Heroes and Villains

Following the closure of the MMO "City of Heroes", I'll be using this page to record my experiences with the "Heroes and Villains" project - an attempt to create a community-focused fan-made superhero MMO - www.heroes-and-villains.com

[goldengirlcoh]

Three more in game models for NPCs - from top to bottom:

1 - The veteran street hero Watchdog, a member of the Paragons supergroup.

2 - The villain Gorth, the leader of the Lost World Reptoids, the twisted hybrids of humans and dinosaurs created by Lord Sorcero's blend of science and dark magic.

3 - The heroine Sigrune, also known as Shield Maiden, a Valkyrie and a member of the Legion supergroup.

[goldengirlcoh]

Some more Heroes and Villains concept art by Shadow, showing a ninja costumE set, and for the main monorail tram station in Titan City, part of the transport hub located on the northern side of Prometheus Plaza.

[goldengirlcoh]

The Justice League “movie”.

It's as jaw-droppingly awful as the trailers made it look - perhaps even more so, if that's possible - a 300 million dollar exercise in self-humiliation by DC that's stands out even among the insultingly dreadful dumpster fire that passes for their "cinematic universe". All the usual train-wreck flaws from the previous movies are front and center - a non-existent plot, pitiful dialogue, characters so far from their comic book origins that they can't even be considered parodies, amateur level cinematography and CGI that would've looked bad in a Playstation 2 cutscene. Affleck - the only member of the trinity with any form of acting ability - alternates between bored and tired, while Cavill and Gadot give their usual dead-eyed, blank-faced soulless mannequin "performances". The character meant to be Aquaman is laughable - the character meant to be the Flash is indescribable - and the character meant to be Cyborg is nothing - a blank void of nothing. The villain/miniboss manages to make every Marvel cinematic villain look like Heath Ledger's Joker, and manages to outdo even the most recent Fantastic Four movie to take the prize as the biggest movie insult to Jack Kirby. The "movie" - if it can even be called that - is incompetent on every conceivable level, and the only form of skill on display is whatever it was that enabled them to take something as great as the Justice League and turn it into something as wretched as this. There isn't a single shred of charm, warmth, wit, humanity, heart or soul to be found anywhere in it - and it's only redeeming feature is that it's mercifully the shortest of these DC "movies" so far.

[goldengirlcoh]

Supergirl 2X21

While the plot was a pretty standard alien invasion/infiltrate the mothership thing, the entire story was driven by the plans and actions of 4 middle-aged women - President Marsdin, Queen Rhea, Cat Grant and Lillian Luthor - while the twenty and thirty somethings spent their time reacting to what these 4 women were doing - which as far as I know makes it pretty much unique in sci-fi/comic book media, or any kind of wartime setting. 

[goldengirlcoh]

A small HaV art update for the launch anniversary of CoH, featuring 3 more of our NPC models - the vigilante Twilight Watcher, the Skorpion assassin Arachne and the leader of Skorpion, Baron Skorpio

[goldengirlcoh]

Some animation cycle tests, featuring an idle-jump-idle, idle-sprint-idle,idle-jog-idle, basic idle, and idle-sit-idle. The video quality is compressed, as it's only intended to show off the animations, and not the model.

[goldengirlcoh]

Some more Heroes and Villains concept art by Shadow, showing ideas for swords and capes.

[goldengirlcoh]

To mark the anniversary of the premature end of 'City of Heroes', we'll be releasing another art update to show some more of our NPC character models  -from top to bottom:

1 - The villainous scientist Edward Kane, permanently transformed by his own reckless experiments into the half-man, half-monster known as Beastor.

2 - Doctor Dominator, a massively powerful evil mutant psychic with almost unrivaled mind-control abilities. 

3 - Kitty-Kat, a small but ferocious human-feline hybrid and member of the heroic Street Patrol.

4 - Former exotic dancer turned high-tech criminal mastermind Melissa “Honey” Combs, now know as Hive Queen.

5 - Veteran vigilante Midnight Owl, one of the leading members of the Nightwatch.

6 - The brutal mercenary Ram, powered by a combination of the dangerous combat drug known Synthiraeum and a battle-suit made from the rare Atlantean anti-magic metal Orichalcum. 

[goldengirlcoh]

A small art update from 'Heroes and Villains' for the 12th anniversary of the launch of CoH, featuring 5 more in-game NPC villain models - from top to bottom:

1 - Corvus, leader of the crows gang.

2 - The powerful but unstable Professor Plasma.

3 - Razortooth, leader of the Sewer rats gang.

4 - The gifted but ruthless surgeon Doctor Deathmask

5 - The Kobold King, leader of the Kobold Klan gang

[goldengirlcoh]

Supergirl

I think that the way that the Supergirl show handles Superman should be known as Clark-teasing/Clark-blocking :-p

[goldengirlcoh]

The Force Awakens  *NO SPOILERS*

I flew out to Europe with a couple of my brothers to catch it today, and these are my spoiler-free pros and cons:

PROS:

+ It's not a Disney movie, it's a Star Wars movie

+ This is Rey's movie - Daisey Ridley is the star of the show

+ Lots of action - lots and lots and lots of action

+ Better balance between CGI and practical effects than in the last 3 episodes

+ JJ gets generally more consistent performances form his cast than George did in the previous 6 episodes

+ Klyo Ren makes for an interesting and creepy antagonist - Adam Driver really sells the sometimes sudden mood swings from menacing to furious to petulant to vulnerable

+  Plenty of humor

+ Han and Chewie feel like they've never been away

+ BB-8 - no girl should travel the galaxy without one

+ Doesn't feel like a George Lucas movie

CONS:

- Doesn't feel like a George Lucas movie

- Thinnest story out of the 7 episodes

- Lacks some of the mysticism and mythological beats of the previous 6 episodes

- JJ feels like he's trying a bit too hard at some points

- Not as visually inventive as the previous 6 episodes

- JJ doesn't let the world breathe as often as George

- Some pacing problems, especially in the second half

- The score lacks a bit of oomph in places

- JJ lacks the visual storytelling clarity of George

[goldengirlcoh]

And to finish off the update, four more in game charterer models.

From top to bottom:

1 - The veteran street hero Brazen.

2 - The mysterious but heroic sorcerer, Master Mystic.

3 - The weird villain Jack Willo and his sinister Wisp Lantern.

4 and 5 - Brainstorm, the heroic founder and CEO of the NovaTech advanced research and development company.

[goldengirlcoh]

And some  animations for a giant monster type of Sewer Slime.

[goldengirlcoh]

Some more animations for the Sewer Slimes enemy group - these ones featuring a currently untextured boss level monster. 

[goldengirlcoh]

To mark the 3rd anniversary of the closure of CoH, we’re giving a few new updates for Heroes and Villains - the first involves concept art by Shadow.

From top to bottom:

1 - Elemental shields

2 - Bows

3 - C.A.S.A. HQ in Titan City -  the Central Agency for Superpowered Affairs, located on the eastern side of Prometheus Plaza, is a federal department that provides intelligence and logistical support to registered superheroes operating in America.

4 - One of the dropships that's used by C.A.S.A. to transport personnel, equipment and captured supervillains.

5 and 6 -The first and second tank types belonging to the villainous Skorpion organization.

7 - And Skorpion's main base under the sands of the small east Saharan nation of Khemrat.

[goldengirlcoh]

After much careful thought, I've deiced that Supergirl’s Maxwell Lord should simply be known as Sex Luthor :-p

[goldengirlcoh]

Supergirl was awesome.

That is all :-p