Presenting... Issue 19... AND Issue 19!

This week is a double-shot of Issue 19 releases!

Yes, that's right, a DOUBLE-SHOT!

First out of the gate, released on November 29th, was "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" Issue #19...

This is the continuation of the "Time and Changes" storyline, this time featuring the history of Icon Powers, the older "Powers" family member that came to Paragon City from another universe. He's been on the sidelines for a while now, and if you read Issue #0 then you'd know PART of the reason why. But there is another part to the story that explains why he needs a tech-based suit to augment his abilities, and it ties into events shown as far back as Issue #1!

Then the next day, November 30th, Paragon Studios unleashed their own Issue #19... ALPHA STRIKE!

And boy did they come up with some SERIOUS changes!

First, we have the start of the Incarnate System, the FINAL evolution of a hero or villain (or those in between). This is a ten-level journey (with the first being ALPHA) that will expand on ALL of your powers to a level unheard of before. You will eventually be on the same level as Statesman or Lord Recluse.

Then there is the merging of all transport systems. The Paragon Transportation Authority has merged its Green and Yellow monorail lines to create ONE transportation system that takes you anywhere you have an active monorail service. Likewise, the Ferry system is merged so you can go to any ferry port and go to anyplace that has such a port.

The same applies to the Rogue Isles, including the Black Helicopter system provided by Arachnos.

Also anyone that can create Praetorians

We have more power customization, with alternate animations for more abilities. We have free auras (snowflakes and fireflies). A rather significant change is that the "Fitness" Power Pool is now an inherent power at Level 2. (You will be given TWO power respec tokens so you can fix this if you have already slotted Fitness powers. The first was given with I19's release, the second will be given on December 8th, so don't delay in re-doing your abilities!) Also, Kheldians will now have access to the Fitness power even in their alternate cosmic forms. (This was something not possible when it was a Power Pool.)

This is just SOME of the various changes being made, and I haven't even mentioned the changes in Praetoria! The only thing really missing here is Quality-of-Life changes for supergroup bases, but I hope that will be sooner rather than later down the line.

So be sure to check out Issue 19 of "Guardians of the Dawn", and then log in and take part in all of the fun stuff for Issue 19: Alpha Strike!

Paragon Pundit Hero Movie Review #22

Paragon Pundit Hero Movie Review

#22: Fantastic Four

In the world of comic, the “Fantastic Four” are dubbed “The First Superhero Family”, although in many instances they are the “First Dysfunctional Superhero Family”. Created in 1961 by comic legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the “Fantastic Four” focus on the quartet team of Reed “Mister Fantastic” Richards, Susan “Invisible Girl” Storm, Johnny “Human Torch” Storm, and Ben “The Ever-Loving Blue-Eyed Thing” Grimm. It was the first team series published by Marvel Comics, and it would also be the series that would introduce some of Marvel’s signature villain, including Victor Von Doom (aka “Doctor Doom”) and Galactus. It would also introduce notable cosmic beings The Watcher and Silver Surfer.

The quartet roster would change over the decades as Reed and Susan got married and had children. Temporary members include She-Hulk, Storm (from the X-Men), the Hulk, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, and Wolverine. This was also a rare superhero team that did not have secret identities, as their lives were as about as public as Hollywood celebrities, and even their Baxter Building stood out in the New York City skyline.

Needless to say, Marvel Comics desperately wanted to do a movie featuring this team, and in the 1980’s they gave the rights to Constatin Film.

Unfortunately those rights were set to expire in 1992 unless filming began before then. Determined to keep the film rights, the studio hired famed B-movie director Roger Corman (of “Battle Beyond the Stars”, “Death Race 2000” and “Galaxy of Terror”) to direct this on the cheap. Production was finished in 1993 and was given an “official” release date for 1994. The cast and crew were all supposedly led to believe that even if the movie would not be released, their work would be used at some point as a pilot for a TV series. The studio then announced that the movie would never be released EVER, all copies were destroyed, any mention of the movie was purged from the books, and all participants were then shipped to undisclosed locations to have their memories wiped by Charles Xavier. (Okay, I’m kidding about the last two parts.)

Bear in mind that the first rule of denying the existence of a movie means that it WILL show up as bootleg releases at comic and fantasy conventions, which is how THIS reviewer knows that the original movie exists!

