Well, to be fair, Comet Kid does act pretty childish himself a good 95% of the time so I figure he expects people to treat him how he acts. But, since he does get the job done and knows the 5% of the time to be serious, he'd probably expect people to take him seriously when he does. Ya know, like if Comet Kid says "This isn't a joke, get serious," you know you're facing a probable apocalypse.

I agree, I always thought of Comet as the type of guy who some people wonder if he is really a hero cause of his childish nature, but he proves himself time and time again that he is a good hero and deserves some respect :)

My outlook for Titan is that the way she appears in Energize now is a much more confident character in both her attitude and her belief in her strength.

The Titan here is still unsure of herself. Stronger than she realises and uncertain about the pressure on her to change the future. Also, she knows more about whats to come than she lets on but regrets the lies she has to tell.

From my point of view I would like Titan's adventures with the HA are where she learns that confidence. Probably from someone like Bombshell.

So you could say that HA is sort of like how Titan will "grow up" in a way, from the adventures and ordeals that she faces in HA, will help her to realize herself, and thus give her the confidence that she would have like she does in the Energize comic?

Abt: No offense to Al, but I think he only scratched the surface of the characters there. XD
(1) I think Virtus would wonder (NOTE: WONDER, not talk loudly about it) about the practicality of wearing a one-piece, but it's not polite to ask that. XD The tongue-in-cheek explanation you give us is due to her being a closet exhibitionist, but we have no idea how she would respond to give a real answer, do we? XD

Nepath: I did have an idea for a "Goodbye to Titan" short story for whenever we pass the in-universe year mark for the HA stories that separate them from current events in your own projects, perhaps as a last step in her transition from the insecure Titan to the confident one we'll see in Energize: Hunted?

Abt_Nihil
Reposted here from the HA comments :

alschroeder
Some possible character conflicts: ...Would Shell constantly warm his fellows about collateral damage, given his origin? ...

My thoughts:
...
(2) Shell has probably accepted some sort of pragmatic outlook...? I don't see how he would otherwise accomplish any mission. But that's for fukujinzuke to answer.
...

SHELL's not really all that talkative. He might ask about the potential level of collateral damage, but he's more likely to pull a ". . . ." and break off to eliminate/minimize that himself rather than repeatedly slap co-members with reminders.

Besides, in joining this team up, he knows for a fact that there are several members in there (the ones who are more likely to plan mission executions) who would already take potential levels of collateral damage into account. And having worked with them before, there's a level of trust there so as to not compel him to pester them about it at every event. Also, nobody on the early (unreleased) issues on the team has been "beat the bad guy at all costs" so...

Of course, that'd be interesting to stir things up, but probably wouldn't happen until Dave's issue at the soonest.

Sebastian_Sandberg
Nepath: I did have an idea for a "Goodbye to Titan" short story for whenever we pass the in-universe year mark for the HA stories that separate them from current events in your own projects, perhaps as a last step in her transition from the insecure Titan to the confident one we'll see in Energize: Hunted?

Sounds cool - although I hope that doesn't mean you are kicking Titan from the team?

As for the catching up with HU continuity - the only time i think you will want to reference anything from it (i.e. show that you have caught up) is when it ends. Big HU changes...

I did think that it may be a good idea half way through your first season to switch Titan to her new costume.

I think we're all pretty much on the same page when it comes to Titan. I haven't been planning anything explicit for her at this point though, so everyone is free to make suggestions. There are a lot of threads to weave together, and I haven't figured out everyone's places in our stories, including Titan's.

Sebastian_Sandberg
The tongue-in-cheek explanation you give us is due to her being a closet exhibitionist, but we have no idea how she would respond to give a real answer, do we? XD

Tongue-in-cheek is right. I think the closet exhibionist thing originally came from the funnies I did as a bonus for HU: EGO. Seriously speaking: Bombshell's costume (or lack thereof) is more of a case of "hiding in plain sight". I think it distracts bystanders from readily recognizing her (the old Superman/Clark Kent thing). There's actually a little bit in the official EGO storyline, where she explains why she's NOT wearing her usual costume - because there are no villains around to distract.

