SSA SPOILERS: He's WHO?!

As to whether this is a case of Women In Refrigerators, the answer is unequivocally "Technically, Yes" because the definition is so broad.

That's unimportant.

Tropes are not bad, and like most tropes, WIR can be used effectively to make a good story.

What is important is that it was not so used in this case, based on my playthrough of, and emotional reaction to, the villain half.

I am not saying the writing was bad overall. I liked the overall pacing, the reveal of who '???' was, the delivery of the dialogue and many other things.

That said:
- The villain-side story did not adequately establish that Miss Liberty is Statesman's daughter and Ms. Liberty's mother. Even I was momentarily confused. A scene between the two of them, with Miss Liberty admonishing her to be careful or the like would have added to the story emotionally and informationally.

- The villain-side story did not give us a cut scene or other adequate setup as to why she was sent to perform the negotiations (other than that she was the target). She almost could have been ye genericke ambassador. She really needed a scene establishing her credentials with insightful dialogue, something to establist that she was competent, noble, and important in her own right.

- She spent the whole time being kidnapped and cowering. As she was a former superheroine in her own right, I would have expected to fight her (even if she were horribly underleveled to reflect her loss of the Liberty Belt) and defeat her to deliver her to Malaise and Wade. As an alternative, a scripted event where she escapes by some clever ruse and I have to chase her down would have been nice.

- She just gets shot and dies. No defiant last quip. No empty threat about angering Statesman, or hollow expression of faith that he would save her at the last minute. No special sad music. This is not how a former hero should go out. Not even in a villain-centric story.

I think the above objections are more important than the fact that a female character dying in a comic-book-like setting will unavoidably be an example of Women In Refrigerators: I want to care more about Who Dies.

To the writers of Who Will Die:

In the next four months, we have Statesman, Manticore, Citadel and Sister Psyche to cast the spotlight on.

Please take the time to make us care about these characters as more than pictures on the loading screens, TF givers, opponents, and pets.

As a story-oriented player, I want stuff. Story stuff. Emotional stuff. Relationship stuff. Humanizing stuff. I want to feel why these guys are the premier heroes of the world, what they inspire, how they make it day to day.

The neat new enemies and mechanics are nice, and I like them. Please also include things like:

Statesman: Where does our Marcus Cole live/eat/shop? Is he anachronistic and preferring a 'simpler age', or is he thoroughly modernized, with a Twitter account and blog? Does he show any signs of Emperor Cole's power lust, or is he baffled as to the evils of his alternate selves? What about his old con-man/heist-meister days...does he have nostalgia or is he ashamed of them? What does the word "Statesman" mean to him; does he feel he represents the USA these days, the hero community, or something else? As the premier hero of the world, does he have disdain for unproven young heroes, or a distant but fatherly regard for them? If he dies, what will we lose?

Sister Psyche: How crazy is she; does she isolate herself to escape the voices in her head, meditate/medicate, or just endure? Why "Sister" Psyche; is she Catholic? (Yes, go there) How is she adapting to married life; is she a domestic type or does she have some kind of hobbies or career outside of herodom? How does she feel about Aurora Borealis and Calvin Scott, particularly in the current circumstance with Praetoria? Is she a feminist? Why does she use her powers for heroic ends, especially contrasted with her Praetorian counterpart? If she dies, what will we lose?

Manticore: Manticore we know some things about, like his lifestyle, his contentious relationship with Statesman, his marriage, his public identity, and his underhanded dealings with the government. He is clearly both the shadiest and most proactive Phalanxer; possibly a Vigilante. However, here is an opportunity to explore his Heroic side, or to explore the fact that he is a pure Vigilante only a final Tip away from Villainhood.

Citadel: The least known Phalanxer. There is tons to reveal here, from the extent of his programming and the nature of his sentience, to his relationship with other digital intelligences. How does he feel about the Internet? What does he beleive about the nature of the soul? How does he feel about media portrayals of beings like himself? Does he dream of electric sheep? How was he accepted as a Phalanxer? Does he have hobbies, preferences, aspirations? If he dies, what do we lose?

Much of the above info may be on the forum somewhere or in a novel somewhere: this is an opportunity to get it into the game.

After all, this is our last chance to interact (outside of Ouroboros) with one of these people.

...and don't feel shy about going back to fill in the blanks with Synapse and Numina as well. I'd love to get Numina's perspective of death and the afterlife, as well as Synapse's take on why Neuron is a genius and he ...isn't.

As a former villain, as someone who hated Longbow passionately even before the Second Rikti War, I somehow expected the chance to kill, or stand by and watch somebody else kill, the CEO of Longbow to be more satisfying. Maybe it's because I knew that a Rulu-shin cultist was planning on benefiting from it; more likely it's because I was hoping that her death would have something to do with the fact that she runs an above-the-law mercenary company that uses flamethrowers to make arrests.

I realize that we've probably never seen Malaise without his mask, at least not that I can remember, but the realization that "Penn Jilette" from the earlier cut-scenes was Malaise seemed kind of abrupt.

As someone who used to spend a lot of time playing with Mission Architect, I want that Arachnos office map tileset expanded to include a full set of office maps, please! (Although it's a little too dark to be plausible, if you ask me, but I'm not the art director. Given my druthers, I'd want a whole tileset that looks like the Arachnos office in Recluse's Victory.)

I know you have the tech to branch dialog based off of souvenirs and badges. Manticore should have remembered that he and I had fought several times before, even if only from my souvenirs for completing Westin Phipps' arcs before going vigilante. And Darrin Wade should have made some kind of remark about my having worked for him before, off of my Thief of Midnight badge.

Didn't whats her face die like a long long time ago?