But with Constatin Film keeping the rights of the film, they were eventually able to raise the money needed to come up with a proper major studio production and release of the “Fantastic Four” movie.

“Fantastic Four” (or “Fantastic 4” as it was alternatively titled) was released by 20^th Century Fox for Constantin Film in 2005, directed by Tim Story. It stars Ioan Gruffuld, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington, and Laurie Holden, with special cameo appearance by Stan Lee.

The film starts with Reed Richards (Gruffuld) and Ben Grimm (Chicklis) arriving at the door of Von Doom Industries to convince Reed’s old MIT classmate Victor Von Doom (McMahon) to finance his experiment. Reed believed that life on Earth came from a wave of cosmic energy that was set to make its return, and he planned on measuring its effects in space. But when NASA said no to the idea, Reed turned to Victor for help. Victor agrees to the project, provided he goes up to the station with them along with his girlfriend, Dr. Susan Storm (Alba), and her brother, thrill-seeking pilot Johnny (Evans). Reed looks forward to working with Susan again, although Ben objects both to Victor’s presence and to Johnny piloting the shuttle.

In the private space station, Reed discovers that the cosmic wave would reach them sooner than earlier predicted, and it sweeps the station before they could retreat to join Victor in the safety of the shielded sections. They find themselves back on Earth in quarantine, unsure of what the cosmic radiation would do to them.

Sure enough, they each discover the radiation had changed their bodies. Johnny found out his body could generate heat and fire without burning him. Susan’s body could turn invisible and project invisible waves outward. Reed could stretch any part of his body to seemingly infinite lengths. Ben, however, suffers the worst of the changes as he becomes a rock-skinned creature with a deep gravely voice. His changes are so dramatic that his fiancée Debbie (Holden) wants nothing to do with him. Depressed, Ben finds himself on the Brooklyn Bridge and inadvertently causes a scene which has the police and fire department rushing over. When a traffic accident knocks a responding ladder truck over the bridge, the others quickly move to contain the damage and save lives, with their actions being broadcast on TV around the world. The media dubs them the “Fantastic Four”, and Reed takes control of the team and announces they would retreat to the Baxter Building for further study. The change of scenery allow Reed and Susan to get closer, and Ben even ends up with a new girlfriend, in the form of blind artist Alicia Masters (Washington).

The news of the “Fantastic Four” along with the disaster of the space station bankrupts Doom’s business and his investors quickly abandon him. But Doom was also changed from the cosmic wave, and soon he develops electro-magnetic powers as well as taking on a metallic appearance. Reaching for a metallic mask that was once a gift, Doom vows revenge on Reed Richards and his new “family”.

I’m going to leave the rest for you to discover, but sufficient to say the rest of the film does both the characters and their creators justice.

The movie is a welcomed break from the original comic origins, which involved the Mole Man and one of his giant creatures. It provides an easier explanation for their powers, as well as the “unstable molecules” idea that would become key to explain how they could use their powers without ending up naked (something that Alba’s Susan Storm found out the hard way on more than one occasion). I do, however, have to balk at it used to justify Reed’s sudden “touch of grey”.

The casting was top-notch, especially with Chicklis and Evans. Chicklis lived up to the character both as Ben Grimm and as The Thing. Sadly, McMahon’s character of Doom, although narcissistic and sociopathic in nature, was a little wooden… or, in this case, mechanical. Overall the story jumped a few places, but not in crucial ones. I’m surprised that for someone who couldn’t afford to pay his bills, Reed could somehow get funding for the equipment they used when they moved into the Baxter Building. Where was all this equipment at Von Doom’s undisclosed hospital? Or did they blow the money on restaurant settings, helipads, and hot escorts doubling as nurses?

There are multiple versions of the DVD release, including an expanded version that incorporated some of the deleted or alternate scenes. Get them if you wish, but the movie enough is worth the purchase.

Having seen both this version and the original Corman incarnation, I have to say that the executives at Constatin Film redeemed themselves with this release, although it still does not justify the level of duplicity they used surrounding the 1993 production.

Capes:	The heroic qualities of the film gave it four capes out of five.
Cheese:	Sadly, a lot of sharp cheddar (3) cheese, mostly by Evans’ hammy performance and the montage of Johnny’s various pranks and jokes at the expense of Ben.
Books:	Good story, but lacking in a few areas. It only gets four out of five books.

