Powerforge

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Hey Powerforge,

I really liked your concept, so much so that welll... please forgive this "morning doodle" of it... Not very tight, just something to get the creative juices flowing... Hope you like it.

LJ

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WOAH!

What a kickazz surprise to come home to. This is really flattering LJ. I Can't think of a nicer compliment to receive. Thanks very much for this.

I'd also have to say that your "doodle" absolutely captured the look and spirit of PA completely! I love it and thanks!

Hello Heroes!

Well, The Pale American made 50 awhile back but I have been lazy. Actually I have had too much fun playing him to break away and create . I pulled myself away from Paragon City last night to build another paper for him though.

I feel I need to address something with this one though. It's possible that this piece could be misinterpreted as unpatriotic. That's not my intent at all. Please read PA's bio if you have any misgivings along those lines. He comes from an apoctolyptic version of America's future. Hence all the fire etc.

Thanks for looking!

Pale American's Story.

The Pale American!

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Hmph. I so had a costume that looks like that.

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Haha! Your right! Very similar concept to be sure, however from what I can see the only real similarity is the cross pattern on the top and the bottom. All the other pieces are different. Just the idea of a holy-type warrior really screams cross design to both of us I guess.

That small cross as a broach is really a sweet touch also.

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Ohh, now that is the look that I am looking for Powerforge!. I'll probably have to use the "Armor" chest and legs settings, but that is almost a spitting image of what I had in mind.

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Haha glad to hear it! I might suggest going with the "metallic" chest and legs first just to keep the lines smooth, that will add a bit more of an armor look to the design. But whatever you decide I'm glad you liked it.

This might be more tech than you were looking for, hope you like it. Just swap the pallette out for the brother. Whit to grey, grey to black, and gold to red.

Paladin!

Very very nice!

Hello Heroes!

Well The Pale American hasn't hit 50 yet but I decided to work on this one anyway . The idea was to get a very street level hero-type. Daredevil comes to mind, or Batman of course. To do that I really felt King's Row was the place to shhot the background. After loading up on pictures of water towers I felt that the far background in all my shots could really benefit from some sort of heavy industrialized look so off I went to Crey's Folley. Finally I really wanted to get an image of PA on some sort of gargoyle or statue. This last idea was scrapped later because it just didnt feel right in the final composite at all. In any event, I am pleased witht he results but think this one feels like it might benefit from a few tweaks yet. You know me, I can't leave em alone.

I thought it would maybe be interesting to post all the screenshots I used for the final composite so hereyago!

PA foreground
KR Background
CF Background


The Pale American Final!

Thanks for looking!

Hello hello!

No wallpaper this time I'm afraid I9 has me playin too much for arts!

However I do have something for ya! In my first wallpaper thread there were several folks interested in the action I used to create the lightning effects. Unfortunately I was not able to find it again to pint you too it on the web. However I finally have!

Shock!

This is the one I use for many of the lightning effects. It's possible to deconstruct it in your hitsory and then modify the process to add lightning to whatever you like.

Hopefully Ill have a new paper to show after Father's Day. Pale American is 40 now so it wont be long till he needs a 50 reward

See ya soon.

Happy Birth Day Graver!

That's 32 flavors of AWESOME right there!

I remember that thread and it was trimmed. I posted my daughter's goth in it so I searched for all the posts I had made in the last year and it isn't around near as I can tell. In any case, here's

Ebony Pale

Well todays maintenance has given me an extra minute to finally get this bio down. Ill have to shorten it considerably to get it in game but what the heck. Hope you like it.


Edison Ballard was hardly a hero.

But then, King's Row doesn't breed a lot of heroes. It does breed con-men however, which is exactly what Eddie was. Eddie discovered at an early age that he had a very small talent with shadows. He could darken a room, thicken the air, and generally make himself seem a bit more intimidating. With no father to speak of and an often absent mother it wasn't long before Eddie started to use these meager abilities to entertain his younger sister Carolina and neighborhood children with frightening tales.

This gradually developed into a livlihood for him as he got older. With no real way to put food on the table for himself and his sister, Eddie began to claim he could contact the spirits and talk to them. Billing himself the Uncanny Edison he became a medium and started conducting seances out of the basement of the apartment building where he lived.

All this would take an amazing turn on the night of May 27. Eddie had received a request from a family in Talos Island to contact a member who had passed away. This was the big time for him! The Parkers were obviously very prosperous and would pay a premium for his little show. Now if he could just turn down the lights and crank up the dark he was gonna be rich!

At midnight the stage was set. The family members huddled around Eddie's small table. Crystal ball in place, candles flickering, they looked expectantly through the gloom at their conduit to the spirit world. Eddie played his part better than he ever had. The room darkened. Shadows seemed to dart and dance around the room. A chill wind ruffled the hair and stirred the clothing of the Parkers as they sat spellbound. Then as Eddie's show neared it's climax an amazing thing happened!