As for fukujinzuke's comments regarding Shell, I agree there's potential conflict between team members, and that's something we can explore down the line. For now, I'll assume Shell will do what he can to minimize collateral damage, with a pragmatic touch. By that I mean: If there's a villain who's constantly throwing civilians from a roof, you'd have to go after the villain himself at some point, instead of spending your entire time catching the civilians. Maybe for him, being on a team means: Someone can catch the civilians while the other one goes after the villain... something you couldn't do on your own.

Does EVERYTHING I dare to say here on the forum have to be misconstrued? lol!

Nepath: I didn't mean it like that. But I don't think it will involve kicking her off the team, I felt that she would leave on her own accord, after she has grown up, as you put it. But unless I remember incorrectly, there will have to come a time when Titan is removed from the line-up, temporarily or permanently, you didn't specify.

New costume halfway through the first season, noted. :)

Sebastian_Sandberg
Nepath: I didn't mean it like that. But I don't think it will involve kicking her off the team, I felt that she would leave on her own accord, after she has grown up, as you put it. But unless I remember incorrectly, there will have to come a time when Titan is removed from the line-up, temporarily or permanently, you didn't specify.

New costume halfway through the first season, noted. :)

Ah...I fogot about that. Ignore it!
Although I don't expect HA to stick religiously to the Energize/HU continuity - I do want to maintain it for Titan. When this originally started I knew what I had planned for Titan in Hunted #1 (depowered/coma) and thought this would effect her realistically appearing here...that is also one of the reasons that I jumped Hunted ahead one year so I could have that clean slate.

Anyway...hope that clears things up?

Abt - re: Shell: that works for me.

Lol! I know that we want to have HA independent from HU, but A LITTLE continuity nod here and there hasn't harmed anyone! My point is, that in-universe year gap WILL run out eventually. Perhaps not now, not next year or the year after that, but it will happen. I'm just planning and discarding things a LITTLE ahead, no need to pull the worryhat over your head. :)

I guess I should put a little info on Wraith.

Wraith is kind of like the devil on your shoulder whom noone else can really see, he usually is kinda cold and serious with Peligroso. Since he is a demon, I think prolly the only people who could "see" him would be people with strong mystical power or energy such as Kaine or perhaps possessing god like abilities or are demonicly aligned themselves like Bleeder. Everyone else might feel a strange feeling from him, at least that's what I think anyway, thought I would let you guys know.

Hey, if you're still accepting people for this, mind if I submit my character, BiOcular/Oleander Valentine?
He's a 30-year-old anthropological lecturer from the country but lives in NYC. Kind of a fat guy, he's rather mellow, stronger than he looks and wears excessive layers of clothing to conceal his 6 brothers--Marcel, Caruso, Percy, Socrates, Orion and Thurl--who are genetically grafted to his back, appearing like long, stretchable tentacles with mouths and eyes.
Andi's only superpower is pretty much his brothers. Without them he's just a regular, chubby guy.
Andi DOES have his own comic, but I haven't posted anything for it yet. I hope to do so by the end of summer.

And if you're not looking for characters, but still need a writer or an artist, I'd love to do either. I have plenty of spare time and I'd love to be a part of this project. I just read through Heroes Unite and I fell in love with the variations in art and writing styles.

Now that's an interesting "power"! We should do a Halloween special or something :P

But yes, of course you're welcomed with open arms, no matter whether you're providing characters, writing or art. I'll put you on all three lists. I can't say when or how you'll be involved at this point, so you're encouraged to make contact with other writers/artists directly if you have story ideas or characters you'd like to see yours team up with.

Thanks! And glad you're enjoying HU.

I posted BiOcular
here's an image of Andi and a couple of his brothers: http://www.drunkduck.com/BiOcular/index.php?p=723959

Also, I had a question... you said to contact the other artists/writers directly if I had an idea, right? Is there a list or something? I don't know who all the other writers are.

Empty Brooke
I posted BiOcular
here's an image of Andi and a couple of his brothers: http://www.drunkduck.com/BiOcular/index.php?p=723959

Also, I had a question... you said to contact the other artists/writers directly if I had an idea, right? Is there a list or something? I don't know who all the other writers are.

http://www.drunkduck.com/community/view_topic.php?tid=49770&cid=4698&comic_id=37740

here ya go :)

Yup, what sux said ^_^

Basically there are two general formats for HA stories:
(1) Chapters which are more akin to classic HU chapters, with as many characters as possible, an overarching continuity (dealing with HA as a team or organization), and a rotating staff of artists, and
(2) Team-ups, which can concentrate on fewer characters, don't have to deal with continuity (except for a basic coherence with the other stories). These can be shorter stories, and may be handled by one artist (but that's open for writers and artists to negotiate). These would resemble the "HU Adventures", but they're not restricted to 4 pages.

