Manticore & Sister Psyche Resurrected

Wow, some really good points and theories here...

The more I think about it, the more I don't think it's going to be Back Alley Brawler. I was originally thinking that BaBs would be the one to die, but now it seems like there are so many clues pointing to him that it's too obvious.

Synapse is high on my list of possibilities. Yes, he's still being used as a character by a dev here currently, but War Witch the dev is still alive and well (and awesome) despite her in-game character being corporeally challenged at the moment (BrandX already pointed this out two pages back, but I felt it worth mentioning again). Synapse has a task force that could really stand some revamping. He has a dev still at Paragon who could sign off on such a character change without seeming ghoulish by targeting a character whose dev counterpart is long-since-departed. And finally, well, he IS a blaster. Setting off a spectacular nuke in the middle of a huge mob despite the high risk of death is sort of what we blasters live for at higher levels.

Truly, an argument can be made both for and against ANY of the Phalanxers going down. It's also very likely that even the devs haven't made a hard-and-fast decision about which one will die at this point, if any of them do indeed die--I immediately noticed that little "could" in the ad as well. It'd be a bit of a cop-out at this point, though, and I don't think our current devs would resort to that.

All this speculation leads me to another question I've had rattling around for a while: if one of the Phalanxers dies or retires, would his/her sidekick be promoted from the "sidekick" Vindicators into the "big league" Freedom Phalanx and thus take over as the task force contact? The vibe I got from the comics is that most (if not all) of the Vindicators are quite content with their team as it as, and anyone moving from the Vindies to the Phalanx would probably NOT be by her/his choice.

K

I'm wondering if it's an actual hidden message where one of the devs is departing from the studio. You can theoretically have States die and him become like this symbol but that would likely mess with Emperor Marcus Cole's whole shenanigans.

I'd speculate that it'll be either Citadel or Synapse.

Citadel is just...amazingly boring, has a grindfest of a task force, and hasn't really been used in much of the more recent content. I can see the devs feel like they aren't losing much potential with dropping him. Hopefully this wouldn't end up with any sort of cop-out ending where he comes back because his data was stored somewhere and he was recreated with a new body.

Synapse has more personality than Citadel for sure, but also has an awful task force that needs to be looked at. Like Citadel, he also hasn't been prominently featured in any newer content that I recall. I also feel that he also has a lot more potential than Citadel for going out in a blaze of dramatic glory.

I don't think it will be Statesman because they redid the Maria Jenkins arc centered around saving Statesman not more than a year ago. I doubt they want to ditch that much work this quickly.

Sister Psyche is in the new tutorial and, from my perspective, is one of the more popular signature blueside characters.

Manticore embodies the vigilante movement in the game and -- maybe this is just my perception -- but I feel like he's involved in more story arcs out there than any other Phalanxer.

BaBs is in the new tutorial and is featured prominently (as was mentioned already) as the melee damage rep in the game. Again, I also think he's one of the more popular blueside signature characters. This doesn't necessarily disqualify him, but I don't think he's the prime candidate.

Positron is popular, has a revamped task force, and is States' second-in-command (although he's got a lot more support -- go figure). He's the least likely candidate from my viewpoint.

Numina...well, she skirts the line of possibility in my mind, but I don't feel like her task force is as universally panned as Synapse or Citadel. I also feel like there would be less impact than say, Synapse if Numina's spirit was sealed or destroyed. I mean...she's already 'technically' dead. Of course, one could argue that Citadel is in much the same situation what with being a robot. Numina's a distant third possibility to me.

No matter what direction they take this story though, I hope they do leave said individual dead so that the impact is really there. I'm psyched for these signature story arcs and a lore-changing death could go a long way to driving home these stories as must-play experiences for anyone that enjoys the story or characters in the game.

Numina is also in the new tutorial, by the Longbow helicopter that takes you to Atlas Park.

And as well as the new MJ arc, Statesman is also a key part of Mender Ramiel's arc.

I see no reason they can't bring back whoever they killed.

That's a comic book staple. Kill off a signature character and then bring them back!

Of course, with Sister Psyche, Citadel and Numina there's easy ways to reverse this, and it could lead to the signature story arcs after the "Who will die" set of arcs.

Whoever has died. Now it will be "The Search for Spock"

However, if they want to keep it permanent, Synapse is still the best bet imo.

Instead of being killed, BaBs is crippled, leading to the I22 new powerset, Psychic Melee.

(Yes, I made that up.)

Please please please be Statesman.

Alternately, it could be Sister Psyche and we will get another few story arcs where Manticore turns from a darker hero to a true vigilante and starts using Wyvern to actually KILL the people he holds responsible.

(and yes, that could include US)

Remember, he's already hacked into the medical transporter system once, I'm sure he could do it again to ensure the people he wants to take out actually die.

Manticore could be a very interesting, and highly dangerous villain, he's already halfway there anyway, all he needs is enough of a push to completely snap. His wife dying would be a good incentive for him to go off the deep end. The broken bow could be a symbol of Manticore renouncing his heroic ways. It wasn't broken in combat, he broke it himself and threw it at Statesman, causing the gashes in his faceplate.

(this is actually the storyline *I* would go with if I were in charge of it)

BaBs is old and has no TF. He is most likely to die.

Going with my second theory:

In the course of the story arc, Sister Psyche gets killed, and Manticore holds both the player characters and Statesman responsible. (the player characters because they either killed her or let her die, so it works for both the hero and villain arcs)

One promo says "Who will die?" while another says "Who will fall?". Someone "falling" doesn't necessarily mean dying, it could also mean a fall from grace (i.e. Manticore going bad after his wife is killed). This could also explain why both Sister P and Manti were missing from one of the promo shots: someone at Paragon was dropping a hint.

In the resulting confrontation, Statesman forbids Manticore from going after the ones he holds responsible, and Manticore hits him in the face with his bow, breaking it and causing the damage to States' faceplate. BaBs goes to hit Manticore and States grabs his hand in midswing, breaking his gauntlet.

Manticore then goes after the player characters on his own, using Wyvern as his own personal army, which opens up Wyvern as an enemy group for heroes as well. And he doesn't stop there, he starts overtly running Wyvern as a vigilante group, instead of operating it from behind the scenes.

Now, that removes 2 TF contacts, so what happens there is: Manticore is replaced by BaBs and the goal of the TF becomes tracking Manticore down, with Wyvern as the primary enemy group.

Sister Psyche is replaced by Malaise, who is taking care of her unfinished business in return for all the help she gave him. The TF doesn't even have to change other than the dialogue, which explains that this is something Sister Psyche was investigating when she died.

It explains all the promo shots we've seen so far, and could be seen as the culmination of Going Rogue, with one of Paragon City's premier heroes going bad (Manticore is the one most likely to do so, as he's already halfway there). It also leaves the door open for Sister Psyche to come back later with a complete redesign of her look, via her mind-riding ability in someone else's body (because of all the Phalanx members, her costume is the most dated)

Sound plausible?

Brawler has "3 days to retirement" written all over him. However I would like to see Manticore die, then Psyche goes dark. That's something I would love to see. Psyche goes to the dark side and a few months down the line a new heroe takes up the mantle of Manticore and we get Manticore III.

Personally I would love to see BaBs retire. The man has been doing this for quite awhile and he is getting rather old. Out of the rest, would love to see Manti just go away. He looks silly.

In addtion, it has been ten years since the war. You think they would have permanently replaced some of their fallen comrades by now. Why not raise up some of the other heroes in game to fill in their ranks?