City of Heroes Origins Pack

Once again, Paragon Studios has released a "goody" package. This time around, instead of lame dance moves and "sports" poses, we have tangible goodies. COSTUME PIECES!
This is the ORIGINS PACK.



Looks nice, huh? Capes and auras... each based on a character's power origin. And supposedly you can access these at Level 1 - which is important, because normally you can't access capes until you pass a special trial at Level 20, and you can't do auras until you pass that special trial at Level 30! Also, just because the costumes and auras are designed for specific origins, that doesn't mean you're restricted to those origins.


Okay, they look nice, and I would even be interested in getting them... except for one thing.

The price.

They want $9.95 for this goody pack! That's about two-to-three dollars too much.

That's the same price as a Super Booster pack. Those packs have costume pieces, auras, and special features. This is just capes and auras. No additional features.

As I mentioned in an earlier review, the "Party Pack" costs $7.95, and that was far too much for a bunch of lame emotes.

I won't go so far as to say that NCSoft/Paragon Studios dropped the ball like they did with the Party Pack, but I will say they're asking more for this kind of pack than what they should be worth. I think I'll probably wait until the price on these go down before I consider it.

Issue 19 pre-loading now

Okay CoH/CoV/GR operatives... you may have noticed a little "update" slipped in after you logged off of the system.

Yes, Issue 19 is pre-loading.

Which is strange for me because when I think "Issue 19", I'm not thinking "Alpha Strike". I'm thinking "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight". Both of these WILL be out this month!

Oh, and don't tell anyone this (*wink-wink*) but here's the cover to the GotD Issue 19...


Looks good, huh? Yeah, it's "Phase 2" of the "Time and Changes" storyline, and this one will have some surprises you won't expect! Some names and faces from "Issue 0" will be returning.

Anyway, back to "Alpha Strike"...

For those who are not familiar with the pre-load, this is a way for the developers to get most of the big changes put in without being TOO much of an inconvenience.

So, for instance, you have 100mb worth of changes you want to put in. You COULD load them up before the game starts, like all of the other updates... but this would take a lot of time, especially for those who don't have high speed cable access.

OR... you could load the bulk of the changes after the player exits the game. So all of the maps, characters, mission data, sound files, additional features, will all be there prior to launch, and then on the day of the upgrade launch, you just send a small file with what few bug fixes need to be made and a code to switch the data. It saves a lot of time and hassle.

Plus the pre-load lets you know that the developers are REALLY CLOSE to releasing that new update, because they wouldn't be doing this if they weren't confident in about 95% of the material (giving that extra 5% for bug fixes and tweaks).

SO... next time you log off, give the devs those few minutes to pre-load Issue 19. You'll thank yourself later.

AND for the COMIC Issue 19, also due out in the next few weeks, check out the OFFICIAL Guardians website at:

GuardiansOfTheDawn.wordpress.com

RIKTI ALERT!

RIKTI ALERT!

This is a public service message brought to you on behalf of Vanguard, the United Nations Defense organization.

From this Thursday, November 4th, 9am ET until Monday, November 8th, 3am ET, all citizens in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles need to be on the lookout for extensive Rikti incursions.

Vanguard operatives believe that this will be the peak period for Rikti forces to attack Earth.

All citizens both powered and non-powered need to be prepared for probable Rikti incursions in their area.

Vanguard will try to give each area five minutes notice before the attack is believed to begin, followed by a warning that an attack has begun in that area. All citizens not engaged in the defense of this planet are urged to seek shelter immediately when they hear these warnings.

The most telltale sign of a Rikti attack will be the change in sky color to a sickly brown-green color, which is the main mothership approaching that area. Do not attempt to engage the main mothership as Vanguard forces will keep that ship from further approaching. Paragon City residents will also see the Rikti War Walls in their area power down. This is a necessary evil as most of the Vanguard resources will be employed to keeping the main mothership from approaching Earth.

Rikti forces attack in two waves. The first wave will consist of drop ships dropping bombs onto the area. Citizens are strongly urged to NOT approach any unexploded Rikti bombs as they are set to detonate later for maximum effect. Leave the bomb disposal to registered operatives and stay as far away as possible from such unexploded devices.