Eddie contacted the spirit world.

With a startling rush a spirirt entered Eddie's mind. Claiming to be the ghost of a hero known as the American this spirit begged Eddie for aid. Shocked but trying to keep control of the situation Eddie demanded the spirit vacate his mind immeadiatly. Confused the Parkers watched as the Medium argued with himself. But the American wasn't going anywhere. He had a tale to tell and Eddie was going to hear it. As Eddie tried desperately to maintain his composure the American told his story.

"I have seen the destruction of America." His chilling voice whispered. In the year 2027 America will be betrayed by it's greatest hero and before it's over the entire east coast will be in flames."

"What are you talking about?" whispered a near frantic Eddie. " It's 2007."

"Yes, but time is more malleable in the shadow realm. So I have returned to the one person who can prevent the disaster that looms over this great nation in twenty years."

"That's insane! I'm nobody! I can't help you do anything for anyone!"

Eddies charade quickly disintigrating, the Parkers begin to have serious doubts about Eddies sanity, much less his ability to contact there dearest Nana.

"You are much more than you realize Edison Ballard. You can stop this catastrophe."

Seeing his paycheck preparing to walk out the door Eddie snaps!

"Listen to me you..you..whatever you really are! I don't believe any of this for a second now GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

With an indignant hiss the voice in his mind responds. "Fine, if my words won't sway you perhaps my memories will."

A spectral hand reaches out through the darkness and grazes Eddies forehead.

Hell opens before his mind's eye. A horrific vision of America in flames. Buildings burning. Bodies...burning. A terrifying laughter that fills his ears and scrapes the inside of his skull like a switchblade. It's too much for Eddie. With a cry he passes out.

When he comes too his patrons have fled, daylight is slipping through the blinds and Eddie Ballard believes America will burn in 2027 if he doesnt do something to stop it.

So begins his life as a hero. With the guidance of the American, Eddie begins to explore his abilities more fully. A pale reflection of the hero from the future he enters Paragon City fearing for all of America.

What Eddie doesn't know, what the spirit from 2027 hasn't told him, and what will soon shake Eddies very world, is that HE is the American, and that the American is also the traitor who is responsible for the scorching of the country. Unless he can do something to prevent it.

<QR>

Come back soon! =)

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This time, he go animated and arrive at the scene just in time!

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That's great! I like it a TON!. Wonderful sense of movement, plus I dig the girl's expression.

Not at all bro. Glad you like it!

Heya Speedy!

I was really intrigued with your idea. I started to dream up a story and the whole thing sorta got outta control lol. I imagine it's chock full of spelling and grammar errors but wth. I had fun. I hope you like it bro. I posted in the roleplaying section for the first time evah! Hope they don't bite.

Terminal Velocity!

Hi!

If you made it this far thanks for reading. I hope this kind of thing belongs here. I've never posted a story before. It was created for a friend of mine who is retirng his main. It really started rather small and just grew. Before I knew it I had a pretty fun tale on my hands. I hope you liked it and thanks for looking.

The scene opens with a small army of heroes,at least a dozen, engaged in a heated battle with Arachnos troops. It's clear that the Arachnos are hoplessly outmatched by the hundreds of broken Archnobots and comatose agents sprawled on the floor. A terrified Agent cowers in the confines of his office as the heroes break down the steel reinforced security doors with ease.

"Your done Barrow!" grins Paragon Wonder.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE! If you move one step closer to me people will die! ALOT of people!"

With that Operative Barrow touches his wrist and activates his personal force field. A swirling blue force bubble springs up around him, it's oily surface tinting his vision cobalt.

"That won't even slow me down."

"Maybe not fool, but this will! I press this button and a high yield Thermobaric Device detonates somewhere in this pathetic city of yours! It'll kill hundreds if not thousands! NOW STEP BACK!"

Barrow's finger trembles noticably as it hovers over the console. In spite of his brave words it's obvious he is very close to loosing all his self control. Perhaps this is the thought that goes through Paragon Wonder's mind causing him to pause.

"I mean it! GET AWAY FROM ME! I'll kill everyone in Atlas Tower!"

Too late Operative Barrow realizes his error. By revealing the bomb's location he has lost even the small advantage he thought he had. These are heroes. The fastest and best connected people on the planet. Already they are moving to dispatch others to Atlas Tower. In minutes his bomb and any hope of freedom will be gone. Malice and fear war within his mind.

His shaking hand smashes downward toward the detonater.


