New Clockwork Background Section
By
Arctic Sun,
Posted on: 2005-11-11 14:08 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
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What I'd like to see: aliens from OUR dimension
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Like Kheldians?
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I was about to say that.
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Now now, Kheldians are 11th-dimensional beings.
Multiple uses of 'dimension' give me a headache though.
Let's Dance!
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A week after i put THIS and THIS on my Equinox HC page this comes up? Coincidence? Or VILLAIN CONSPIRACY? Don't look at them heroes! IT'S A TRAP!
EDIT: And also i don't get the point in ruining the story of the villains groups. I suggest redoing the article on The Lost and adding in that they are infact changed by The Rikti and are serving them. So much for nobody knowing who controls the clockwork, evidently they don't read the paper.
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Ah dude did you even pay attention to what the people in the game say about the clockwork? The article doesn't say who the person was it says unidentified young man. All they know is that some unknown person is the clockwork king. So they don't know who controls the clockwork. And yes they do reference the article in the game.
Yeah thats cool ive never read those
�The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
@Mr. Magnifico
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He led the Amerika Korps through Portal Court
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Probably whatever zone got taken over by The Hive, actually. That's where the old Portal Corps HQ was. ;D
Just nit-picking. ;D
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And it's been a while since I fought Mother Mayhem, but is she still Aurora, or have they replaced her with an evil Sister Psyche?
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According to Statesman, during the Rikti invasion of Praetorian Earth, Tyrant forced Mother Mayhem to overextend her powers, which knocked her into a comatose state. To cope, Mother Mayhem violently took over the mind of a young vigilante called the Northern Light. She doesn't seem to be intent on giving up control any time soon.
In any case, when the 5th Column goes through its revival spawned by the Reichsman's reemergence, I better see them with some brand-new stuff to make them different from The Council so I don't feel like I'm beating on two groups of villains that are all the same. More pulp-ish concepts, like rocket pack soldiers, storm troopers, or something. Why not give Unteroffiziers and Obersts those potato-masher grenade-things instead of those modern Counterstrike concussion grenades? Just, no alien frills. XD
And no frikken' kung-fu! XD I mean, it's alright for them to shout out their attacks like a bad anime ("Alpha maneuver!",) I think that's funny, but kung-fu fascists just strike me as corny. XD
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
Well, we know we're all comic book fans by all the debating... 
While I love the Clockwork (my favorite villains in the game), the article is revisionist history that no longer fits the story arc clues.
My nitpicks are: The Clockwork King being in his twenties, yet he somehow has this long-time anger at the older engineering establishment for sneering at him all these years. Also, mechanical keys are very, very old and I could see a man in his 50s using them, but what college kid in 1999-2001 would even know to use those? Or how?
Nitpick 2: Blue Steel was added into King's Row after they needed a trainer there. (King's Row used to have nothing in it.) Also, every character, male, female or cow, "reminds me of the vigilante who crushed my body and left me to die." Bovinity, the Cow of Justice looked nothing like Blue Steel. Nor do any other of my characters. 
Other than the revisionism and the inconsistency with the actual game world, it's pretty good.
Live arcs: 517377 and 517381
Virtue: Quickshot. Swiftwind. Aliuneidis. Gizmodeus. Dasher. Fiver. Inuit Acer. Daniel Darke. Cerebral Flame. El Halcon.
Intel Core2Duo 2.4 Ghz 4 GB RAM**NVIDIA Geforce 9600 GT set to 1280 x 1024**Windows Vista 32 bit
I think that the reason he was still in his twenties yet cursed the engineeing establishment was a simple reason. He wanted to be a robotics engineer we can geuss. He has the latent clockwork mental mastery mutation. So I am geuss that he was trying to create a robot after graduateing robotics U or werever one goes to learn a great deal about robotics. He was so stressed out as his deadline neared his mental powers suddenly developed themselves with a tremendous power so large he was able to make his walking pile of junk work. He went ahead to show off said device. It was a hit and a line was made that began to produce these wonders of science. However the robots were soon found to be incapeable of operation at all or at certain ranges. The robots were quickly taken apart and examined. Results showed that there was no possibal way scientific or mechanical these contraption could work. The futuer CK was thrown out on his ear. He then began to develope his powers and thus began the reign of the clockwork king. Either that or some scientific robotic accident gave him his powers but then he would be classified as a Science origin AV instead of mutation.
And as to why the cartoonish construct reminicent of a fun little clockwork toy well what better robot to destroy advanceing robotic engineering than one that look like a toy soldier.
Oh and why everyone reminds him of Blue steel.....well..............ummm he got hit on the head by BS alot harder than he thought.....
