gambler Recharge in Stealth can be moved here. I have recently changed my view and prefer to slot Steamy for Defense instead of Resistance. Besides, if you eventually take the Cardiac for your Alpha Slot, it will add Resistance to this power. (Personally, I dislike the Stealth pool. I would rather than Super Speed. SS and Steamy Mist together is full invisibility, which I use on most of my */Stormies. If you don't want Super Speed, then just put a Stealth IO in Sprint.)

Fly: Do you realize that Flightspeed in Fly does nothing? Fly is at Flightspeed cap without any slotting at all. Slotting the Zephyr set is only useful for the bonuses. If you need knockback protection, move that slot to Hover for a Karma, it is cheaper.

Freezing Rain needs Recharge first, then procs are a nice bonus if you have leftover slots. Defense Debuff has limited value and really doesn't need to be enhanced. Once you get up to 95% Accuracy/ToHit, you can't get past that.

Bonfire: I like this power and have it on all of my Fire Controllers . . . but usually with only one slot. The problem with using it as a damage power is that you have to use it in combination with Fire Cages which must be re-cast every 12 seconds, and Fire Cages will often miss a guy or two, resulting in those guys flying back out of the area. Some people like it for damage, so that's a personal choice.

Fire Imps: There are lots of ways to slot them, but my opinion is that the Defense proc is mostly worthless unless you already have a lot of defense (Fire/FF or Fire/Cold, maybe). The Imps run around, often out of range of the proc. I prefer to slot them for Damage and Recharge -- you can cast them more often when they die. I like to slot them the same way as Illusion's Phantom Army: 4 Expediant Reinforcement (leave out the Dam/End and the proc), and then the Dam/Rech and Chance for Build Up from Soulbound Allegiance (purple set, but not too expensive).

You skipped Tornado . . . Twisty can add a lot of damage over time, and is your best way to overcome an AV's Regen. The knockback can be overcome with the -knockback in Fire Cages, but has the same problem I mentioned above for Bonfire. However, note that Tornado is AUTOHIT. It can do damage to foes who are in PFF (Fake Nemesis) or MOG (Paragon Protectors) as well as AVs. It can also be another "panic button" power or a major source of damage for the "cul-de-sac of doom" . . . trap a foe in a cul-de-sac or room with only one exit (using Bonfire or Hurricane), then unleash Tornado and Lighting Storm and the Imps . . .

For an APP, I would take Ice or Psi over Primal. Psi has Mez protection if that has been a problem for you. Ice gets Hibernate, letting you get back both Health and Endurance. Plus a Defense-based shield. Plus a great single target blast and a good Rain-type AoE to supplement Freezing Rain with damage.

Did you even read the book? The Bugs attacked first. That's survival, not racism.

and besides, it is actually species-ism, not racism. Yeah, your little link talks about "hiding" racism as speciesism. Sorry, but I don't agree when you're talking about survival. To call the book Starship Troopers racist is ignorant considering the many different human race groups of the good guys. Even more so if you have read Heinlein's other works. Aliens could be good guys or bad guys. Humans were just as often the bad guys.

As to the original topic -- the movies exist separately from the comics. It is a different medium with a different audience. The producers/directors/writers/actors/editors for a film will view what makes a good movie different than the editors/writers/artists view what will make a good comic book. While the comic fans certainly "start the buzz" for a comic book movie, ultimately, what really matters is whether it is an entertaining (and not necessarily good) movie and not whether it is accurate to the source material.

Have you seen "The Running Man?" Ever read the story? Not even close, other than the basic premise of taking a convict and putting him on TV in a game show for his life. Still, the film was a mostly enjoyable film.

Clearly it is not "working as intended." They know about it but haven't fixed it yet.

Another pairing I have done in the past that is very effective -- An Earth/Storm controller and a Fire/MM blaster. Earth Control is the best ranged AoE controller -- good at locking down groups from range with three different AoE controls and a huge amount of -Defense. Storm gives you some nice defensive powers (Hurricane with a huge -ToHit, Snow Storm with -Recharge), additional control (Thunderclap stacks with Stalagmites, and Freezing Rain is a second knockdown patch) and great debuff (Freezing Rain with 30% -Damage Resist) and added damage in later levels. Fire/MM blaster is massive AoE damage with some nice other tricks (+Regen, +Recovery and a Regen debuff in Drain Psyche).

Earth/Rad also works, as do quite a few other controller combos. Another option would be an Illusion Controller, with Rad, Storm, Cold or TA as a secondary. Phantom Army to draw the aggro while the Blaster wipes out the groups. Plus, a Sonic Blaster will substantially increase the damage of Phantom Army.

Finally, if your husband goes with a */Fire Blaster and you want a thematic match, you could always go with a Plant/Fire Dom. Good control early with Seeds of Confusion+Roots, and then you pair your Fire Secondaries.

I never had the Medicine Pool on mine, but I strongly agree about Air Superiority. I love the mitigation from Air Sup on this character. Of course, I leveled mine up back when even veterans had to take a pre-req for a travel power, but the damage mitigation from Air Sup definitely added to his survivability.