We're moving too slow on our main chapters to incorporate all of the characters which are submitted, so I encourage everyone to just go ahead and try to get some cross-overs made on their own, which will be posted inbetween "main chapters".

I can work on a few more team up stories, Been trying to finish up the Zombie Queen one, but I can always work on some more :D

The Spatulator: Wielding a pair of magical spatulas forged by the gods themselves, The Spatulator can instantly cook up enormous pancakes that absorb any impact with their fluffy goodness. Offensively, he can conjure up flaming beef patties that he then hurls with said magical spatulas. His powers and equipment are hereditary, coming from a long line of master chefs, only he is the first to hone his magic cooking powers for frying the bad guys.

April Fool's? Not saying it's not a good idea or anything.

It'll be cool to see a character of mine in another comic, you can take my Roof-Rat character from The legends(in my sig).


Name: Michael (Mikey) Grant, The Roof-Rat
Age: 15
Personality: Sarcastic(dark humor version of spider-man) doesn't kill.
Origin:He's a orphan who was found in a trash can by his guardian Zhan and trained in a new martial art called brutal fu.
Powers: Parkour Ninja-like agility, Healing Factor(not as strong as wolverines), can learn how to use a weapon in seconds and caries a katana strapped to his waist on his left thigh.
First Appearance: The Legends Chapter 1: Superhuman

Welcome aboard!

I haven't been on these boards in a while and thought I'd update on my characters: considering how Acrobat was put in Heroes Unite, I will take that sort of tack: my characters do exist in this universe and Split and Protean go to a superhero high school, but it is best to not really mention the name, just to be safe. And you can use the characters in any capacity for the stories, but I will say that I know Split's power can be frightening and might be difficult to implement fully. She's really a scared little girl, though, and still coming into her own as a confident person.

As well, I have new characters to introduce:

Sparkle
Real name: Diamond June (formerly Greg Weston)
Gender: Female (though she is male biologically)
Ethnicity: Caucasian, mostly German and Russian
Place of birth: Missouri
Orientation: Straight (attracted to men)
Age: 21
Height: 6'9" in normal state
Weight: 300 lbs in normal state
Powers: Much like the Hulk, Sparkle has strength, size, toughness, and density that increases with strong emotions, often rage. In her base state, she is quite strong, as well.
Limitations: Intelligence generally decreases when she bulks up, and her normal IQ would place her in a slower learning program. Also, when her strength increases, though her height will increase, it is not always enough and it is harder for her bulk to move and so she decreases in speed. As well, she is quite vulnerable to mental attacks.
Physical appearance/personality: Diamond truly does try to look feminine and likes being girly, but she has the physique of a linebacker. In other words, despite her best efforts, she will always look like a man in a dress. She likes wearing pink and is often quite happy around people, but prone to fluctuating emotions, and does not take it well when insulted--often running away crying but could hit someone if they persist.
History: Born in the Bible belt, Diamond found it difficult to be herself. Her naturally large physique clashed with her identity and, after years of ridicule for being feminine yet looking so masculine, she ran to California (on foot). Sheltering herself in a more tolerant Humboldt County, she lives in Arcata without any ties to her family and considers Astral, whom she met there, to be her true brother. She has done her share of super-heroics,taking the name Sparkle because she wanted "some part of me to sparkle all the time".

Edited to add: I've decided that she doesn't wear shoes anymore, in part because the ones I gave her don't match her outfit, and also because I think it works more with her barefoot. Therefore, disregard the shoes in the picture above. As well, when she uses her power, I thought it good for her to have pink sparkles around her.