/e Bullet Time


The world is put on pause. The camera pans around the room showing first Barrow's hand as it connects with the button, then skipping from hero to hero.. Each one with a look of shock or horror on thier face, realizing that thousands of lives may be on the verge of being snuffed out by a cowardly madman. The heroes range from completly frozen in time, to those barely moving, to a few who appear to be moving in slow motion. Paragon Wonder's hand slowly clenching into a fist. Only two people in the room are at home at this speed. The heroes Xcelerate and the Striking Speedster. The two fastest men alive. There eyes meet and they both know that only one of them really has a chance of beating the detonation signal to it's fatal destination.

*click*

Xcelerate grins at his friend.

"You better go. GO!"

In a crack of crimson lightning Speedy is out the door and down the hall. Spiraling down the stairs at breakneck speed he hits the front door, then the street outside before his friend has finished his sentence. Legs pistoning back and forth he hurtles forward. This is what he lives for.

*cue speedmetal soundtrack. Metallica. (Give me fuel give me fire, give me that which I desire!)*

The camera pulls back to show our hero streaking down the street in parralell with the telephone lines. Then, through the magic of cinema, the camera pulls in tight on those phone lines and peels away the layers of plastic insulation. Past the black outer sheath, through the multicolored pairs the X-Ray eyes go. Suddenly we see the very electrons of the detonation signal! Looking like malicious lightning, they crackle down the line! The race is ON! And though he can't possibly see it, still our hero's eyes dart to those lines and the first splinter of fear slips betwen his ribs. His eyes narrow. His jaw sets.

"I'm faster than this."

Pushing himself the Striking Speedtser is now in an all out run. Pressing forward at speeds which he has only touched on a few times in his life, he hurtles through the city. Trailing a pressure wave that will lift cars off the street and tear small trees from there place on the sidewalk he hurtles forward.

The camera pulls back to show the two competitors in this deadly race. The blur of scarlet that is the fastest man alive and the crackling, snapping electron signal that is death for thousands should he fail. Faster and faster they go. zipping sidways to avoid obstacles or follow the route of the cable. With every millisecond the Speedster falls a step behind. First just a few feet. Then a spans length. Then another. Desperation begins to enter his ragged breathing. Feet pounding he summons the reserves he knows are there.

"I'm faster than this!"

But there is another chance. Like all signals carried through an electric circuit the path is set. This signal in particular must make a detour. No telephone signal travels directly from source to destination. They are all routed through the telephone comapnies central office switching system. Perhaps, just perhaps, this detour will buy the Striking Speedtser the time he so desperately needs. With an angry snap the electrons are forced down the path of the cable to the ground level. Bending and twisting the enter the underground labyrinth that is the manhole/duct system that will carry them to the telco office.

Speedy knows the reprieve is only temporary. His enemy will reappear shortly and he'd better be there first.

Crackling its malevolence the signal enters Paragon Bell's C.O. bouncing from pair to coil to mainframe the call is directed to a new set of wires and returned to the outside world. Hissing down cable 17 pair 111 it re-enters the duct runs toward Atlas Tower.

The camera pulls in tight on Speedy's face. The world around him is now just a multicolored blur. The music fades away. ALL sound fades away as Speedy remembers a day long ago.

He leans cockily against a detroyed treadmill. This piece of equipment is obviously worth many thousands of dollars. It is a training/testing piece at Freedom Headquarters. Or rather it was. Now it's a smoking and sparking pile of junk. Grinning, a young Speedster stands before his tester, Sister Psyche.

"I tell ya I'm faster than this." His grin is contagious and she can't help but smile back.

"I bet you are hotshot"

"Much faster. In fact sometimes I feel like I could go just as fast as I want, but something holds me back.

Her green eyes narrow at this. Her pretty face takes a more serious note for a moment as she looks at the young man in front of her.

"Listen hotshot. Sometimes our mind has to limit our abilities. If those stopgaps aren't in place it could be...dangerous."

"Uh huh. I agree totally." That grin again.

"Are you even listening to me?" She chuckles.

"So are you busy later?

"You realize I can read your mind right?"

The camera pulls back. Sound returns in a rush as the Striking Speedster returns to the present. His nemesis leaps from the underground up the pole to his left.

He has gained almost no ground.

Atlas Tower is now visible clearly in the distance. All the speedster sees is a pile of smoking debries and lost lives. Already the signal has jumped ahead a span. He's not going to make it. Those people are going to die. Another span is lost as Speedy, in a near panic, tries to push himself beyond his limits. His face contorts with pain. His fear is now an icy, twisting mass in his chest. He can clearly see the people frozen in time as they enter or exit the building.

Again the camera closes on our hero's face. His blue lenses are cracked. Eyes wide with fear he whispers a prayer.

"Listen hotshot. Sometimes are mind has to limit our abilities."

Give me fuel, give me fire

"If those stopgaps aren't in place it could be...

Give me that which I desire

"Dangerous."

"I'm faster than this." He whispers.


The camera now returns to the heroes left behind at the Arachnos headquarters.


