Todogut

Statesman's crotch
Not a semblance
Of resemblance
To human anatomy
No buttocks
No genitals
Abnormally large
Expanse between thighs
Perfectly smooth
Confoundingly curved
What is in those tights?

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During double experience point weekend, I got my corruptor to level 36. Today, I completed the story arc to unlock auras. But, when I went to the tailor and added an aura, I was alarmed to see that my character's cape, which I had unlocked at level 20, was gone... and there was no option available for a cape.

I burned a few free tailor coupons while fumbling around, trying different ideas to get my cape back--to no avail. Finally, I noticed the checkbox about show only free costume pieces. I clicked on it, and--voila'--the option for a cape was available again.

But, the colors for the cape exterior and interior appeared to be different from what I had defined before. Plus, the brooch and mantle were not as I had defined them. At least, I think so. I fumbled around so much, trying to fix things, that I'm not sure.

The point is, the show only free costume pieces checkbox seemed to mess up my character's cape.

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Hm... you never see Mender Silos and Pittsburgh Penguins forward James Neal in the same place at the same time.

Wow! Great stuff, GG!

And, you've given us a new visual meme:

In Steel Canyon, an NPC named Colonel Taggard stands before the statue of Blythe Square around the corner from Positron and Valkyrie. He wears a blue military uniform and has a white mustache (resembling Thunderbolt Ross). When I clicked on him, he didn't offer any conversation.

If I recall correctly, Laura Lockhart mentioned Colonel Taggard in her new Issue 22 story arc dialog.

Was Colonel Taggard newly added with I22? Does he provide a story arc, task force, or trial? Why didn't he talk to me? What's the deal with him?

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My villain, Flotsam, was created long before City of Heroes.

At a birthday party for my friend, Jim, his cousin, Neal, suggested that, as a gift, Neal and I should make a one-page comic about Jim's Starbolt character from our Champions pencil-and-paper roleplaying campaign. Neal and I took turns drawing panels in a story where Starbolt was surrounded by a group of super-villains and then they fought. (Straight to the good stuff.)

By the bottom of the page, Starbolt had defeated the henchmen, leaving only their leader. Neal came up with the leader's name: Flotsam. It was my turn to draw the next panel, so I asked Neal, "What does he look like?" Neal replied, "A flying piece of crap." So, I drew a lumpy shape with bird wings.

I depicted Flotsam attacking Starbolt with a beam that drained the hero's star energy. In a subsequent panel, Starbolt rebutted, "Then, take it all!" and blasted the villain to smithereens.

Later, I used Flotsam again as a foe for Starbolt in another comic. This time, I drew the villain as a disembodied brain with wings. The story concerned Flotsam luring Starbolt into a pro wrestling ring where robot duplicates of famous pro wrestlers attacked.

When Jim and I played City of Heroes, I created Flotsam as a robotics/dark miasma mastermind. His costume shows him as a tiny man with a giant, exposed brain and bat wings.

In an episode of the MMOrgue* about the free-to-play trend, an industry observer talked about how, after the competition changed to F2P, City of Heroes really didn't have a choice. If a kid saw that City of Heroes cost a monthly subscription while another superhero MMO was free, which one would be picked?

Glad to see that the Q4 numbers indicate the changeover has gone pretty well for Paragon Studios. Seems encouraging for the future of CoH, which is good news for players.

* MMOrgue was a cool Internet show; but, the series ended when the host got a job in the MMO industry.

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I have a level 50 Kinetics/Energy Blast Defender named Kid-Kinetics. He's based on my 11-year-old nephew (if he lived in Paragon City and had super powers).

Positive comments from players of the arc:

@Ronin Indigo: This mission was a thing of beauty. I loved all the little dialogue touches amd humor and the classic super-crossover-teamup awesomeness. It was nicely personalized and felt very heroic indeed. Well done!

@American Valor: really enjoyed that thank you

@JKCarrier: Fun arc

@Zenn: Great! I enjoyed it!

@Himari: the closing text is funny. I liked it a lot. as far as story goes, its worded well, and the NPCs are in character.

@Jagaren: it was fun.