Astral
Real name: Colton White (formerly Mary White)
Gender: Male (though he is female biologically)
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Place of birth: Arcata, CA
Orientation: Straight (attracted to women)
Age: 24
Height: 5'4" (6'0" in astral state)
Weight: 120 lbs (200 lbs in astral state)
Powers: Astral is like a Captain Marvel and Negative Man cross. He can project his astral form into the physical plane. This form has the powers of flight, super strength and super speed.
Limitations: When he is in his astral form, Colton is susceptible to attacks to his physical body. If his body is killed, his astral form will also be destroyed. As well, the astral form is incredibly susceptible to psychic attacks, being a psychic construct in itself.
Physical appearance/personality: Colton can't help but look feminine and has built up a confrontational attitude towards anybody that brings this up. He often wears bulky clothing to try and hide his feminine physique, but this hardly ever works. However, his astral form is the picture of masculinity, with barrel chest and stubble. He seems more confident and relaxed in this form.
History: Colton has lived in Arcata his whole life and knows how fortunate he is to be in a more accepting place than other parts of the US, but found himself wishing he could be more masculine from a young age. He did not know of a burgeoning psychic power and so was surprised when he first projected his astral form, which took the guise of who he most wanted to be. Since then, he worked ard at physical manifestation and never cared to explore the more mental aspects of his powers. He gravitated towards heroics after reading omic books and quickly established a name for himself in Humboldt County and some of the surrounding areas. At one time he met Sparkle and has offered support as the other's extended family, helping Sparkle to use her gifts for the greater good, and helping teach her about the world.

Two characters there that are analogous to Marvel and DC characters, but hopefully more of their own characters, as well. I have no comics even written for them yet, but have been developing them and decided that they need to be in this universe. What's great is no counterparts are used this time--these characters are completely new for Heroes Alliance and any comics written for them will be done in this universe (unlike my other characters).

Sparkle reminds me a bit of Liev Schreiber's character in Taking Woodstock ^_^

Just to be clear: In your mind, these characters are not primarily about gender issues - they just happen to look feminine despite being male or masculine despite being female? (I guess many people would say - Sparkle doesn't just look masculine, he/she IS (physically/biologically) a man "dressing up as a female" (or, being female "only" psychologically). To me, it doesn't matter so much what he/she is, but rather, what he/she would like to be treated as.) If I saw these characters in a story, I'd just like to see them treated as regular people, and not as excuses for gender debate. It's very easy to unintentionally insult people here. (And you're obviously aware of that, since you're talking about the way different locales in the US differ in their acceptance in your character descriptions.) What do you think about that?

I created the characters when realizing the dearth of non-passable transgender characters there are out there, at least ones that are not used for comic relief. I figure gender can be a major or subsidiary issue with them. It would be interesting to see how people handle them. I do hope to write for them in the future myself, but need to focus on other characters at the moment.

In short, I understand perfectly where you're coming from and was hoping for an attitude like that. These two characters are just people, but too often media displays people like them as caricatures and it's nice to bring them back to being seen as just people.

And I have not seen Taking Woodstock. Maybe I should.

I loved Taking Woodstock. It seemed very slow at first, but 30 minutes into it, I was absolutely captivated.

And good to know we've got similar attitudes regarding these characters. As I was reading your descriptions, I was thinking about how I would write these myself. And I thought: HA is not a place for building characters (at least, so far it hasn't been), but rather, it needs strong characters who will shine even if they're only given a few panels' space. (That said, I would like to see HA develop a broader cross-over concept - adding chapters which concentrate on less characters, examining dynamics between different heroes. For me, that's the next stage in the comic's evolution.)

I understand that sort of an attitude towards Heroes Alliance, and I would have started a comic based on the characters, if at least to set them up, but I'm finding it rather difficult to find artists who have free time. Currently I'm pushing my comic surrounding Split and Protean to get drawn--taking the tack that each artist need only do a page--and am finding it difficult enough than to add in stories of other characters. But it could be possible that Sparkle and Astral would be like Shell in Heroes Unite: they start as just other characters in the story and get their own comic later which explains them in detail.

Also, writing-wise, I'm tending to focus on my own superhero universe (Tempore is the only character that I mentioned in this thread which carries over to this universe--so far). However, I have an idea of how to do a Sparkle/Astral origin comic, and have been imagining how they might interact with Heroes Alliance characters (and how they got involved in the first place). For instance: I think Sparkle might be infatuated with Brad Stone, and Astral might trip over himself around Bombshell (but what straight man wouldn't?).

shastab24
I understand that sort of an attitude towards Heroes Alliance, and I would have started a comic based on the characters, if at least to set them up, but I'm finding it rather difficult to find artists who have free time. Currently I'm pushing my comic surrounding Split and Protean to get drawn--taking the tack that each artist need only do a page--and am finding it difficult enough than to add in stories of other characters. But it could be possible that Sparkle and Astral would be like Shell in Heroes Unite: they start as just other characters in the story and get their own comic later which explains them in detail.

