Art Poll: Signature Characters

Hey, folks. It's your friendly-neighborhood concept artist Noble Savage here, and I was curious about something. Looking at all of the game's Signature Characters in particular (like the Freedom Phalanx from COH, the Arachnos patrons from COV, and the Praetors from GR), which are your favorites from a visual standpoint? Who really 'clicks' with you? Who looks the coolest/most intriguing/scariest, etc? Which costumes are the best fit for the particular character's story? Feel free to look at GMs, AVs, and even enemy group bosses while you're at it, but I'm curious which boss-level and higher NPC costumes really capture your attention and why.

Not really looking for player costume requests in this thread (please put those in All Things Art); rather, I'd like to know which characters make the game come alive for you visually.

Thanks,
NS

Hmmm...

I like Lord Recluse, although his armour could stand to be painted black rather than the grey-ish it is now.

Cole's IJN-officer look works as well.

The Freedom Phalanx generally look pretty bland, and Statesman needs to have his face-plate thingie converted into a proper helmet.

Of the patrons, GW clearly looks the best, but all of them except Scirrocco looks pretty cool. (Scirry looks a bit too much like a walking corpse)

Praetorian Nighstar is cool, Mother Mayhem... Looks kind of ridicilous (HOW DOES SHE EVEN WALK WITH THOSE BOOBS?)

Some characters (Manticore, Swan, Valkyrie in particular) have really bad textures.

The Circle of Thorns. As they are now, not as they are in the teaser screenshots. Those mantles and hats are so cool. Libri Vermis is especially good - that he alone wears tights gives him a lot of personality and induces me to think of him as his own character, despite that he only appears in one fight in one mission.

Sister Psyche needs an update, because she has zero signature costume pieces. Ditto Black Swan in her current incarnation (giving her back the blueish tint and feathered hairpins she had before, and replacing the veteran wings with her old feathered mantle, would be perfect).

Primal Earth's Vanessa DeVore has always been a favorite. I was disappointed when Praetorian Vanessa didn't have the big frill in back.

I disagree with Arilou on the subject of Scirocco. He is visually my favorite of the Arachnos bigwigs. Yes, he looks a little dead, but how is that not a good thing?

I love Statesman, Miss Liberty, Ghost Widow and Lord Recluse. The other Patrons look great too.

Azuria and the City Rep need to be replaced using normal player pieces (as Tina Macintyre and Maria Jenkins were).

Replace the Merit Vendors with vending machines. They look awful.

Synapse, Swan and Minx could do with higher resolution. Swan needs some actual clothes.

I'm fine with Mother Mayhem wearing that outfit, BUT ONLY if Malaise wears something as skimpy and ridiculous too.

Ghost Widow for sure!

Ghost Widow looks is one of the best looking.

I'm sure I'm going to go look and think "How could I forget about them!?!?!", hehe, but...
Ghost Widow certainly leaps to mind.

I also feel as though Statesman is a great job at accomplishing a very traditional look, while also having the originality there. I especially like his cape, to be honest.
He clearly is the staple super hero guy, but he is just different enough.
Just my opinion on that.

Hmmm...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noble Savage Positron's already addressed the issue, so in this thread please limit your comments to the topic at hand: Signature Characters.

Just replying quickly to this to say that your mention of NPC groups and such seemed to invite this, as I was honestly thinking of the Bosses in the Circle Of Thorns as well.
The Madness Mages and all of those level Circle Of Thorns Bosses just pop tons of history into my brain upon a glimpse of their elaborately decorated robes and hats and thorny shoulders.
There is implied history and culture there.


Oh...
And, honestly... Noble Savage, of course! (Totally not a kiss-up)
The mix and match also greatly speaks of history and backstory and looks damn cool. And that's what it's all about, right, hehe?

I enjoy the little details. If you walk up to Ms. Liberty in Atlas, she has Excalibur at her hip. Hero1 gave it to her to hold onto until he gets back. That one little detail lead me to reading back story for 30 minutes on Paragon Wiki.

I always wanted Foreshadow's visor thing. The details on Mirror Spirit are great. I would love to see the other members of W.I.S.D.O.M. implemented in the game at some point. <HINT HINT>

I think for me, a lot of the game's cyborg and armored signature characters stand out for me. Whether it's Backalley Brawler/Marauder and his fists, or your own ingame analogue. They tend to be the most striking because they all get something that you very rarely see in the player costume parts, which is a sense of machinery melded onto flesh. I think that was the biggest failing of the Cyborg Super Booster you guys put out.

Here are some specifics that come to my mind:

Black Scorpion- The normal head, giant armor look really appeals to me. The same would go in a non techno sense for Dr. Vahzilok. The almost headless look with the face rising out of the chest is both disturbing and awesome.