@Ishtaria: good AE mission

@Khonshu: it was fun to play with the Phalanx. Thanks for making the arc.

@Acroyear2: Good dialog

@November: Excellent job - keep up the good work

@Emmadrine: Very good. I liked all the signature heroes!

@Jr. Birdman: was good

@Dogger: Very interesting AE concept. Get every hero, fight every villain. Was a fun surprise.

@LIBERTY X: A wonderful piece of storytelling! Great use of the genre and stable of characters. Good build-up to the final battle, and brilliant dialog throughout. I particularly appreciated that each character spoke as themselves, and not as a single "author-voice". Quite a bit of good humor, and fun sub-references. I think this arc would work especially well for teams.

@Sister Flame: This was fun

@BluePulse: I liked it a lot... Classic superhero team-up story.

@Electro Shock: Fab!

@Maid Mercury: More like a Task force, but great maps and pitfalls,

@Avonlea: Wow, that was epic! Great dialogue and fun. Color-coding the dialogue was a good idea, too!

@Aehaed: Epic! Played at x8/+1 the place swarms. Great mission! Glad I took an incarnate Soldier of Arachos. Especially when Statesman says it's exactly what he needs

@Backfire: Good challenge and nice dialog/action. Good job! and a fun Phalanx team up!

@Evangel: Really nice story with a good mystery and great use of color for dialog separation. Allies made the boss fights very soloable which is a plus and really helped draw me into the story. Nice arc!

@FredrikSvanberg: Great action!

@FemFury: Some very clever dialogue in there. Overall, it had a feel like a more "four-color" comic book story, or like COH done in style of old Superfriends cartoons, with a moral about teamwork.

@Asymptot: Great arc! That was awesome, and a classic superhero feel. i gave it 5 stars

@Fantastic Foe: Hey. just ran your For the People arc, and I thought it was great. Well constructed, and nice presentation. I felt like I was reading a Justic League comic (guest starring me!) The final discussion with the Phalanx on who was which finger was excellent.

In Zombie Man's Guide to Guides, you can find the Mastermind Guides and FAQs. It lists six player-written guides about necromancy:

Necromancy/Dark Miasma Guide, by Geek_Boy [I8]

Lichloved, a Definitive guide to Necromancy and Forcefields

Necromancy/Dark Miasma Guide, by Dark Avalon

Undead Love: A Necro/Dark Love Story

Necromancy Cookbook, by Don_Uvas

I Feel Sick! A Necromancy/Poison Mastermind Guide (Ren_Karalchin)

Plus, the Masterminds forum might have additional, updated info about necromancy.

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MA story arc 530574 "For the People" - Join the signature heroes against their arch-foes to face... the Challenge of the Freedom Phalanx!

When "death of a hero" events have been staged by comic book publishers, the news was featured in USAToday, and the mainstream publicity helped boost sales.

In contrast, Statesman's death got a mention in Massively.

GlaziusF and Mind_Lad,

Thanks for playing my arc and posting a review/comments. Glad you enjoyed it.

Recruited a team on Sharkhead Isle and defeated the Ghost of Scrapyarder. But, did not receive the Hammer Down badge (http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Hammer_Down_Badge). (Neither did others on the team. One team member indicated he did not receive any XP.) Don't know why not?

During the battle, the team leadership star was passed from my level 32 character to a level 41 toon and later to a level 50. Did I not not receive the Hammer Down badge because the star was passed twice to higher level characters?

Did my character not do enough damage to the giant monster to earn the badge? I was playing a mastermind, and my robots did damage while I healed and debuffed.

I had not talked with Crimson Revenant (http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Crimson_Revenant) prior to defeating the Ghost of Scrapyarder. Did I need to talk to CR first?

Or was it a bug?

The contact for my Mission Architect story arc, "For the People" (ID 530574), is Statesman. With the announcement that Statesman will be killed off during the current Signature Story Arc (SSA), does that mean that he should be removed from my arc?

No, I don't think so. My story can be set sometime before the SSA.

Let my arc stand as a tribute to Statesman and the Freedom Phalanx as we knew them.