/e Real Time


Chaos! The sound of the distant explosion is mixed with Paragon Wonder's cry of rage as his fist implodes the force field surrounding Operative Barrow.. His powerful arms trap the Agent in an unbreakable grip. It takes a supreme amount of willpower to stop himself from crushing the criminal's black heart in his hands. Heroes scatter. Many take off immediatly, heading north for Atlas Tower, fearing what they will find.

One however, heads east. The hero known as the Battleforge is tracking the source of the detonation with his armor's advanced electronics. Unsure what he will find he diverts his path from that of his fellows and continues.

In moments the answer is clear.

Paragon Wonder's comlink activates.

"Wonder this is Forge. I 'm at the source of the detonation and it's no where near Atlas Tower. In fact it's no where near anything. I'm hovering over the open sea about a mile east of Independence Port. No idea what happened here but looks like no one was hurt."

"What are you telling me Battleforge? That the Arachnos bomb detonated over open water?"

But before Battleforge can reply Wonder's com crackles to life again.

"Wonder this is Larrisa. I'm at Atlas Tower and it seems unharmed. Well, not unharmed exactly. The bottom floor is demolished. The front entry is a gaping hole. Several people are hurt but no one is dead and the Tower is still standing. Whatever Barrow had planned didn't work like it was supposed too."

"Thank the Stars."

"It's strange though. Something odd happened here for sure. There's a 15 foot wide trench literally plowed into the concrete out front. It's three feet deep and begins about a quarter mile from the front step. Well, where the front steps used to be. It heads right through the tower to the cliffs and appears to have just continued out to sea. No idea what it was but it could't have been human. No one alive is THAT fast."

Throughout all the ensuing chaos. All the madness of the last few minutes one man has not moved. Perhaps for the first time in his life the speedster known as Xcelerate is as still as a statue. Listening. He strains to hear the sound of an approaching wind. The rush of air that will deny his worst fear.

That he is now the fastest man alive.

The camera focuses tightly on Xcelerate standing motionless admidst the chaos. The sound slowly fades as the camera pulls upward and away. Spiraling slowly higher, our closing shot is the remaining heroes milling around, still trying to figure out exactly what has transpired.

What a wonderful gift! Looks great!

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P.S. Unknown User, please change your avatar. It keeps me up at night.



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Well I guess seeing a visage of death would be unsettling. How about clowns, everybody loves clowns

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GaaahhhHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*runs out of thread screaming*

Thanks for the nice replies guys! I have a bio firmly in mind now but am running a bit short on time tonight. I'll get it posted soon though .

As for the Taskmaster. it's funny you mention him. I have always really dug his and Deathstroke's costume ( I always seem to lump those two together conceptually). It occured to me that he looks a lot like him also but it was entirely accidental. Just sorta developed that way.

More to come!




P.S. Unknown User, please change your avatar. It keeps me up at night.

Hello heroes! Well, my altitis is acting up recently but I may have just found my next 50.

This character came about from a few different sources. The first is the weekly costume contests that have just started (TYTY Green Regis ). I was pondering the topic of restrictions in these contests and how they limited people to using certain costume pieces etc. In an effort to put some sort of restriction on a contest but NOT restrict the choice of pieces I hit upon the idea to limit the CONCEPT not the costume. Meaning one week you could host a contest to creat your best Atlantian, the next week you create an animal hybrid etc. This would allow all the costume choices but still put some restraints that the creator had to work under.

"So what's that gotta do with your new scrapper Dru?"

Hehe, weelll. I asked myself what type of concept I would like to see people develope. I think Patriotic heroes are cool but I'll be the first to admit that they are prolific to say the least. So I thought, What about your best patriotic VILLAIN. It has been done yes, (insert George Bush joke here) but it's still a pretty fresh idea.

I have also been wanting to play around with Dark Armor a bit. I can't really get into the villain mindset though. Just not my thing being evil. I can get into those heroes that walk the line between good and bad though (Moon Knight).

So there you have it! That's how

The Pale American

was born. And I love him! No bio as of yet but I'll work on it. I kinda wanna stay away from the whole military thing. That has tremendous synergy with patriotic heroes but it's been done to death,from Cap to Spawn to the Patriot. If anyone has any ideas to get the old creative juice flowing please don't hesitate to post!

and thanks for looking!

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Yes you are...

I've seen odder Marios though!

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So have I... so have I.

Hi guys and Girls! I'll throw my guy out there but I wanna ask that he not be considered for voting purposes. Since I was lucky enough to win last week. I just wanna participate again as I think these are fun.


Godbreaker!

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Nice!! I think it would look REALLY cool if both arms were robotic, though. Like the wings and arms are part of the same robo-suit or something.

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Haha funny you should say that Derek! I was JUST running that idea through my head a few minutes ago. Might do exactly that.