Scarlet Shocker

/ignore_spammer

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What a coincidence, I was just designing such a team. Maybe this can work out Pointless, if we all join heads.

[/ QUOTE ]

But then you'd be a monstrous creature with loads of bodies all connected by one massive conjoined head!

[/ QUOTE ]

And then Alan Moore could write an opus about it....

[ QUOTE ]
a Moonbase full of Clangers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Soup Dragons and Iron Chickens are villain side then?

I suspect we will see I13 in November and if it's bigger than I12 then it's gonna be massive. I get the feeling it's gonna be a surprise in it's backbone. We'll probably get a new powerset, more proliferation and window dressing but I get the feeling that the story of CoX will take a significant leap forward.

I wouldn't like to speculate what that leap is, or how it manifests itself but I think it's fair to say the whole product's in safe hands

Offer: 50 mil Infamy Defiant

Want: 50 mil Influence Defiant

global @Riff

I'm sure you're all familiar with this situation: You've got that rare recipe, but it's on a low level alt on the wrong server. You're ready to kit your favourite hero out with those IOs, but the alt with the money is your villain.

Resolving that can be an issue - hunting around SG mates and global lists for somebody who can help, and it's frustrating, time consuming and often fruitless.

Now this thread has been created for you to do exactly that, swap stuff with your fellow forumites across heroes, villains and servers.

Inevitably there are some rules:

Only In-Game Items may be exchanged here. You may not advertise anything outside of game. By in-game items we're talking recipes, salvage, influence, infamy, SOs, etc.

You are responsible for all transactions provided there are no technical issues etc. NC Soft isn't responsible for things going wrong unless there's a technical issue or obvious player conduct issue - so be warned, you do this at your own risk!

Only Like for Like Items may be exchanged ie you may not simply sell valuable stuff to circumvent the AH system, so no advertising that Numina's for 30 mil. Swapping a Numina's for a Numina's is perfectly acceptable of course

What do you need to make a robo-surgery these dayS? I can't remember

I've just made a Sonic/Mental blaster called...

The Psylencer

Woo Hoo! Thanks Corona that's lovely

Thanks also to everyone who's been involved in Shock Tactics over two great years, it's been a blast! I guess we should celebrate with a PARTY!!!

[ QUOTE ]
Psychosice (or, Psychos-Ice)

Currently my Ice Blast/Mental Manip Blaster on Test that I'm never going to make on Live. It could work for any combo of Psi and Ice powers and it's a bad pun to boot.

[/ QUOTE ]

You could go for Icepsicle too (or various hypenated variants)

[ QUOTE ]
It's not a bad post but it's only a few steps away from LOTROL sytle name police posts you get on their forums.

If I want to give my toons short snappy names (Dagar, Larac, Rian, Precip) I shall. If I want to give them longer single word names or multi word ones (Fenchurch, Superiluminal, Altered Carbon) then I will.

If people want to call their toons w0lv3r1n3 then let them, they might be lacking in imagination etc but they still pay their subs and may contribute to the community.

I'm not having a go at you (as you pay your subs etc your entitled to post what you want), but some people may see it as being elitest and preaching to them.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've no knowledge of LOTROL at all so I don't want to get into a "we do/they do" thing but I've been about as clear as I can that this is opinion, a guide and there are no rules per se, but just in case you didn't get it, this is an opinion, a guide and there are no rules per se.

I've never really seen names and naming discussed here, so figured it was something worth putting out there.

[ QUOTE ]
Female kin def "Torque Wench"

[/ QUOTE ]

That's excellent!

so without further ado

Snarflepants; just cuz

Urbane Gorilla; probably tankish type beasty look

Electric Ladyland; a male shape stone tank. Seriously

Sam Sharpe; Paragon City's very own private eye

The Invincible Husk; an undead tank created by the Banished Pantheon

It seems there's a few out there that have enjoyed my thread on nomenclature and giving your toon a name worthy of their heroism and/or villainy, but as somebody pointed out, people who struggle with naming toons might not have contributed for fear of somehow not being "up to scratch" or something.

