Makeover the Freedom Phalanx and win influence! 2.1 billion in prizes!

God, after the Steampunk, and Commander's grittiness, and Hydro's fantasy was just brilliant... I feel a bit insecure posting mine. XD Still I had fun with it. These are approached from the standpoint of, "What's wrong with their current costumes?", rather than anything else. So no power changes, sex changes, back-story changes. I also stuck to the original colours as much as possible without hurting my eyes. I'd hate to use up all my good ideas here and be stuck with nothing when I get hit by altitis tomorrow. Anyway! Here goes...

First, let me say, I HATE symbols. If someone doesn't know who you are, smacking a symbol on your chest will just mean they don't know who you are and you'll look silly. I know, I know, its the traditional, but so was bloodletting and torturing Protestants a few centuries ago. (I also hate capes. Watch 'The Invincibles' if you haven't.) I also prefer a rather minimalist approach. Everything that's added makes it harder to fight, I think. Try kicking someone in a parka and long johns and thermals? @_@

Statesman: I wanted him to look memorable, without any of the cliches he's normally associated with. I also wanted him to look like he wasn't afraid of taking a beating.





Numina: Why's she got the oriental thing going? I'm not sure. I guess magic means you have to look oriental. I'm sure that's wriiten down somewhere... Anyway, in case I missed something and she actually does have a bit of the Orient in her story, I stayed with the motiff, just a bit, but added a little attitude into it. I mean, she's been dead, possessed people, and who says the Recluse gets all the hawt dead chicks?!





Back Alley Brawler: BAB's is big. Too big to be able to really move, in all honesty. Watch the weight lifters that are his sixe in the Olympics. They might be strong, but they'd never ever catch you. You'd have to run to them to get hurt. So a size reduction. That's basically all he really needs, I think. He's never been a costumed hero really, so any civilian clothes would work. I wish I'd been able to give him his gloves.





Citadel: Citadel is an android! Cool! But... Being an android doesn't really explain why he can take hits so well. He ought to at least look like the Terminator in the last 15 minutes of any of those films after a fight. To explain why he's so tough, he needs armour, so...





Manticore: Only two things bug me about Manticore. One, he's wearing girl's boots. Two: His hair is godawful long. How does he see through it to shoot when the wind is blowing from behind him? So to update, he's got combat boots, more sensible in my opinion, and maybe his wife likes the long hair (I'm assuming so, since she didn't cut it all off when he was asleep.) so he's got it tied up now. (I'm also assuming since he's married that his wife made him USE CONDITIONER DAMMIT.)





Positron: Rule number one. If you're fighting things that shoot at you don't expose your circuitry, mkay? That's really it. You're wearing armour, and that's awesome, since you're squishy without it, but let's not mark your weak spots with huge arrows saying, 'Look, my power conduits are here!' >__>





Sister Psyche: SP's squishy too. She's not a front line fighter, granted, so its probably someone else taking the hits, but if someone were to get in close, she's in serious trouble with her current outfit. (Not to mention the ripping possibilities.) So a padded outfit, with gaurds that she can block with if she needs to.





Synapse: And finally Synapse. He's a speedster, so you really don't want to add anything to give him more drag. His goggles are a bit small though. He doesn't look like he has any peripheral vision. (quite important when zooming across motorways, no? ZZZZOOOOOOOO-*splat* ... What was that bubba? ... I think it wuz a bug. ... Bugs ain't that big! ... We're in Paragon, never know whatch're gonna get 'round here.) Also the red and blue together like that is a bit garish, so its blue-gold now.

Edit: I wasn't sure if this would be acceptable and it seems it isn't. But I don't mind, I still have another entry still in there. This was fun to do anyways and hope people enjoy them.


For my second entry to the contest I decided to go a different route. To "That Other Superhero Game". I figure, if you're going to upgrade signature characters it should be with parts not available in our game.

So here we are:

Statesman:


I couldn't decide whether to show him with the helm or without so I'm just gonna show both here.

Sister Psyche:


Manticore:


Positron:


Back Alley Brawler:


Synapse:



I did make a Numina but I forgot to take a screenshot before exiting the program... soooo... I don't have a Numina. And I didn't have plans to make a Citadel to begin with. I may edit this post later if I get the energy to remake Numina.

i like that but not sure if thats in the rules but they look good and im loving the Fantsay set

Yeah we would rather have everyone on the same footing design wise , which is why we are only allowing costumes created via the CoX costume creator .

so no hand drawn entries no dressing up as statesman no screenies from other games etc etc just what you can create via the in game creator .

hope that clears up any confusion .

ps

won't be able to look over anything until sunday night as i'll be out of town (Fury and Bay are likely watching like hawks though ) and im hoping all come back to find that we have 50 contestents and lots of new outfits to look at

once again good luck everyone and thank you for bringing your A game .