Also, DO NOT ATTEMPT to approach or engage the drop ships directly. Rikti drop ships will attack any being within range of their weapons, no matter if they are provoked. Drop ships can be defeated, however it will take extremely large numbers of experienced operatives to do so, and often at the cost of further damage to the area.

The second wave consists of ground forces being teleported directly from the mothership. These consist of Rikti soldiers, automated drones, and Rikti monkeys, and they will attack anyone they see, civilian or otherwise. Additional forces will be teleported in if they encounter resistance.

All operatives engaging in the defense of our planet are strongly encouraged to seek teams to combat this threat. By working together and utilizing all resources, you will survive. However, if you should succumb to the overbearing force of the Rikti, you will be allowed to use nearby medical services without incurring experience debt for the duration of the incursion.

The Rikti are aware of the time required before Vanguard heavy weapons are able to come to bear against their mothership and they will terminate all attacks and teleport all remaining ground forces prior to that point. Vanguard will notify you when this occurs.

Advance notice has been very helpful in the minimization of casualties, and Vanguard will continue to give the citizens of Earth as much advance notice as possible.

The Rikti may have advance technology and superior numbers, but they do not have our heart or our determination. We HAVE survived their assaults and with the help of brave operatives, we WILL continue to survive their assaults.

Paragon Pundit Hero Movie Review #21

Paragon Pundit Hero Movie Review

#(21): Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Before I go into the actual review I feel compelled to give you a complete understanding of one of the key characters in this movie. One of the most troublesome characters for DC Comics of late was one that they had pretty much written off for several years before finally killing her.

Supergirl really didn’t have too much of an appeal as her cousin Superman did. She was sexy and powerful, but not as much as Wonder Woman. Superman could save the world three times a day and in five different comic series, while Supergirl mostly worried about her love life, her friendship with Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), her parents in the bottled Kandor City, and keeping her identity secret.

Her greatest hurrah came during the Crisis on Infinite Earths series, where whole multiple universes were eliminated, and Kara Zor-El dramatically gave her life to save her world and deal a mortal blow to the Anti-Monitor. The event was a shocking turn in the story that would galvanize Superman’s resolve to see the Anti-Monitor destroyed by any means necessary.

And then… she was forgotten. She was written out of the DC Universe, because the new One Earth Only canon dictated that Kal-El of Krypton was the ONLY survivor of that planet.

There were a few attempts to fill the gap, though. Fan-favorite Power Girl still existed as a member of the Justice Society, but her history was retconned a few times so she wouldn’t be an Earth-2 refugee and alternate-universe cousin to Superman, but rather she was a time-lost survivor of Atlantis. She became a Justice League member, and sadly reduced to being an emotional time bomb. She was the foul-tempered “Hot Lips Houlihan” to the “Hawkeye and Trapper” comedy team of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. She would finally get her respect, and her history, but not before leaving the Justice League and going back to the Justice Society. But even then she could not fill the gap of Supergirl. She was her own woman - with the emphasis on WOMAN - and with the cleavage-showing costume to prove it.

DC tried to bring Supergirl back as an alternate-universe creation using the same plot hole they used to justify having Superboy (another casualty of the Crisis retcon) still serve as the inspiration to the Legion of Super-Heroes. This Supergirl existed in a “pocket universe” in which their Superboy was killed. Soon after, that universe’s Lex Luthor (who didn’t go bald or bad) accidentally released three criminals from the Phantom Zone… yes, Zod, Ursa, and Non… who take over the world. Grief-stricken, Lex creates a “protomater matrix” being (later known as “Matrix”) first to replace Lana Lang (one of the first victims of the Kryptonians) and then later gives her powers so she could become a symbol of the resistance. She would end up being the last survivor of that universe, rescued only by Superman of the “normal” universe. DC allowed her to mature into her own character as Supergirl and played a key role in the “Doomsday” and “World Without A Superman” storylines. Eventually, though, the writers decided to mess with her some more, merging her with a human named Linda Danvers so she could have a human family, giving her a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse hooker costume (to match the one in the animated TV series) making her a fire-powered angel, and eventually really messing things up by switching places with the Pre-Crisis Supergirl, falling in love with Pre-Crisis Superman and having their lovechild, and then finally just becoming a full-blown fallen angel before falling into storyline limbo never to be seen again.

