If you want to level up with positron, plant is your best bet, despite you not wanting to play it (why?).
I don't really like how plant works(looks?), I believe it mostly to be visual reasons...I find it very ugly and displeasing to look at.
But I could give it another go, and if I did, what would be a good secondary?
Id have to throw in a vote for Plant/Storm. With that build you can not only do lots of lovely control but you can become a real AoE beast without sacrificing your control. Not to mention freezing rain is an amazing debuff and you can use hurricane to help control and block enemies that are seemingly out of your Roots area.
If I had to say another it would be Earth/Rad. I have seen this guy tank the ambushes by himself in the second mission of the ITF. Not to mention you get some great debuffing tools to go along with that control.
Those would be my two voites
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What about taking earth and pairing it with storm? Would I be less effective for something like Posi? Where I wouldn't be getting real solid controls like SoC to back me up and I wouldn't be getting the massive debuffs from rad?
Posi's something of a special case, since there's no AV and there's a lot of Vahzilok that put the hurt on low level characters. Crowd control and being able to keep the team standing is going to be more critical than debuffs (though properly applied, debuffs are one method of keeping the team standing - but the usual emphasis on debuffs for AV killing isn't there).
I'd suggest either Earth or Ice for a primary that will be powerful for those early TFs and keep going strong. Illusion is a great choice too, but largely for Phantom Army, meaning that it's not as good for Posi but a contender for Synapse on up.
As far as secondaries go, Storm is great if you feel comfortable making use of the knockback in a constructive way. Especially early on, that's going to be a large part of what you bring to the table and Gale can be one of your greatest assets or a huge liability depending on how you use it.
For TFs, if we're skipping over TA, Rad and Empathy, I'd suggest either Thermal or Sonic. Both offer a good mix of buffs and debuffs.
To answer your most recent question, yes, I expect that an Earth/Storm would do just fine.
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I'd say Earth/Kin. Great controls. Great and highly desired Team Buffs.
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No, Earth/Storm sounds like a very fun and controlly build, now that I look at in Mids by 16 you could have Fossilize, Stone Cages, Quicksand, Stalagmites, Freezing Rain, and Snow Storm if you like. Now, at that level without Stamina it might be a tad bit END heavy though.
Dreaded Wail hits things freakin' hard.. i like to hit things freakin' hard... so.. id go Wail... SAVE THE WAILS!!!! - Solar_Lunata
Ok, so it seems like Earth has been getting some good votes, but the fact that Illusion was even mentioned intrigues me greatly. What is the general consensus of Illusion paired with...well, anything....for TFs
Well currently I am working on my Ill/Rad and its been a fun combo. I can't say it would be bad for lower level TFs but Illusion is kind of a strange type of control. Really its more of a great damageing set. See, one of the biggest powers is your Phantom Army which you dont get till level 18. With that power lasting for 60 seconds every cast and is down for 240s without recharge its an interesting power and one worth getting perma. Basically you summon 3 Decoys to the selected location and they will follow you. These decoys are indestructable and deal out spectal damage (basically damage that heals half of itself back if the target isnt dead in a set amount of time). Don't let that fool ya though, if you do it right you can make boss spawns cry with relative ease.
Having said that, it kinda lacks in the 'control' department. I have spoken with some who find it hard to consider a controlling set. Personally I think its just a different kinda of control. However, you were wanting traditional contol through immobilize, hold, and stun which Earth is great for so my vote sticks for that.
Thats just my two cents, if I mentioned anything off about Illusion feel free to correct me, as I said Im still leveling mine and YMMV.
Dreaded Wail hits things freakin' hard.. i like to hit things freakin' hard... so.. id go Wail... SAVE THE WAILS!!!! - Solar_Lunata
As far as TFs go, your major contribution as an Illusion Controller is going to be Phantom Army, a power which basically allows you to summon an unkillable group of pets to tank for the team for a bit. This can be very, very helpful when fighting AVs, especially if the TF doesn't have a Tanker. It's also great for dealing with an inadvertantly added spawn, ambush, or other situation in which tanking is needed on two fronts at once.
Phantom Army opens at 18, so it's not available for Positron, but should be for all of the other TFs. Illusion/Radiation is a classic AV killer build and Phantom Army is a huge part of that.
As far as what to pair with Illusion, the suggestions for secondaries really don't change. Storm and TA offer good battlefield manipulation in control, debuffs and KB to offset the relatively light control of Illusion, so those probably have the most synergy.
For the OP's purposes I'd recommend Storm, Thermal, Radiation or Sonic to pair with Illusion, in that order. I'd have put in TA as well, but the OP specifically stated he didn't want TA and would prefer not to have Rad.