Yeah, I agree that you missed the point of the contest with that submission. We're trying to update the signature heroes based on parts added to City after they were initially imagined... not another game entirely.

A+ for effort though. I like the Detroit Sister Psyche in particular.

And as a general response to the thread, a lot of you have submitted some really awesome reimaginings and updates. I feel sorry for the judges, they have a hard job ahead of them indeed.

Commander, your Statesman and BABs really stuck out for me, very good job.

Andi... the Fantasy Phalanx is made of win. =)

Good job, everyone. Keep up the creative and awesome submissions!

Also the first few posts after the initial post a number of questions where asked and answered , I belive the tenth post after the announcement covered that we just wanted CoX screen caps .

easy enough to overlook , no harm no foul .

Good luck with your other entries !

For this group, I did another alternate Earth scenario. All the genders are reversed. On their Earth, morals are a bit looser and outfits tend to be a bit more revealing...as do the names. Even so, not everyone has the same advantage...being sexay, that is. Can you guess which one I mean?

'Statesbabe' & 'Womanticore' actually look pretty good Power Play.

Participants and entries received:
42 out of 50 Participants - ONLY 8 SPOTS LEFT!

Total entries: 62

Participant List

Emperor Steele
Siberian_Spring - 3 entries
Matt_King
Oedipus_Tex - 2 entries
Prime_Nighthawk
Smersh
Outback - 3 entries
Hydrothermia
Stunrunner - 5 entries
Doctor_Mechaniker - 2 entries
Galactoman
Nurse Midnight
sweet_ice_t
Commander
High_Jinks
Fire_Wyrm
ThE_WiSeCrAcKeR - 5 entries
Gaelic Reign - 2 entries
Kai
HochroterDrache - suggestion to embed images in your post
Antoinette
Smersh - 2 entries
BubblegumBomb - 2 entries
Power_Play - 2 entries
Hydrophidian - 2 entries
Risko_Vinsheen
JadesRevenge
TheIcyOne
PumBumbler
Meltman
Mr_Mud
FredrikSvanber
Kyuuen
CaptainMidnight
Heroid - 2 entries
Sardonic_Paladin - 2 entries
Twelfth
Star of Thade
Scrier
Bru_Tal
Shadow State
GreySquirrel

The above have valid entries in this competition. Please note that the competition will stop taking entries on March 4 regardless of whether or not we hit the participant cap of 50. Most likely, I suspect we'll hit 50 in the next day or so based on the rate we have been receiving them.

After we stop taking entries, we will begin the judging phase. I will get together with the judges and compare notes and we'll begin what I think will be a rather grueling process of figuring who comes up on top. As always, I am reserving compliments until the end of the competition. It is all I can do to stop gushing at this point.

For those who are keeping up with and enjoying the thread, please don't hesitate to tell us judges as to which costumes, not just sets, you enjoy. There's been a couple of comments in this thread which has made me re-look at certain costumes and sets that I initially overlooked. With 62 entries with a minimum of 3 costumes each, the other judges and I will be pouring over hundreds of costumes. So let us know what you think.

So for States, I decided to keep the patriotic theme of his character, but make him look like more of the guy who would be on the front lines of the fight... not to mention i love the idea of him with a cool blade.

Positron, I went with a version illustrating Keyes that his overrun by the radioactive energy, so much so that his suit could no longer contain its power, so modifications had to be made: (note the chains, literally shackling him into the powersuit, for his, and everyone else's safety.)

Synapse is along the same lines, I wanted a more extreme representation of his powers, but still keep the heroic tights feel.

Statesman


Positron


Synapse

Holy Fargo, Batman! Statesman looks like a true warrior among men, Spadra!

Some damned fine entries. Inspired a few ideas of my own which I'll hopefully post tomorrow if there's still an opening.

((Spadra... your presentation rocks.

Man... I'd hate to be the judge on this.))

OKay...my submissions...












Actually spent time on the others, but just didnt like them. :/ And wish I had Phase Shift or Earthreal Shift to add to Numina's pic.

Statesman - Positron - Numina - Manticore - Synapse

[EDIT] OH! I never did give a write up! I don't think I went with a theme like some of the great ones that have been shown. My only thought was to keep them looking like comic book superheroes. I see why some people might go the route of armored up, or street clothes, but that just doesn't seem super hero to me.

Mind you, my favorite period of comics was the 90's. When superheroes still wore tights, and looked the part of classic heroes.