A second attempt to bring Supergirl back involved a future-born daughter of Superman and Lois Lane sent to the past to stop Brainiac-13 from taking over. The storyline was so badly convoluted that getting rid of her was actually a godsend.

Finally we get to THIS incarnation of Supergirl, whose origin became the second storyline in the “Superman/Batman” comic series, and the basis for this current review.

“Superman/Batman: Apocalypse” was released by Warner Brothers as a direct-to-video movie in 2010 and serves as the follow-up to “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies”. The movie features returning voice actors Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy playing Superman and Batman, along with “Justice League” actress Susan Eisenberg returning as Wonder Woman, “Serenity/Firefly” actress Summer Glau, Andre Braugher, and Ed Asner returning from “Superman: The Animated Series” and “Justice League Unlimited” to play Granny Goodness (and, no, that is NOT a mistake).

We start the movie with a quick reference to the events in “Public Enemies”, how ex-President Lex Luthor was awaiting his criminal trial, and that the last remnants of the monstrous Kryptonite meteor were falling but thankfully the world was saved by Superman and Batman. As we hear that, a large chunk of K-rock falls into Gotham Harbor.

Batman (Conroy) investigates the impact to discover there was a spaceship in the meteor, and that it was already opened. Meanwhile, a nude woman (conveniently hidden in shadows of course) steals the Bat-Boat and crashes it on shore. She walks into the streets of Gotham, getting an overcoat from a dock worker to cover herself up before encountering Gotham police officers. She (Glau) speaks a strange language before being whisked skyward by her own uncontrolled power. She encounters Batman, who subdues her with a piece of the Kryptonite rock he fished from the harbor. Taken to the Bat-cave, she meets Superman (Daly) and discovers that he is her cousin from Krypton.

She is taken to the Fortress of Solitude, where Batman still has his suspicions of her. Even Krypto doesn’t like Kara Zor-El, wherein Batman comments that the dog is a good judge of character. Superman takes Kara shopping in his disguise as Clark Kent (BIIIIIG mistake, Clark - you should have let Lois do it) and enjoys a hot dog (yes with all of the usual jokes about the food). But this time together is short-lived as Wonder Woman (Eisenberg) and a team of Amazon warriors kidnap Kara and bring her to Paradise Island for training. This was Batman’s idea, of course, as it would teach Kara to fight and to control her abilities. Superman, of course, doesn’t approve.

Meanwhile, Granny Goodness (Asner) oversees the training of her Female Furies when she is interrupted by Darkseid (Braugher). Darkseid knows that Kal-El’s cousin has appeared and he wants Granny’s furies to bring her to him.

Kara makes friends with Lyla - whom comic fans will remember as Harbinger from “Crisis on Infinite Earths” - although Lyla is plagued with visions of Superman fishing out a blond girl’s dead body from the water. She keeps the visions to herself… and to Batman and Wonder Woman… as she enjoys her time with Kara.

Suddenly, a Boom Tube from Apocalypse appears, bringing forth… Doomsday, the only creature that could (and once did) kill Superman. Then we see a whole ARMY of Doomsday clones. Wonder Woman rallies the Amazons together to fight the monsters, but they are clearly overpowered until Superman unleashed his heat vision and vaporizes the clones. Batman realizes that this was only a diversion, and we find that Lyla’s vision has come true.

At this point I’m going to have to stop the recap because I don’t want to give too much away. Sufficient to say we see the “Big Trinity” of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman recruiting Big Barda so they could travel to Apocalypse to face Darkseid, but saying anything more would be too much of a spoiler.

The overall story suffers on a few points, and - as usual - the biggest ones are at the end. This is another movie where the story starts off GREAT and then they have to struggle to keep it going to the end. The story fails to fully use the cast of characters seen in “Public Enemies” and instead only gives lip service to the previous movie at the very beginning and then forgetting about it completely. Introducing Barda into the mix was another refreshing step, especially seeing her team up with Wonder Woman in the big battle on Apocalypse. And while the final battle was somewhat refreshing, even the ending came up short.

