*spoilers* The Freedom Phalanx are incompetent!

I've had a lot of mean things to say about the SSAs since SSA3, but I figured that since they're obviously going to have such a prominent place in City of Heroes lore (and since I cooled off a bit), I might as well run them just so I know what they're about. To my surprise, the stores themselves aren't that bad, but the characters... Dear Lord the characters!

The Freedom Phalanx are incompetent and more than that, they're horrible people! Manticore is probably the worst. We now know that the Statesman is the one who dies, bit if we had to ask WHY, it's all because Manticore is failure and a jerk.

This is the most evident when he's seen speaking with Ms. Liberty in the Malaise interrogation mission, where he acts like an insensitive *******, suggesting that Alexis' death was "just a mistake" to her still-grieving daughter. Dude, Liberty just lost her mother. Show some respect and sympathy. Or, failing that, get your priorities straight. You want to get in on the interrogation. If you're rude to Liberty... SHE WON'T LET YOU! Be nice to her, apologise, promise to make up for it, then when she lets you in to see Malaise, shoot him in the head. You fail both as a friend AND as a meta-human!

And then when the Dirge of Chaos starts playing, making Longbow agents kill each other and putting Psyche and Aurora in extreme danger, Manticore shows up to kill Malaise anyway - WITH COPS TO HELP HIM - and says the dumbest thing I've ever heard coming out of a character. "The Dirge of Chaos wasn't my doing, but it makes my plan easier." What was your plan, Manticore? Get your wife possessed and killed. Weren't you the one shedding crocodile tears about how you had to be there to protect her? Now you come back, the base is on full alert, bodies litter the floors and your first reaction is to go "Yes, now I don't have to explain why I attacked the base!" Did it not occur to you that YOUR WIFE might be in mortal danger, and that you should maybe go help her? Nope. Longbow are killing each other, and that's gooood. Insensitive, incompetent ***.

And, really, if you wanted Malaise dead, why not just shoot him at Blitz's place? You had your chance. He was alone, unguarded, he attacked you. You had every opportunity to shoot an arrow through his head. You've shot your friends in the back and kidnapped your own wife. What did you think was going to happen? Who did you think was going to interrogate Malaise, the powerful psychic if NOT your wife, the other powerful psychic? Why arrest him, send him to your wife AND THEN break into a secure facility to kill him? You idiot?

And the Statesman's not far behind. I get that he's become infamous for having blamed Ms. Liberty for Alexis' death, the dick, but let's talk about that some more. Why ARE you blaming Liberty, States? Because she hoped Malaise could be saved? That was all Sister Psyche's idea. She was the one who stood up for him and defended him and so on, which is right out of her line at the end of that same arc. Far as I could tell, Liberty merely supported her friend, both out of hope and because she thought Psyche knew what she was doing. What did you expect her to do, States? Punch Sister Psyche and put Malaise in jail? Maybe YOU should have spoken with Sister Psyche at the time.

And, really, how insensitive is that of the guy, to blame his own granddaughter for Alexis' death. Yeah, I know, you lost a daughter. Guess what, jerkface - she lost her mother! Not only did your daughter die, your granddaughter was devastated, but instead of focusing on what you have left, you fly into a rage over stuff that's not even her own fault. You're the premier hero, States. You're the one who's supposed to help others with their problems and their grief, especially YOUR OWN GRANDDAUGHTER!

No. He flies away "to clear his head." And it turns out he's done that before, which I wasn't aware of. Did it not occur to you that if someone's going after your daughter, that he may go after your granddaughter, too? Or is her grief and potential death just not important enough to break you out of your emo state? So, when the going gets tough, you take off and abandon your team to fend for themselves when you pretty much know they'll get dead or put in a coma? You jerk?

And why blame Ms. Liberty, of all people? Back to that, yes. Blame Manticore, I get that. He screwed up big. But why not blame yourself? You approved of this operation. You sent your daughter into an incredibly obvious trap, didn't go to protect her yourself, and instead entrusted her life to the guy that once shot you in the back? And you're surprised something bad happened? How old are you, dude?

Sister Psyche doesn't come off like a horrible person so much in this, even though she seems to have a very short temper, but she comes off as VERY incompetent. I mean, Psyche, what did you think was going to happen? Malaise told you he was next, he more or less told you he intends to kill you. What did you think would happen when you absorbed all the negative energy from the Dirge of Chaos? WHY did you absorb all the negative energy from the Dirge of Chaos? There was no immediate pressing threat that called for such drastic action. I was on my way to you when you did that. You were protected. What purpose did that serve, other than because it was annoying you?