Backalley Brawler- on the opposite end of the spectrum would be BaBs. His look is almost subtle in the sense that he looks very normal until you get to the fists. That's part of what makes it cool.

Archon Burkholder- Giant pincer claw on an otherwise normal body. 'nuff said.

Noble Savage- Nothing ingame captures the "bits stuck on" feeling like your own namesake. I think it's the lack of bilateral symmetry.

Non signature things I've always liked: Crey Agents have a lot of really subtle cybernetics, and that has always been a really cool look. A business suit with one robotic hand and a normal hand (again the missing bilateral symmetry).

There's a ton of other things I love/hate about signature characters, but I think that's the biggest most coherent point I could make. All of these features of their look have appealed to me on a consistent basis.

Jack-in-Irons and Eochai as Giants Monsters as they look drastically different from the other GMs, and in a setting that's particularly unique to the game.

In terms o' Archvillains, Hequat as the Goddess o' the Mu. Other AVs in the game are more contemporary in the game's various settings, and she seems more primitive with her animal skin clothin' and bones in the hair, which just goes to show how old she is and adds to the character itself.

But the cake goes to Rularuu the Ravager and the three current Aspects that've been rendered. There's a certain otherworldly quality with their size and appearance. Now if they'd only release Chularn, Kuularth, Aloore, and Uuralur... although I have my suspicions when this'll happen.

Jack-in-Irons. I love the iron collar, the massive chains, the ogrish slouch, and the rotundity.

Statesman clicks the most with me. Love his look. So classic and heroic. A close second would be Synapse. All the Villain patrons are not all that great but if I had to choose one it would be the Sand Dude.

For me the coolest looking characters are some of the villains.

I really like the design of Lord Recluse, for one. At a glance you can tell a lot about him - that he's evil, that he's brilliant, and that he's powerful. His armor isn't overstated, he fits (and in fact embodies) a theme, but still feels dynamic.

My second favourite is Captain Mako, another character that you could identify just from his name. Though is design is simple, every bit of it communicates something of the character. He looks lean, hungry, malevolent, and half-crazed, which fits his characterization rather well.

And to pick a hero to round out the triumvirate, I'm going to go with what is probably not a very popular choice. Statesman.
He's iconic, classic, vintage superhero material. Plus the unique mantle of his cape, and the faceplate that he wears give him an ancient Greek feeling that ties in very well to his origins, and to themes that run throughout the stories in CoH, and even CoV. In short: classic, but not generic.

Oh! Now that I think on it, I have to say I love the redesign of Emperor Cole, too. It's again a case of his personality showing through in how he looks.

Like/am intriegued by for various reasons:

Ghost Widow, just because. And her cimeroran counterpart.

Scirocco I think has been underexposed in game but still looks quite interesting.

Vanessa Devore - for the various intricate "bits" (and it's interesting to see her in Praetoria, too.) The upcoming screen shots for the Carnival of Light are interesting, too.

Imperious - of all the versions of statesman, he's (to me) the most visually interesting.

Sister Solaris (or any of the sybils) - never fails, run an ITF, at least one person will say how they still want the outfit.

Tunnel Rat. Which might be more because of the character herself, but everything fits.

And from the screen shots, the Praetorian WW.

Edit: And yes, the four refugees from City of Hero. They really need more done with them. They're not exposed enough to really get a feel for if their costumes "fit" them or not.

There's something just *fitting* about the Dark Watcher's look, too.

Fit for Story:
We'll start with your own NS. Doc Vahz and Black Scorpion fit for the same reason. I'd list barracuda, but I'm also biased toward wanting the Coralax EAT to explore that entire segment of lore.
Even though you didn't ask, I think most of the original Phalanx... well... are a bit dated at this point and could use some freshening up. I mean, the biggest update we've had is finding out that Positron is bald. Citadel still looks like he's eaten something that's making him ill. There's no real link between Luminary and Nightstar (besides "female-shaped robot.") There's just not that much *interesting* to their look these days.

See my Guides and Tutorials

For villains the Clockwork King will always be my favorite looking character with his cute wobbly little eyes and big brain floating in the B-movie fishbowl helmet. Drek is pretty striking as well. For the hero set Huntsman has a nice hat and Sister Solaris has awesome... parts.

400th post. I'm getting to chatty lately.

Visually, those Scorpinoids by Crey are awesome,

as is Dr. Quatrexin.

Just about anything Freakshow

Anything Fifth Column, besides vamps & wolves

And the PPD hardsuits...so full of win

Ghost Widow looks the best. Statesman, with his jingoistic outfit, looks the worst to me but I realize that is how he is supposed to look.

Please don't add spikes and crap to any of the signature characters.