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My nitpicks are: The Clockwork King being in his twenties, yet he somehow has this long-time anger at the older engineering establishment for sneering at him all these years.
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You can be a self-percieved genius at any age, even if you're 15 or 16. 
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Also, mechanical keys are very, very old and I could see a man in his 50s using them, but what college kid in 1999-2001 would even know to use those? Or how?
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The Clockwork are not mechanically possible. The keys are just for decoration and also because the Clockwork King is kinda crazy.
In any case, if you want to be an engineer, the best way to get started is to take stuff apart and put it back together again. The Clockwork King probably started out this way at an early age, maybe he got into some antique pocket watches or some such thing.
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Bovinity, the Cow of Justice looked nothing like Blue Steel. Nor do any other of my characters.
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You don't have to look like someone to have their attitude. Wouldn't you be reminded of Blue Steel if some random hero barged into your warehouse and started smashing stuff?
I don't think it's revisionist at all.
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
As Ellis already knows, I also imagined the Clockwork King as being an older man, to go with his mad-scientist ego and anger at the Academic Establishment. You get some of that as a student, but it doesn't really kick in until you've an advanced degree of your own.
Having him be so young... diminishes him, in a way. I guess the Dr. Doom/Magneto role was already taken by Nemesis, but did they have to bump him all the way down to the level of the Flash's Rogues Gallery?
My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City
I got to thinking (again). We dont know if the young man at the factory was the highest head on the totem pole. What if. WHAT IF the young man was a sort of heir apperant to the REAL clockwork king who really was a mad scientist and really WASNT maimed/killed by Blue Steel. If anyone has taken the time to think about it the clockwork in the rouge ilses shouldnt even be there. The mental pulse isnt strong enough. Who knows. What if the CK while he was human had a son? What if said son is possibly the CK in Paragon and the Father CK is in the Rouge Ilses? or viea versa?
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I got to thinking (again). We dont know if the young man at the factory was the highest head on the totem pole. What if. WHAT IF the young man was a sort of heir apperant to the REAL clockwork king who really was a mad scientist and really WASNT maimed/killed by Blue Steel. If anyone has taken the time to think about it the clockwork in the rouge ilses shouldnt even be there. The mental pulse isnt strong enough. Who knows. What if the CK while he was human had a son? What if said son is possibly the CK in Paragon and the Father CK is in the Rouge Ilses? or viea versa?
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I'm going to tell everyone wy there are Clockwork on the Rogue Isle, it's a spoiler for anyone who hasn't done the Aeon Conspircay arc.
Spoiler ahead
Aeon bought Clockwork parts as scrap and suddenly they started putting themselves together as Bat'Zul, the big demon under Cap au Diable, started possessing them.
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As Ellis already knows, I also imagined the Clockwork King as being an older man, to go with his mad-scientist ego and anger at the Academic Establishment. You get some of that as a student, but it doesn't really kick in until you've an advanced degree of your own.
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Well, when I think back to when I've run into him in Clockwork Castle or Clockwork Earth, I always did imagine him to be younger. Even when I read the clue that was his journal excerpt, I never imagined him to be any older than his early 30's.
61866 - A Series of Unfortunate Kidnappings - More than a coincidence?
2260 - The Burning of Hearts - A green-eyed monster holds the match.
379248 - The Spider Without Fangs - NEW - Some lessons learned (more or less.)
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Great Story! I will never look at Blue Steel the same now....hmmmm....I guess he will use the same excuse Wonder Woman did..
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I don't see how. Wonder Woman killed a powerful telepath who could control Superman's mind. Blue Steel killed a pre-school telepath who could control some scrapyard robots.
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...Who was responsible for the death of multiple police officers.
and "Some" junkyard robots? I dunno what game you're playing, but for their level, Clockworks are pretty nasty critters. The King is dangerous, no matter what his age.
Anyhow, I like this article: it basically completes the clockwork king storyline. The previous infortmation in the game explains to you who he is, how his powers work, and his eventual fate (His defeat in the Synapse task force). I applaud this story for doing what it *should*: Filling in information that's not in the game.
Though I would like a little more info on what the king was like before- IE, how his powers first developed, why he started on his crime spree and makign robots, etc.
Tygara - 50 Claws/Regen/Power Scrapper, Virtue- Member of Kitties on the Prowl.
Shadeburn - Dark/Rad Defender, Virtue- Member of Catch 'Em Crew
Nature Boy' - Elec/Ice Blaster, Virtue - Member of Young Phalanx
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While I love the Clockwork (my favorite villains in the game), the article is revisionist history that no longer fits the story arc clues.
My nitpicks are: The Clockwork King being in his twenties, yet he somehow has this long-time anger at the older engineering establishment for sneering at him all these years.