And, OK, let's go with the logic that there's some real reason to absorb the nasty from the Dirge. You KNOW Malaise will try to attack you psychically as soon as you're vilnerable, so here's an idea: Force-choke him, slam his head into the ground, knock him out, THEN absorb the energy from the Dirge. That way, even if he has something planned, he'll have to sleep off a concussion before he can do it. Or if you think you can't do both, have Aurora force-choke him until he passes out and keep him suffocated while you do this, just in case he tried something funny?

I get the feeling that Ms. Liberty is supposed to come off like the jerkish one of the lot, just because that's how she came off in the comic books, but of all the Phalanx members in this story, she's probably the more level-headed one. Well, except for Aurora Borealis, who's a lot like a puppy in this. Liberty's pissed off at Manticore, because he screwed up. She's pissed off at her grandfather because he was a jerk and abandoned her. She stands by her decision to help Malaise even knowing it was a mistake because she chose to believe that he could be helped.

This whole series of events hinges on the heroes being incompetent hostile jerks with tons of baggage, who more or less allow this to happen through their angst and ineptitude. And it really serves to ruin the Freedom Phalanx, when none of this would have happened if heroes hadn't made numerous, very immediately obvious mistakes. And here I thought that Synapse getting incapacitated off-screen was just a battle cut for time. I've no doubt he got tagged because he did something stupid, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I honestly, truly wish I could argue with you. I really wish I could. I'd love to defend - well, any of them, really.

I wish.

I've given up on the writing team.

Kill the waaaabbit, kill the waaaaabbit, Kiiiiiill the waaaaabbiiiitt..

Oh wait, I'm sorry.

Nice post.

I agree with you Sam. Funny part for me is that while playing the arcs as a Villain, in 3-5, I wanted to STOP being a villain and kill Malaise and Darrin myself, cause they are dicks too.

Worst bit fro me was the Cutscene at teh end of Part 3, where Mal tells Sis to read his mind..to find out what is going to happen. And she says NO. Wtf. cahnce to find out the devious plot..no, I wont use my super powers and instead rely on teh good will of the guy trying to KILL me. Genius

Um...I dont think you were paying attention. It WOULD have been a good idea, right then. Because she IS the most powerful psychic around, much stronger than Mal, and at that time, her mind was NOT weakened by the dirge. So yeah, smart guy, it would have been a GREAT idea to read his mind right then and see what the plan was.

The point in being a villain? You mean..do what I want, regardless, take from people I dont like, hurt people I dislike, try to get more power myself?

Hmmmm that sounds a LOT like a villain choosing to bump off mal and darrin, and hog the credit myself, killing the people I dislike, who are clearly just using me for their own ends. Yep..sounds plenty villainous to me.

I've got it, I know just how to fix this.


Hm, I suppose that Manticore could cut a deal with the devil to bring Statesman back to life, the only cost being that Sister P would never remember that she married him or his secret identity......


Wait a minute....


I've seen this plot before....



/toggleoff snarkmode

Another novel-long post. Let me grab some coffee....at 12am when I have to get up at 5 >_>

Well I think other people have covered it. It's not like the two big comic book representatives of our niche are doing a better job, currently.

But I'm the stupid pancake that keeps buying them hoping they get better, so who am I to judge?



Still love my Co* though!

Even with the plothole issues. I can't argue with that, Sam, but I think that's ultimately the point. The new goal is to make "US" the new big heroes that can see solutions they can't, to be the savioirs they haven't been able to... etc, etc. Same for villainside. I wouldn't be at all surprised that the loss of Statesman diminishes Recluse's power, and is the springboard for the next SSA, or the villain finish of the current one. Either way.

I'm not saying that we become the leaders of the Freedom Phalanx or Arachnos, but that their power and influence wanes, needing us to do what they can't. This has already been hinted at with the balance of power obviously being changed in the new villain starting content.

Villainside, you used to be told how 'grateful' you should be to serve Arachnos and Recluse's 'Project Destiny'. Now it's more 'It's us against them, we'll let you do what you want, they'll put you back in jail... what sounds better?' Linerally you find out about "Project Destiny" later, but that's not the focus.

It's more about putting the power into the hands of the player(s). That's how I'm reading it anyway. Because of that, I'm willing to see where they're taking it.

Basically, I don't think they're incompetent because of bad writing, I think they're incompetent by design.

I could be wrong though, but my storyteller's gut says otherwise.

The blueside story arc is a litany of one failure after another.

I'm reserving final judgement for the conclusion of the story but so far I don't see much to recommend a purchase of the entire story.