Statesman...I ditched the helmet. None of them look all that great imo and I tried to keep it, as it's his trademark...but...ewww. I know it's his signature right now, I do. But...:/ Still, I wanted to keep the Red/White/Blue feel to him. Kept his belt (or equivalent anyways). I think the outfit does a good job of blending the US colors with a superhero feel to him. Statesman keeps the cape, as Statesman is very much the classic caped hero.

Positron...he's the CoH version of Iron Man. He has to have the suit! Went the darker route, with the green highlights due to the radiation (which really can vary in color). Darker suit, with the HUD Display aura for the added tech feel.

Numina...to me, she's that superhero who doesn't go the tight route. Maybe it's because she's magic based. But I wanted to give her a younger look. Admittedly it's a variation on one of my main's civvie outfits, but I think it worked so well for her, and the hair...it needed a change. Of all the Freedom Phalanx, she needs the update more than any imo (Sister Psyche/Synapse tie for second).

Manticore...he's CoH's Batman inspired hero (at least to me). Now, I realize wha others see as his hair, is really just part of his cowl. Personally, it just...fails imo. Giving him a more edgier look, with the added spikes on the gloves and boots...add in the flame on the boots and gloves because it just works so well with the pants. Which give a more ninja feel to him.

Synapse...the speedster. I wanted to keep that feel. Also edge him up a bit. Show off that hair. He loves the girls! Let the girls run their fingers through that hair! The chains for that edgier, add more oomph to the punch, look! Have to keep his goggles though. The goggles are like his trademark to me.

Awww...the aura did show up on that pick of Synapse. :/ I must of clicked printscreen to late on it. Grrrr....

Figure I'd throw in a few of my ideas, although looking through the thread just now made me feel bad because there are some freaking awesome costumes in here. Didn't get to everyone, and didn't like everyone I did get to.

Synapse - Less yapping, more scrapping.



Manticore - Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil 'cause I'm the ************ with the assault rifle.



Numina - A little less granny hair, a little more steampunk martial arts.



Positron - Just excited to be outta the tin can.



Backalley Brawler - I am the Batman?




And in case I forget about this, pre-congratulations to all the winners.

Here are my versions of the Freedom Phalanx. There were so many great costume ideas in this thread that I'm afraid I ended up "borrowing" a lot of concepts from other posters. But really that's just one form of a compliment, people! Imitation is the sincerest form of flatery, you know.

So the first thing I noticed is that none of the members of the Freedom Phalanx actually wear the team logo anywhere on their costume, so I tried to make the emblem an integral part of each member's costume.


Statesman - I always loved the Justive armor because it seems like it fits patriotic characters so well. I wanted to keep the feel of Statesman's current helmet, but add a few other Roman elements to indicate his Incarnate status and tie in his origin a little better.



Sister Psyche - I wanted to keep the green theme a little bit, but I added in a much needed third color with the spots of gold on the arms and boots. I used the Savage pattern to kind of hint at that old costume and keep the heroic tights feel, and I changed her hair and gave her a tiara that suggests it would focus her mental powers.



Positron - His original costume doesn't have any green in it, so I feel like he doesn't look like he should have radioactive powers. I changed the colors and the feel of his costume a little while trying to keep as close to the original version as I could.



Back Alley Brawler - Okay, this one I basically stole outright from Commander's amazing version of the character. There were just a few tiny changes I made. I kept the power gloves to just the forearm instead of the entire arm, added a little more facial hair to make him look older, and changed the camo pants to just denim. Oh, and I added the FP logo. Hard to improve on such an awesome design, but I couldn't help myself.



Manticore - Manticore was hard because I hate his current costume. I notice everyone seems to think that the "mane" of the costume is his real hair, but I noticed when reading the CoH comics and seeing Justin out of costume that he has something closer to the "Barbaric" hair style. There were definitely better entries than this one, but I tried. I gave him a hood to hint at his archer powers, and armor to protect him better. The face was to hint more at the lion aspect of the "Manticore" design.



Citadel - I like the subtle cybernetic aspect of Citadel's current costume, but wanted to play it up a lot more to really emphasize that he is still made of metal, no matter how human he seems. I gave him the gold and silver armor upgrades to help him out in battle and add a little more color to his basically monochrome costume.



Synapse - This was another hard one, but his current costume isn't terrible. I just don't like the use of the blending pattern, and I always forget he has electric powers because there really isn't a visual cue for it in his current costume. If I could have, I would have kept the grey pads that go down his arm because I like the effect.



Numina - I saw some great designs for Numina here, but I didn't have the time to properly steal them. I mean... I tried, but the result I came up with didn't look very good and I decided not to bother since the deadline is looming.

Anyway, great costumes everyone, you guys and gals really inspired me and I can't wait to find out which of your great entries are the winners. Good luck to everyone!