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You can see yourself as a genius no matter what your age- especially if you have powers you're not aware off that allows you to create complex automatons that everyone else sneers at as being "Impossible", despite the clear genius of your work. Its very, very easy in a situation like that to assume you know some sort of secret that no one else does or can comprehend, and therefore everyone else must be an idiot.
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Also, mechanical keys are very, very old and I could see a man in his 50s using them, but what college kid in 1999-2001 would even know to use those? Or how?
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Well, if you're an aspiring mechanical genius, and not terriblly rich, you're going to have to scrounge for mechanical part wherever you can get them- especially when no one will fund your "Genius" work. I could see him scrounging in scrapyards- or based on the behavior of his minions- performing petty theft of various mechanical objects- and using those materials in his work. Its not too hard to imagine him stumbling across clockwork mechanics and being enthralled with them, and using them as the basis of his "Genius" work.
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Nitpick 2: Blue Steel was added into King's Row after they needed a trainer there. (King's Row used to have nothing in it.) Also, every character, male, female or cow, "reminds me of the vigilante who crushed my body and left me to die." Bovinity, the Cow of Justice looked nothing like Blue Steel. Nor do any other of my characters.
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the King says that about *everyone*. (Me and my friends have joked about it frequentlly), but realistically, it might not be their appearance that reminds him, rather their behavior- Considering the savage beating he recieved, its not hard to imagine *any* sort of vigilanteism setting him off.
Tygara - 50 Claws/Regen/Power Scrapper, Virtue- Member of Kitties on the Prowl.
Shadeburn - Dark/Rad Defender, Virtue- Member of Catch 'Em Crew
Nature Boy' - Elec/Ice Blaster, Virtue - Member of Young Phalanx
He was clearly unhinged by his powers and the portal clockwork king even more confirms that.
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Great Story! I will never look at Blue Steel the same now....hmmmm....I guess he will use the same excuse Wonder Woman did..
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I don't see how. Wonder Woman killed a powerful telepath who could control Superman's mind. Blue Steel killed a pre-school telepath who could control some scrapyard robots.
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...Who was responsible for the death of multiple police officers.
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Unacceptable. How many people have the Joker or Lex Luthor killed? It doesn't matter, because a hero doesn't kill unless it's absolutely necessary, and Blue Steel obviously killed him in a rage, not because his hand was forced.
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and "Some" junkyard robots? I dunno what game you're playing, but for their level, Clockworks are pretty nasty critters. The King is dangerous, no matter what his age.
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I'm pretty sure I'm playing City of Heroes. Yes, some junk yard robots. More precisely, some robots created from parts found in a junk yard.
He doesn't appear to have been killed. Seriously injured. If he was dead the clockwork wouldn't have fetched him and took his brain out. He has to power them after all. Synaspe tf ending does indicate why you don't see any clockwork after 20. In the game storyline you ended the clockwork threat. It's why you get that mission intro text expressing disbelief at hearing the sounds of the clockwork when you first enter the mission with the portal clockwork king mission.
What with making heroes acting like the people they are fighting. I want them to be heroic and have some ideals. Having Blue Steel beat someone to near death and then shrug it off is not the kind of example that should be set.
We are the City of Heroes... please understand the word.
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What with making heroes acting like the people they are fighting. I want them to be heroic and have some ideals. Having Blue Steel beat someone to near death and then shrug it off is not the kind of example that should be set.
We are the City of Heroes... please understand the word.
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*cough*Wolverine*cough*Punisher*cough*
Not all heroes believe that preserving the lives of criminals is a top priority.
First, the article itself: Very cool. I actualy like the idea of the King being younger. Some grad student who snapped, insisting that his creations worked because the science was solid when, really, it was just his willpower forcing them together-which is a really neat twist on "evil robot maker" in the first place.
Second, Blue Steel. I think folks are kind of overreacting to this. Not that its not something important-its the first real bit of characterization becides "Cop" that Blue Steel has gotten, and talk about a doozy. But, that's just it-Blue Steel is not a Statesman or a Synapse. He started as a cop, and continues to be only hero who works directly with the PD, instead of being part of a different organization. I think its very much in character for a police officer to fly into a rage when hearing of the death of fellow officers, and I don't think it takes away from the Silver Age leanings of the setting. There's always been a strong street crime side to City of Heroes, and Blue Steel is a firm part of that group.
Secondly, the article itself.
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When Blue Steel radioed back to the commissioner, he learned of the officer casualties
and a fury exploded within him. He launched himself into the bungalow. ... Blue Steel collapsed, exhausted and spent. He checked on the man, and felt the bile rise when he realized the man was dead. Disgusted with himself and the whole days tragedy, Blue Steel radioed in for the coroner and clean-up crew. With a heavy heart he left to help fight the fire.
