Manticore & Sister Psyche Resurrected

Following on from him being erased from history and Stateman stealing his quiver, Manticore is back and he's brought Sister Psyche with him:

Much better. States and Babs still kinda look constipated, but it's a better go at it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Let synapse go He's the one who has potentially the best story to use as a tragic death!

Finally going head to head with crey and they finish the job they started on him!

It's a bluff, they'll all die.

Positron ain't going because he's the only one with a newer, updated and popular TF.

Statesman ain't going because he's been featured so prominently on all of the CoH advertising lately. He's even on the load screen. It just wouldn't work if he were dead, but featured fighting enemies.

These two are definites.

There's a good chance BaBs'll stay, along with Psyche, due to both of them being featured in the new tutorial fighting the Shivans.

Numina's technically already dead, so she's safe. Although something could happen to her that would destroy her spirit.

That leaves Citadel, Manticore, and Synapse as the biggest targets. These three have the most badly-needing-an-update TFs blueside, so I could see one of them dying then getting a new TF contact that hands out an updated version of their TF.

My money's actually on BaBs.

With the destruction of Galaxy City, it leaves things open for him to be removed as a trainer, since the zone he is a trainer in is not going to be there anymore.

He's the only one of the Phalanx that can be easily removed from the game world, since Galaxy City will no longer be there for him to train people in, removing him will have less impact than any of the other Phalanx members. He is also the only Phalanx member who is not a contact for a Task Force.

Posi, Synapse, Sister Psyche, Citadel, Manticore, Numina, and Statesman all have TFs that would have to be rewritten if they were killed off. Back Alley Brawler can simply be removed as a trainer, and they're already destroying the zone he's found in anyway.

BaBs is the easiest character for them to kill off without making more work for the devs, so it makes the most sense for it to be him.

Sister Psyche and Manticore look terrifyed! She Especially.

However like all superhero resurections, She could easily be "Brought Back" as it seems is very common with Psychic toons.

Plus...she does look freaked out in that picture.

BaB would be my second choice.

Although Id like to see Numina at least get punished for the unfun aspect of her TF. It's just unfun and needs a revamp!

My money is on Babs, Manticore, and Psyche in that order.

Psyche though would be silly easy to bring back.

Definetly not BABs... I really trust the Devs not to fall for this Trope.
The black guy always dies first

@Redcap

of the Surviving Eight i'd break it down like this:

Statesman: too entrenched in the advertising, but could go through a "Death of Superman Arc" type story arc.
Sister Psyche: Her Mindriding ability would make her Body easy to replace.
Manticore: his Vigilante tendancies could lead him to his end but then he's also the icon of Vigilantes.
Positron: 2 TFs, a Dev backing him and an armor redesign, he's going no where.
Numina: She's already dead, why not again.
Citadel: destroy him, and Citadel 3.0 can replace him, or maybe download into a Warwalker like Siege did.
Back Alley Brawler: Galaxy City is being destroyed so it does free up his spare time.
Synapse:He did get pwned in the CoV trailer rather easily ....

My Pick: Sister Psyche - she'll get nearly killed and will inhabit Malaise via Mindriding to dispense her TF.

We're looking at a 7 month long meta-arc. With that sort of timeframe, I think it's fair to say anyone is up for grabs. Art resources can be changed and content relegated to the Ouroborus.

Also, by having him appear in the tutorial, it gives the NEW players a chance to connect with the character. Which will give it more impact when he is killed later.

By doing that, he's not just "the trainer no one talks to in Galaxy City" he's "that big dude who helped me out when I first started".

If he weren't in the tutorial and they killed him off in a later story arc, the new players won't have any clue who he is, because he won't exist in Galaxy City for them to see.

It has more of an impact when a character you are familiar with is killed off than it does when a character you've never seen before is. BaBs is a fairly iconic character in the CoH universe, redshirting him in a story arc without ever introducing him to the new players via the tutorial would be a huge disservice.

Regarding BaBs being safe because he's in the new tutorial...that'd be great, but we also have Sister Psyche in the tutorial. And I'm betting that's to wean us in on her being the main hero in it, after BaBs dies.

You may want to remember that while the story will play out for VIPs during those seven months, after that the story may not be there for people to play any more. If you can just replay them in Oro, then they're not as great of a reason to stay subscribed each month to avoid missing part of the story.

I don't think we'll be able to Oro these arcs, and that changes the kind of impact a character death will have, because new players after this won't be able to play through it.

My bet: Synapse. BAB will take over in Skyway. Given his history with the war on 'Dyne, it's a good spot for him. BAB can be given a reworked version of the Synapse TF to hand out. A life-sized statue of Synapse is put onto his current standing point, and a history plaque added.

My hope was that they would drop the hammer on Blue Steel (aka Captain Superfluous) and make BAB the trainer in KR, but since this seems rather focused on Phalanx members, I guess not.

Daring to dream,
Gate

Bah. Crashed before hitting "submit reply". Here's a summary now..

- I like the unexpected. BaB would serve City lore better as an amnesiac run off with the Praetorian carnival than dead. Like soap opera cliff hangers of old. Bobby never dies! There's always room for return.

- On the other hand... not worried about the TF contacts biting it. Not the -original- entities at least. Comics have young blood "taking up the mantle". And what is more brilliant than Ajax's time capsule letter? Removal can mean replacement as well.

- States is my vote. There was a great documentary on Star Wars in which they discussed the group mechanics. One of which involved the mentor needing to pass for the student to truly rise to his potential. It's Posi's time.

Reasons why it will be Back Alley Brawler who bites it:

1) The zone he is found in is being destroyed, so removing his character model won't affect anything, because his model is being removed anyway.

2) Of the 8 possibilities, he is the only one who is not a Task Force contact. That means rewriting a Task Force will not be necessary.

3) He is the only character among the 8 possibilities who duplicates another's exact powersets and AT. Statesman and Back Alley Brawler are both Invuln/SS tanks.

4) The devs are probably going to ensure that all 5 basic Hero ATs remain represented among the games signature characters. There are THREE tanks among them: Statesman, BaBs, and Citadel.

5) He has very little presence in the game at large, only appearing in 5 missions total. Removing him from Recluse's Victory won't have much effect, he can easily be replaced by Citadel.

6) The developer who used him as his redname alias no longer works for Paragon Studios. It is unlikely that anyone else will take up the mantle, and equally unlikely they will kill off a character being actively used as someone's redname. It also isn't too likely they will kill off one who has not been used yet.

7) His inclusion in the tutorial will ensure that new players become familar with him prior to his death. It has very little impact when a character you've never encountered is killed, and ALL of his in game appearances happen after level 30.

(Synapse will probably be safe for reasons 2, 4, and 6. He is a TF contact, he is the only Blaster representative in the Phalanx, and is currently being actively used as a developer's redname alias.)

All of those reasons add up to Back Alley Brawler making the most sense to kill off as a major game event. He is an iconic character in the universe, but is not so widely present that a lot of retconning would need to occur if he dies.