The animation falls flat in several areas. Where “Public Enemies” had hints of anime (especially with Power Girl), “Apocalypse” goes all-out, with a look that is more “Cowboy Bebop” and “Samurai Champloo” than anything resembling a Bruce Timm production. Here’s a hint for DC producers: next time you want to emulate anime, think more Kenichi Sonoda than Shinichirō Watanabe. This is especially true with the portrayal of Darkseid.

The only positive point here is the vocal talent, and even that has one sore spot. I’m sorry, but Andre Braugher does NOT do a good Darkeid. Just like only Mark Hamill can do the voice of Joker, only Michael Ironside can do the voice of Darkseid. On the other hand, Summer Glau does an excellent Kara, and the vocal combination of Daley, Conroy, and Eisenberg did not fail. And Ed Asner does Granny so well you really wouldn’t know it was a man until you saw the credits.

The follow-up to this movie is a DC Spotlight mini-movie featuring Green Arrow. As with the “Spectre” mini-movie, this story works within the DC Universe and stars Neil McDonough as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow and Malcom McDowell as Merlyn. The movie has a look and feel of “Die Hard 2”, with Oliver trying to save a young visiting queen from being taken by Merlyn and Count Vertigo in the middle of a busy airport. This was actually a much better production than the main feature, both in story and quality. In fact the people behind this mini-movie should be the ones in charge of future productions provided they can carry the same quality on through.

Bonus features (if you spring for the $19 2-disc special edition) include the “Little Girl Lost” story from “Superman: The Animated Series” and a look back at the history of Supergirl, but if you aren’t interested in either, you can always get the regular DVD.

In short, “Apocalypse” was not necessarily a “Superman/Batman” story as it was a “Superman” story, and that pretty much summed up the rest of the main feature. It has potential, but it still fell short in too many ways.

Capes:	Despite having the “DC Trinity”, it only gets four out of five capes.
Cheese:	Thankfully just Swiss Cheese (1).
Books:	Unlike “Public Enemies”, which started strong and ended weak, there was weakness all around, which kept the story only at three out of five books.

Important News from Vanguard!

The following message was sent to the Chronicles from the Herald division of Vanguard:

Vanguard intelligence warns that the Rikti high command is preparing to unleash a new wave of attacks on Earth. Dark Watcher believes the new wave of incursions should start on Thursday, November 4th, and last until Sunday, November 7th.

Residents of Paragon City and the Rogue Isles should be on alert for the warning signs and take shelter when they hear the sirens.

There is no word as to whether or not this also applies to Praetoria, as it is not known if the Rikti are aware of that universe.

Halloween Event 2010

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

While that may seem a bit premature, it's actually a little late for Paragon City and the Rogue Isles.

The 2010 Halloween Event is now upon us, and for the first time it affects the Praetorian Universe.

From October 21st until early November 1st, Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, and Praetoria will be in 24-hour darkness. Mystical forces will keep all three areas in perpetual night (except for Cimerora, The Hive and The Abyss), allowing heroes, villains, rogues, and vigilantes to take part in all of the strange and mysterious things that will occur.

Trick-Or-Treating: This is one of the most popular features. Knock on any door... ANY door... and you can either get a treat (random rare goodies) or tricks (Halloween-themed monsters that will kick your butt). You can also get special costumes (for a limited period only) and if you collect enough of them you get special badges.

Zombie Apocalypse: At random times during this period, you will have to deal with a Zombie Apocalypse... which means the skies turn blood red (which is more profound since we're dealing with 24-hour night) and the dead crawl up from the ground and go after anyone living. This is NOT a time to be standing around, unless you're next to an automated sentry unit. The longer you still live, the more zombies that will come after you. And they WILL get stronger and tougher and more powerful as time goes by. Like dealing with the Rikti, you need to team up, and preferably the maximum size possible. Kick enough undead butt and you'll get a special Pumpkinhead helmet that you can use at any time of the year.

Deadly Apocalypse: Think the zombies were bad enough? At random times during this period, you will also have to deal with the Deadly Apocalypse, which means the sky gets foggy (which doesn't mean much since you're already in darkness) and four mystical banners appear in your zone. Each banner is defended by different monsters based on the nature of the banner (and you can see where these banners are on the map). The hard part is that you have to defeat the monsters watching the banner before you can attack the banner, and you have to destroy ALL FOUR BANNERS in order to win. Note: this is impossible to do! Several members of the Guardians of the Dawn have tried repeatedly last year to take part in this challenge and no matter how many people take part in this challenge, they have been unable to destroy ALL FOUR banners in the time allowed. Good luck for those of you who want to try.