It can be a very tough thing naming a toon and as we've already discussed, the consensus is that names really are something that define your characters.

So it seemed to me that some of us may find a "pick a name thread" of use, and many of us have names buzzing around our heads that we'll never use, but somebody might well benefit from it.

Some simple guidelines tho if you're posting a name: It has to be one you thought of yourself. It should have a brief description to it. So put simply: Snarflepants; just cuz

Also remember that all names are posted freely but if somebody got there first, that's a shame but nothing we can do about it. It's strictly first come first served. If somebody else got there first, then sorry chum. Have another go

So without further ado, let's rock and please do add your input.

REbekah you're spot on and that one totally slipped my mind, although I do know a few people have come up with names based on musical references.

I've loved reading everyones comments and names. I think we should start an "open source names list" to help those who get stuck or need a bit of a themed name.

One of the best names I've seen (not mine I must admit) was Tell LaCoil

I've also got a toon named thanks to a postcard length story from Isaac Asimov called Sloans Teddy. Her real name is of course, Wedneday Rice

Just adding another approval here.

Great work! Moar plx

Ashen, thanks for your input. You're spot on that there is no prerequisite to name your character thematically and as we've both agreed, there's no book of rules on naming.

However I can't help but think that your character is an extraordinary being - a super. hero. (or villain.) Somebody gifted - or perhaps cursed - with awesome powers and I'm convinced the names should at least reflect that stature.

[ QUOTE ]
I for one spend/spent hours coming up with names I like. Sadly, though, most are already taken :/

[/ QUOTE ]

Well you can always try variations on a theme. I've had a number of Scarlets, including Scarlet Shocker, Stinger and Sinner.

I've also got a couple of toons I've not mentioned here:

Tess Tosterone (guess the AT)

and Sloans Teddy. Her real name is Wednesday Rice

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
We are incredibly lucky in that we speak one of the richest and widest known vocabularies in human history: English.

[/ QUOTE ]I, for one, only speak American English

[/ QUOTE ]

Corrected for you Max

Mega_Jamie you're right, I didn't include rhymes, more due to lack of space than anything else but it is a very valid source of material for names, but thanks for mentioning it too

[ QUOTE ]


Names are all well and good, what drives me to distraction is the people who don't capitalise their names... it looks [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

I think that rather depends on what impact they are trying to have.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Awesome, absolutely awesome. I too can appreciate great use of the language. I'd like to add a type of name though, the comedy/spoof name - for instance, I already happen to know there's a Captain Obvious out there because it was already taken... anyone who's seen Whose Line Is It Anyway will know what I mean as well.

"Thank god you're here, Constantly-Being-Hit-By-A-Car Man!"

[/ QUOTE ]
"Glad you could make it, Proctologist Man!"

"Thanks; I was just looking up a few friends."

Classic stuff.

Edit: Nice treatise Shocker!

[/ QUOTE ]

heh thanks... and does the Proctologist have a hard day at the orofice?

Thanks for the kind comments, I wholeheartedly agree that originality is important too. I've seen too many claws/regen scrappers called xWolvie in the past. It's quite tiresome

We are incredibly lucky in that we speak one of the richest and widest known vocabularies in human history: English. It is diverse, glorious, flexible, precise, multi-faceted and beautiful. Few other languages have such a varied lexicon, nor the ability to convey such a precise meaning with a seemingly minor variation.

It’s therefore sometimes frustrating to see the lack of imagination given to names in such an excellent game as City of Heroes and Villains, and does no credit to the game, or the progenitors of such misnomered soubriquets. With such a rich and varied panoply to conjour with, the single syllable “Donk” or “Bob” lacks a certain ‘je ne sais quoi.’ It falls flat before it begins.

It behoves us to consider the question “what’s in a name?” The answer is quite simply everything. The ancients, and some occultists even today (not to mention certain religions) believe that names are power. Even if a name isn’t of itself powerful, then it should convey a sense of the power held by the owner. This is, after all, an environment of super-beings, whether for good or ill, the denizens of this domain are blessed with awful and awesome abilities the like of which the real world has never seen, and the names of those inhabitants should reflect that. Names can (and should) describe a little bit of the owner’s talents.