Well, I do have that same problem with Bombshell. Her comic is terribly slow-moving, and she didn't have one until HU #1, in which she already appeared. However, I believe that a major aspect of HU/HA is the cross-over aspect, which requires established characters. I know that it's unrealistic to expect that for every character; I just feel established characters have to be balanced with "exclusive" characters. Otherwise, HA will become just another superhero comic with a large cast, rather than an exciting place for characters to meet.

Don't take this as a comment on your own characters - it's just something I felt needs to be clear, especially in this thread. However, I've also stressed several times that pretty much anybody can just go ahead and write any story that somehow fits into HA, provided they organize the whole thing (finding artists!) themselves. Getting artists can be extremely hard (see Relik!), but I'd also like HA to be a forum where writers can find artists more easily.

And lastly, in my opinion, this thread should also be a resource for writers, offering characters they can use. In my case, I often find I have an idea for a story, but it doesn't clearly determine who's in it. So when I'm working on HA, I will look at the characters which have been submitted, and see who fits into it best. That way, it doesn't matter whether it's an established character or one who's fairly new.

shastab24
For instance: I think Sparkle might be infatuated with Brad Stone, and Astral might trip over himself around Bombshell (but what straight man wouldn't?).

Hah! Somehow, I see Bombshell dealing better with that than Brad :P

Ok, I going to submit the rest of The Oz-Stars. I give full permission to use them in a story, as long as you ask me first. Here they are:

Name: Brightlight (Charlotte “Charlie” Bright)
Age: 20
Abilities: Light based powers (e.g. shooting lasers from her hands) and flight
Personality and Background: She is the daughter of two superheroes and the granddaughter of another. She often has doubts about herself and living up to the legacy they left behind.

Name: KMH (Katie Henderson)
Age: 20
Abilities: Super speed - top speed: approx. 500km/h (310 mph)
Personality and Background: She is a friend of Azumorph’s from his Chango Presto days. She is very enthusiastic, but she is sometimes ditzy and has a tendency to put her foot in her mouth.

Name: Marker (Marcus Hubbard)
Age: 28
Abilities: Has no super powers, uses a paintball gun (marker) and “trick paintballs” filled with things like acid, nitro-glycerine, liquid nitrogen and glue.
Personality and Background: HUB’s younger brother; he took it upon himself to become a hero after his sister became a high ranking member of HU. He is a rather snarky individual.

Picture of Brightlight, KMH and Marker

Name: Syd and Jacob Leiber
Age: 60 (Syd) 30 (Jacob)
Abilities: Jacob has the ability to merge with Syd, essentially becoming the golem. Syd is a metal golem with super strength and durability. When Jacob is merged with Syd, he loses the ability to speak.
Personality and Background: Syd was built in Poland during WW2 by Jacob’s father; it was apparently destroyed during the war. Eventually, Syd was found, rebuilt and was shipped to Australia, as the Leiber family has emigrated there after the war. Since his father had passed away, Jacob became Syd’s new owner.

Picture of Syd and Jacob

Name: Valeria Von Stranj
Age: 140
Abilities: Vampire powers – super strength, agility, flight, teleportation with a puff of smoke, transforming into a bat (a really big bat!), healing factor, sharp fangs for biting and drinking blood. Her powers disappear and she becomes lethargic during the day.
Personality and Background: She is a 140-year-old, lesbian vampire from Romania who moved to Australia with her partner. She is more or less a socialite, and is one of the nicest people in the world.

Picture of Valeria (I redesigned her a bit)

Name: Deep Man
Age: Unknown
Abilities: Amphibious, Telepathic (talks entirely through telepathy), Colour changing/Camouflage, Shoots ink from mouth, tentacles are strong enough to crush bones
Personality and Background: One member of a mysterious octopus like species that washed up on the beach one night during a storm. He is a quiet and enigmatic creature who doesn’t say much.

Sketch of Deep Man (haven't decided on a colour scheme yet, any suggestions?)