Giant Monsters: Oh, you think we're done with the misery? THINK AGAIN! Eochi and Jack-in-Irons are back to randomly terrorize the zones, and they don't show up alone. If you decide to take them on (like Galatea Powers and Lyon Powers did last year) make sure you're not alone either.

And now with the launch of Going Rogue and the new Tip Mission system, we have a special Whispered Rumored Tip Mission which will give you an opportunity to get different badges depending on how you handle this mission. (It's a little complicated, so please take advantage of these hyperlinks to give you more information.)

That's a lot of stuff to deal with. Oh, and Praetoria will have a new witch that will help you with the BEST part of Halloween Event... the Halloween Masks! Unlock that extra costume slot if you can get four Halloween Masks! Just be aware that doing so WILL trigger a new Zombie Apocalypse. The good news is that this feature carries through even when the Halloween Event ends, so you don't have to panic if you don't have all four masks right away. (And FORGET trying to buy one unless you literally have MILLIONS of Inf in your account. Wait until after the event if you want to go that route.)

And just think... once this is through, the Winter Event is just a few weeks away.

Is THIS The Coming Storm?

City of Heroes is getting ready to release Issue 19: Alpha Strike, the first post-Going Rogue update in the City of Heroes universe.

With it, we see the debut of a character that was previously only seen in the comics: Apex.

Yes, the star of the original "City of Heroes" comic series is back, and just in time as Tyrant has launched his new campaign to take over the Paraverse!



Will the evil version of Statesman succeed? That's up to the heroes. And is THIS what Mender Silos warned was the "Coming Storm"? We'll just have to find out.

There will be a few more things with the update... such as the merging of transport systems, so you can use one subway or one ferry to go anywhere. Speaking of transports, if you have Going Rogue, your non-Praetorian characters WILL be able to access that universe through Pocket D.

Plus, the Fitness Power Pool will now become an inherent power pool. SO if you've already loaded up on heath, stamina, speed, and leaping, you'll probably have to shuffle things around again. Good thing you have those Respecs, right?

AND Issue 19 will be the start of a new level of play... with the first step in becoming an INCARNATE!

Oh, and should I also mention that Halloween is approaching? Get your days in the sun out of the way, because on October 21st, it'll go dark and stay dark until November 1st.

New Party Pack

Normally I'm pretty excited about new add-ons for City of Heroes/Villains/Going Rogue.

Normally I am... but not this time.

Okay, here's the skinny... NCSoft/Paragon Studios/the people behind City of Heroes/Villains/Going Rogue have released a special add-on pack called the PARTY PACK.

Here's the trailer.



Now with previous add-ons, there are a few additional features such as costume pieces, emotes, special weapons or objects, transformation sequences, and then that little "extra" feature that really makes it worth the purchase.

But... what you see in the trailer is really what you get with this add-on. Eight emotion (emote) commands; three involving dancing, three dealing with sports, one that involves opening an exploding gift box (which is the same as the holiday gifts you get), and one where you're doing air guitar. THAT'S IT!

No additional costumes, no extra items... just eight emotes that can keep you busy.

Not too much of a quality of life improvement there, guys.

Oh, and by sports, I don't mean your characters actually PLAY the sports in question. Sure you can dribble the basketball, but you're not PLAYING basketball. You can kick the soccer ball, but you're not PLAYING soccer. You're chalking the pool cue, but you're not PLAYING pool, even if you're in front of the pool table.

And then there's the price... $7.99. When normal booster packs with even MORE stuff to use costs $9.99, charging $7.99 is just way too much. $3.99 maybe. Or better still they should have just included it in Issue 18 that was just released to coincide with Going Rogue, or held off until Issue 19.

In fact it would have been BETTER to include it in Issue 18 because as a standalone upgrade without Going Rogue, it was pretty weak.

In short, folks, I really can't say that you should get this feature. It's just not worth the price they want for eight idle emotes. If you have the money to spend and if you REALLY NEED those emotes, then maybe. But it's not really an earth-shattering gimme feature like other add-ons.

Sorry NCSoft/Paragon Studios, but you dropped the ball on this one.