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The prose makes it clear that Blue Steel was not in his right mind when he learned of the deaths, and that he was disgusted with himself for the loss of control. It could be why he's so quiet now, keeping the beat in King's Row and being another half-retired Regulator.
That's the important difference between a Wolverene and a Punisher, or even the previous comparison to Wonder Woman. Their acts were deliberate actions that they have justified to themselves. Wonder Woman in perticular refuses to feel regret or be told she was in the wrong for killing Max Lord. Blue Steel fell into a rage after hearing about the murder of police officers for copper wire, and afterward almost threw up after realizeing what he had done. The focus on the fact that Steel knew he had done something wrong, and the intensity of his regret for crossing a line is what, I think, keeps this from going into 90s gritty territory.
Also of interest, is that this sure explains why the Paladin emerges in King's Row, and why Babbage lurks in Boomtown. Think about how Blue Steel's gotta feel, every time he sees the Clockwork getting stronger and stronger, or the Paladin rampaging down Kirby Avenue. It puts a whole new light on why that trainer is in the zone he is in, which is something we haven't seen before-trainer zone locations have seemed almost randomly distributed. That's a darn nice touch on the author's part.
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Great Story! I will never look at Blue Steel the same now....hmmmm....I guess he will use the same excuse Wonder Woman did..
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I don't see how. Wonder Woman killed a powerful telepath who could control Superman's mind. Blue Steel killed a pre-school telepath who could control some scrapyard robots.
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...Who was responsible for the death of multiple police officers.
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Unacceptable. How many people have the Joker or Lex Luthor killed? It doesn't matter, because a hero doesn't kill unless it's absolutely necessary, and Blue Steel obviously killed him in a rage, not because his hand was forced.
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Yeah, speaking of that...
First- heros are to always be perfect? always to have perfect emotional control, even when facing down someone who murdered theri friends and partners? Even heros have moments of weakness in the face of such emotionally wrenching events. Have *you* ever had a friend murdered? If you have, I sincerly doubt the thought of murdering, or at least hurting the person who did it never crossed your mind.
And second... Lex Luthor and the Joker have killed countless people... I think the Joker's boardring into the hundred of thousands and yet Batman and Superman don't do anything until *after* they've acted. While actually out and out killing them to stop them may not be "Right" (Though wholey justifiable if caught in the middle of their actions), what's *really* unacceptable is they often *save* them from the consequences of their own actions. *that* is wrong. Saving a multi-murder from a death he himself engineered (accidental or not) is not in any way a justifiable act, *especially* if you're 'good'. That act will inevitablly cause the deaths of innocents. Yet in the comics, they keep doing it.
Batman Begins got it right for once. "I'm not going to kill you. But I don't have to save you."
Tygara - 50 Claws/Regen/Power Scrapper, Virtue- Member of Kitties on the Prowl.
Shadeburn - Dark/Rad Defender, Virtue- Member of Catch 'Em Crew
Nature Boy' - Elec/Ice Blaster, Virtue - Member of Young Phalanx
Doesn't matter. A hero doesn't murder, and Blue Steel murdered a man. There was no self-defense, he just flat-out murdered him in a fit of rage over a few casualities. I understand he's a police officer, and I understand that he might have lost some friends, but it still doesn't matter.
If someone shot my friend dead in cold blood and I murdered him in turn, I'd be sent to prison.
In comics, it's still unacceptable. The Joker crippled Jason Todd with a crowbar and set him on fire (officially, we're still debating whether or not the Jason Todd that's appeared in the comic again is the real thing). If Batman had him cornered in an alley without a way for the Joker to defend himself and he decided to slice his throat open with a Batarang, that would make Batman a murderer. Let's say Lex Luthor kills Lois, even though he wouldn't. If he murdered Lois and Superman found out about it, him frying Lex's heart out of his chest without Lex lifting a finger in defense is murder.
Alternatively, Superman killed Zod and his crew on an alternate Earth after they killed all of its six billion inhabitants. He did this because they threatened to do the same thing to his Earth and he knew they could and would. It was pre-emptive, if not self-defense. Same goes for Wonder Woman snapping Maxwell Lord's neck after he controlled Superman's mind. She knew he could and would do it again, so it was pre-emptive and self defensive.
Blue Steel beat a kid to death in a sewer. It wasn't heroism, it was murder. That's clear. And it's understandable, from a human perspective, but heroes have and always should hold themselves above normal people.
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What I'd like to see: aliens from OUR dimension
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Like Kheldians?
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I was about to say that.