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It definetly seems like storm is my secondary, since I like manipulating the battlefield, and I like a lot of the powers, and I've got a lvl 32 storm def, so I have some experience with implementation as well.
now I come down to deciding between earth, illusion, ice, or plant. If someone can convince me to go some direction, i'd love to hear it!
If Storm is a lock, I'd recommend Ice Control or Illusion Control, with more or less the same force.
Ice Control has really great synergy with Storm since you can really, really slow things with that combo. There's also a lot of really good control in Ice to supplement the battlefield manipulation you get in Storm, resulting in a real powerhouse of crowd control. I also think the two powersets pair nicely with each other thematically, as there are several cold-themed powers in Storm Summoning (Snow Storm, Freezing Rain).
Illusion Control is more complementary than synergistic. Storm plugs the holes in Illusion rather nicely and helps bring you up to par as far as battlefield management, which is an area Illusion tends to fall short in. On the flip side, with Phantom Army along you really don't need a Tanker for your TFs. That's not to say it's not very handy to have a Tanker (always will be, if they're halfway competent), but PA can tank most AVs just fine and you can usually kill them before it expires if your team is good.
So there's my two cents. Pick either Ice or Illusion. Nothing wrong with Plant or Earth as choices either, I just wouldn't recommend them quite as strongly given a Storm Summoning secondary.
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Earth's debuffs are all -def, and they stack with themselves. So quicksand+EQ+FR+stalagmites = major defense debuff AND dmg resist debuff AND a nice soft control in the knockup (which can be placed from outside line of sight) PLUS the hard control of stalagmites. Toss a snowstorm on the boss, and you cut the spawns recharge. Make sure you have hasten.
Not too shabby.
Edit: Earthquake would not be available on Posi. My mistake.
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Not a bad argument for Earth/Storm. Not bad at all. I wasn't thinking about the synergy between Quicksand and Freezing Rain, or about the way the -def would play into Freezing Rain hitting more targets. Better synergy there than I realized offhand.
I think I'd personally still favor Ice/Storm over it for synergy, but not by much.
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Earth or Plant with Storm or TA. You've eliminated all the really good primaries and secondaries for TF with the exception of storm.
Given your, very much too narrow, criteria however, Earth/Storm will be your best bet.
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I'd say either is a nice controller to have on Posi.
The -recharges from Ice are nice, but it lacks a true hold (for this setting.) Something to consider is if another controller is on the team, and if that player tends to spam immobs. If so, it will hurt the KU of slick and rain, and you won't be able to do anything to actually STOP the mobs from attacking.
Even with DOs (assuming you are running the TF from level) then Stalagmites achieve a 90% accuracy (which is plenty since you have -def) with a 22.3 second duration on an unhastened timer of 90s that has a range of 70. So if necessary, you could easily open with it from beyond the spawns aggro radii safely setting up a cages,quicksand,rain combo, or start stacking mag with fossilize.
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As far as TFs go, your major contribution as an Illusion Controller is going to be Phantom Army,
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That and SI if you want to help speed through them by sneaking to the end. Pick up teleport friend too (you could even use your 2nd build as a TF build to get it early since it can be tough to fit it so early for normal play) and zoom.
Group invis can work too, but the team has to be smart. Often people not use to the maps get lost and invis wears off and they get themselves killed.
As odd as it may seem, I'd toss Earth/FF in the mix...all of Earth's goodness, combined with the great +Def of FFs REALLY shine on large teams, which more often than not is what you'll be part of if you're running lots of TFs. Force Bolt for positioning at low levels. My namesake, Dirtball, is Earth/FF and people loved him in my old coalition when we would run 8 man teams on invincible...it was routinely 3 tanks, 2 scrappers, an Emp/Rad defender, a blaster and me. I had enough control by myself to handle just about everything, even when one of the tanks would get bored and pull additional spawns to us. 
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Not sure why you don't like plant visual effects. I think they are by far some of my favorite.
I think the vines spreading over the mobs for your hold (ST and AoE) look very nice, and everyone can clearly see what you've done to the spawn. Spirit Tree looks pretty cool (though an entirely skippable skill).
They're one of the best for team orientation (TF's?) since you can very clearly see which ones are being Held, confused, or rooted. It's easy for tanks, especially when you're holding a Lt or something.
Carrion creepers (especially when its a huge spawn) just looks so awesome, and the noise they make is very satisfying. Besides, a perma control (very easily permaed as plants/kin) that grows to match the spawn (or an addition of more mobs) is so brutal for large skill controls.