Let’s go back to basics: Superman, The Fantastic Four, Batman, Spiderman… et al. They really convey what the protagonist is all about. Superman… well he’s a bit good really isn’t he? The Fantastic Four tells you all you need to know. There’s more than three, less than five and they are rather jolly splendid. Batman is a man who is also into cricket… oh wait, sorry… But you get the picture: The name carries a very important message – it is critical to the character. Spend as many hours as you want working with Sexy Jay’s finest costumery, and come up with something astounding in terms of look, with a powerset to match, but call him or her Snurflepants and the toon is gonna be in the end, well, snurflepants. The expression of the name is uninspiring and does a disservice to him that he’ll never recover from, even at 50.

But how to get that good name? Something that reflects what your characters concept is all about, his or her power sets, any past history or RP opportunities etc?

There are no “rules” but some key guidelines are as follows:

Alliteration, Colour, Puns, Personification, Metaphor and Evocation, in no specific order. (and no I don’t advocate the creation of a unique acronym just cuz.) Autonyms and Antonyms are also useful, but NOTHING beats a decent dictionary and thesaurus. Yes, the free online ones are passable but you’ll be amazed at the value either book gives you in everyday life, regardless of this game. If you value language and words, don’t skimp.

Let’s deal with the above sequentially:

Alliteration; typically means a series of two or more words, each commencing with the same letter. The Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Scarlet Shocker, Reed Richards, Peter Parker… all good examples of alliteration in the superhero genre. Its main effect is to give you something that rolls off the tongue mellifluously.

Colour: Always valuable. Stuck for a name? Stick a colour in there. Works well for the Silver Surfer (see above) the Blue Beetle, and Scarlet Shocker. Oh and guess what… gives you a nice alliterative tool too. That said, the Red Skull might tell you that he’s got a good colour and doesn’t need alliteration. Nor does the Black Knight… Or Green Lantern come to think of it. But, sticking a colour into a name gives an additional option.

Puns are a great tool, although less common in comicbookland than many other forms of names. A couple of examples I’ve conjured up are a dark/zombie MM who wears raggedy clothes. His name is Doug Graves. Or there’s the Illusion/Sonic controller called False Alarm. But the pun is that the name again gives a bit of a clue as to what they actually do.

Personification: Spiderman, Batman. ‘Nuff said. Men who take on properties similar to creatures. But be careful. The names have to evoke a sense of threat or danger. Nobody’s going to be scared of Sparrow-man or Bush-Baby (well, they might be, but for the wrong reasons.)

Metaphore is often used as a comic book hero’s strap line. Superman is the Man of Steel, Batman the World’s Greatest Detective, Hellboy; The Right Hand of Doom… etc. But if you’re stuck you could be the Deadly Diamond Dog, or Iron Mage… etc. Metaphore means you’re using a parallel to describe your character. What does your toon do? Instead of calling him “Man who does Damage by punching hard” you could call him Iron Fist or… Sure, it’s been done but you get the point.

Evocation and Metaphore are very close in result, if not concept. Meatphore means using a word that does not directly apply to describe something, such as he was built like a brick outhouse. No he wasn’t literally made from bricks but he was strong and sturdy. In a similar way the phrase build like a tank doesn’t mean somebody covered with 10cm thick boiler plate (well in City of, of course it can but let’s not go there right now) but it evokes a sense of imperviousness. Lightning quick… well lightning is pretty damned fast, but we all know what it means, as another example. Perhaps the best example of an evocative name is Dr Strange, but Quicksilver of the Flash also do what they say on the proverbial tin.

There are no hard and fast rules here. This is incredibly subjective and it finally boils down to what you want for your character – but if this small piece helps inspire you to something more imaginative than simply “Bill the Newt” then it has served its purpose.

Well, Scarlet Stinger, my Plant/Thorns is now 50 and got there relatively painlessly after this post so thanks fro the advice.

I now need to respec (for example junking Thorntrops) and give her an overall "tweak" but I can't get Mids to work due to an issue with .Net, so any advice you guys can offer would be appreciated

Thanks again