On the Rad side, I suggest you take a look at my Illusion/Radiation guide. It has a lot of explanations on the powers, a range of slotting options, and even strategy tips -- including a discussion on how to use the anchor powers.

Some people love Fallout. I find it to be an extremely situational power for the reasons stated in my guide. On a Mind/Rad, it is extremely optional -- but the more team-oriented your character is, the more I would lean towards taking it. I have it on a few characters, but Fallout is still the single most skippable power in Rad. (On a Ranged controller like yours, Choking Cloud is equally or even more skippable, but on a melee controller, Choking Cloud is great.)

If you do want to take it, there is a wide range of ways to slot it. You can slot it for the significant damage, or you can slot it minimally and take advantage of the power for the large debuffs it provides. On a couple of characters, I only put an Acc/Dam Hami-O in the default slot.

Another option: Form your own team. Decide what you want to do . . . but just remember that running TFs or other content that will provide rewards to teammates will generally be preferred over running your missions from your contacts (where only you can get the merits for completing story arcs). Pull up the search screen and sort for folks in your level range. For anyone at or near your level, send them a polite Tell asking if they would like to do<whatever you are doing>.

I like to set up a Macro to make it easy -- so I don't have to keep re-typing the same thing. I just click on a person on the Search list and click on the macro. Something like:
/macro LFM t $target, Are you interested in joining a team doing <whatever you are doing>?

In the old pulp days of Science Fiction (back when it was often called "speculative fiction"), editors like John W. Campbell and Lester Del Ray were mentors to talented, aspiring writers. Many of these writers have given credit to these two men for helping them to become successful writers. Most of the old "Grand Masters" of Science Fiction, including Heinlein, Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, were guided by these two men.

At one time, there was a "Del Ray" brand of SF books. As a reader, I was always confident that the "Del Ray" books would be quality. Readers of Romance books know that Harlequin books will fulfill their (simplistic)expectations. Scholastic Books are known to appeal to certain types of young readers and be appropriate topics. (They published the Harry Potter books.) While you may not care about the publisher, there are many consumers who rely upon a publisher to provide quality in their preferred genre.

Just because you can put a word or two together doesn't mean that you are a "writer." Writing saleable fiction is a craft. Ask any experienced, published writer.

This MMO still is very social . . . but you have to know how to "work it." Get on as many Global Channels as you can on your main server. Join teams and be friendly and helpful. When you come across a player you really like, try to invite him/her to global friends . . . but some people already have too many -- if you can't set them as a Global Friend, then use the Notes feature to make notes on players you like (and don't like). Try to team with the good ones again and again. The Notes system can really help you -- as your note will show up even if the same global account is on a different character.

Almost six years ago, I started teaming with a group of guys and got to like them. One of them hosted a Ventrilo server, so we got to know each other by voice chat. Others have joined and left, but three of us still team most nights, with a 4th joining us a little bit less regularly. Recently, we have joined up with another group similar to ours, but they use Teamspeak instead. We've been joining with that group a lot for Trials and TFs lately. All good folks with a great sense of humor.

As for the main question -- I like having a "personal" SG. I can set it up any way I want, all the racks become my own storage and I don't have to worry about putting my most expensive IOs in the tables. Some of my personal SGs are left over from other folks -- I appreciate all the Prestige all those other folks (who left the game) earned for my personal benefit. A few are new ones I have started just for me and my alts, but those struggle to earn enough prestige for the stuff I want.

I never liked much of the SG system for large groups -- I had seen quite a few SGs have tons of "drama" over who gets to be what level, etc. Using Global Channels for recruiting teams is much better.

For finding people with whom to team, yes. Most of the teams and trials are formed using the Global Channels. Personally, I use my Global Friends list first, then look to the Global Channels.

My SG was actually started by my wife when she was playing and used to have a lot of active members. Now there is only me and all my alts. But that's OK, as I have full racks of Salvage and enhancements and Inspirations, and a full set of teleporters to every place that I can have a teleporter. So for me, my SG on my main server is my personal storage, crafting and transport base.

Invulnerability Tanks have one of the best aggro auras among tanks, comparable to shield, and almost as good as Ice. You shouldn't need the Provoke Pool if you make use of your positioning and use Taunt to pull in ranged foes. All you need to do is make a quick tour around the area to expose foes to your aggro aura and you should have their attention. The times you need anything from the Provoke power should be so rare that it would be a wasted power pick.

Fighting, on the other hand, is definitely worth taking. Boxing/Kick is pretty much wasted, but Tough and Weave can really help toughen up your character.

My friend Call Me Awesome wrote a couple of great guides for Invul tankers. Take a look at THIS ONE about how to softcap your Invuln tanker.

I was on my Grav/Storm last night on a very good team . . . and my contributions were somewhat limited. I used Wormhole a few times only because I had it and not because it served any useful function. 3 tanks on the team, and the best contribution I could make was dumping Freezing Rain constantly. I would throw up Lightning Storm and and then pick some foe outside of the group to attack with my single-target chain of GD-Crush-Propel.