I like my plants/kin a lot for group play. Alternate between Vines and Carrion Creepers for large spawns. Use Seeds if things are really rough (Started using this less as I lvled because of the whole no XP for confused mobs thing). I don'tuse Seeds unless my group really needs it.
Having 2 controls with such a ridiculous duration (Seeds and Carrions) makes the inbetween of doing speed boost, transf, and fulcrum seem less tedius.
People sure are making good arguments for me biting the bullet and making a plant controller. I may have to do that.
Thanks guys! This has been a great help, I think I'm just going to role a bunch of things that sounds good and run TFs with all of them, so I can pick my favorite as time goes by!
My 4 new controllers are:
Earth/Storm (Project 1)
Plant/FF
Ice/Storm
Earth/FF
Though now that I've decided to go with these people...I feel like there is so much more I need to try...this is way too hard!
[ QUOTE ]
My 4 new controllers are:
Earth/Storm (Project 1)
Plant/FF
Ice/Storm
Earth/FF
[/ QUOTE ]
Just as a quick note, all of those are pretty low in damage, and you will be relying very heavily on your team for damage. If you don't have a couple high damaging team members your TFs will be painful and long.
Not saying those choices are bad, just might be nice to have some that are able to do different things. For example: 1 high dmg controller (fire or ill primary paired with rad, storm, or kin) 1 high support controller (a bubbler, emp, or sonic, any primary works) 1 high debuff controller (rad,storm,ta, paired with whatever) 1 high control controller (earth or plant paired with TA or Storm)
Those are just some examples. There are alot of options, and options are good. 
Controllers in general are pretty low in damage. Fire's the exception in that regard, with Illusion also offering some fair damage in Spectral Wounds and Phantom Army but not on the same level as Fire Control.
Storm has the single best -res debuff there is in Freezing Rain and with some other debuffs a high-damage team member isn't a strict requirement. With enough debuffs and/or buffs in play, everyone's a high-damage team member.
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[ QUOTE ]
Controllers in general are pretty low in damage. Fire's the exception in that regard, with Illusion also offering some fair damage in Spectral Wounds and Phantom Army but not on the same level as Fire Control.
Storm has the single best -res debuff there is in Freezing Rain and with some other debuffs a high-damage team member isn't a strict requirement. With enough debuffs and/or buffs in play, everyone's a high-damage team member.
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Freezing Rain will benefit a blaster or scrapper much much more compared to other hero ATs.
Being a high damage team member also depends on how you build and play a character. If you're team comes out a little short in the damage department it is very helpful having a way to fill in that gap, while still being able to do all your controllery duties.
Late to the party -- I would have recommended Earth/Rad as the best all-purpose TF controller. I know you wanted to avoid Rad, but it has so many useful tools. AM to buff the team with recharge, endurance and damage, an AoE heal, the great Rad debuffs. You get a rez and controls. Even as early as level 6, you can provide AoE control -- Stone Cages + RI means that foes can't move and have trouble hitting you and your team.
All the defense debuffs in Earth make it easy for AoE blasters to reliably hit everything. The AoE controls in Earth make it easy to keep foes in range of the toggle debuffs.
Storm is a great secondary . . . but on a TF, I find that I have to keep a lot of the powers held back to keep from scattering everything. The ToHitDebuff in Hurricane is limited to melee range, meaning that if you want to debuff foes held in Stone Cages, you need to be running around, pushing foes around or "kissing" them with the edge of the hurricane. Plus, there is no Regen debuff, while Rad has Regen debuff in both Ling Rad and EM Pulse -- even though the effect is substantially weakened with AVs, it still makes a difference.
Also, Rads are additive -- more Rads on a TF makes for a better TF. Storm requires coordination to keep from stepping on each other's toes.
That is one of Ill/Rad's great strengths . . . One Ill/Rad is good, but more Ill/Rads are better. Other controllers tend to step on each other's toes . . . I can't tell you how many times I have given up using Earthquake or Ice Slick on a TF because the bloody Fire/kin kept spamming Fire Cages. Ill/Rad doesn't conflict with other controllers almost all the time.
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Alright guys, it's exactly as the name states. I want a controller than will be able to help control, and keep a team "supported" (in any fashion) well through the task forces.
I'll take any and all suggestions with a few stipulations. I'd rather it not be crazy IO dependant, since I want to use the TFs as a leveling device, not go back and hit them. And:
Primaries I don't want to use:
Fire
Plant
Secondaries I'd rather not use:
TA (have a mind/ta at 50 already)
Empathy
Preferably not radiation, but if I get enough votes for it, I'll do it.
Thanks guys, I'm looking to be the one that people want on their TF team!