So in another thread there was a conversation about Wraith's inspiration, and while there is no doubt in my mind that Wraith is totally a Batman Analog (sorry Ronway). It made me curious how different folks see the characters. Whenever I teach a new player the game I let them pick the characters by quickly summing up each of the characters with a super hero/concept they would know.
Legacy - Superman
Tachyon - Flash
Wraith - Batman
Visionary - Jean Grey
Omnitron - Ultron turned good
Ra - Cyclops meets indiana jones
Tempest - Storm
Scholar - The Dude
Fanatic - An Angel
Chrono Ranger - Time Traveling Cowboy (or Galaxy Ranger if i think theyve seen the show)
Nightmist - Doctor Strange
Haka - The Hulk
Unity - Forge
Argent Adept - Spoony Bard
Absolute Zero - Mister Freeze meets Iron Man
Bunker - Iron Man
Expatriette - Punisher
Mr. Fixter - Kung Fu movie guy
I was curious if anyone has a different summary they use. For instance, never in my life would i consider calling Wraith spiderman, but it was interesting to hear some folks thought that way. I'm curious if there are other interrpretations people use
Mostly the same, except I add some qualifiers:
Legacy- Superman, but a cheerleading Superman. Support.
Omnitron- *points to Omnitron* see that guy? This is the good guy version.
Ra- Sun God. He's hot. Wanna see the beard/nipple version?
Nightmist- Magician/sorcerer person. Don't use her, she's mine.
Mr. Fixer- Mr. Miyagi (which I think is who you are referring to?)
I never thought to use Miyagi, i was just being generic...good call.
I think you failed as to what I was trying to get across. I merely pointing out that Wraith is more than a Batman clone.
Omnitron-X makes me think of Brainiac 5.
AZ is more Iron Man, while Bunker is more War Machine
Finest Legacy is like Superman, Greatest Legacy is a little more like Captain America, and Young Legacy is Supergirl
Ra has the feel of Silver Age Thor.
Argent Adept sings the song that the world wants to hear. (The Music Meister, but good)
And absolutely none of them are "clones of".
I don't know what makes me different and I don't care. Maybe it's not my problem, but why do they stare? - The Living End, Strange
Thor's a good call too, i totally missed that one
EDIT: For what it's worth, there's nothing wrong with the characters being plays off of iconic characters. It's part of the appeal of the game and what helps pull folks into it...then over time they get attracted to the Sentinels fluff as well. But like: The Chairman is Ras Al Ghul meets the Kingpin. It's clear as day. That's not bad. But lets be blind to what is happening. Wraith is a young titan of industry by day, and the worlds greatest detective by night. Shes batman. That being said, she is a different spin on batman.
Ultimately the stories being told in Sentinels are unique to the world of SotM, but they are wearing their inspirations on their sleeves, and their building blocks are a pastiche of comic book icons. That's part of what makes the game so cool. It is simultaniously relateable but has it's own mythos you can buy into.
Gah! Ra makes so much more sense now... The oddball Egyptian themed deck has always kind of threw me for a loop. But now that you say it, the emphasis on the power of the staff, the way the title of Ra can pass to different people, all comes together. They just picked a different mythology. :D Feeling incredibly dense right about now.
Also another connection between the two is Dr Donald Blake was Thor's mortal counter part, Dr Blake Washington Jr. is Ra's.
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I don't use heroes to compare. I use more archetypes when I describe the heroes in Sentinels.
Legacy - paragon of good and justice
Wraith - masked detective/vigilante
Tachyon - speedster
Absolute Zero/Bunker - armored combatants
Visionary - psychic
Haka - the heavy
Tempest - alien refugee
Ra - champion of ancient powers
Fanatic - divine agent/angel
Fixer - martial arts master/monk
Expatrette - gritty/steel age hero
Argent Adept - D&D bard (he's the only one that is less stereotypical superhero)
NightMist - mystical detective
Chrono Ranger - man out of time/time cop
Omnitron-X - friendly robot
Scholar - old wise mage (although his specific flavor is obviously Full Metal Alchemist)
Unity - gadgeteer
Legacy = Superman/Capt. America
Visionary = Jean Gray
Tempest = Piccolo (DragonballZ)/ Storm
Ab. Zero = Mr. Freeze
Fanatic = Archangel
Haka = Beast/Hulk
Bunker = Warmachine
Wraith = Batman
Tachyon = Flash
Ra = Thor
ChronoRanger = Bishop
OmnitronX = Ultron
Unity = Forge
Scholar = The Dude
Nightmist = Dr. Strange
Argent Adept = Dazzler
Parse = Green Arrow
Naturalist = Beast Boy
Idealist = Green Lanturn
Medico = Elixir
Mainstay = Ghostrider
Writhe = Rorschach/Inque? (from Batman Beyond)/ possibly Venom/Carnage (art based speculation)
Setback = Longshot
KYFE = ? I am drawing a major blank on this one if anyone can help me
KYNFE= her powers are definitely evocative of Psylocke, though her affiliations bring to mind Black Widow...
I don't really know all that much about comics to find a parallel superhero, but she really just reminds me of the common movie trope of "Rogue Agent" who was trained by some agency to be the best and then eventually saw the error of the agency's ways and broke off from them and often ends up fighting them... like the Bourne series and stuff.
Ah brilliant bringing up Psylocke! Kicking myself for not seeing that.
I'm not a big proponent of making analogies like this, but if you were to do one for Writhe, I think Cloak (of Marvel's Cloak & Dagger) would be a closer fit, although even that comparison isn't very strong.
"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal
Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)
I see her attack strategy being fairly similar to Wolverine, minus healing factor. Just cutting you up, really. Everyone else is right by comparing her background to more of a Black Widow character.
It might be a reach to inject manga character similarities, but I'd categorize the Scholar character as being highly similar to Jiraiya from Naruto, if you are familiar with him. He is wise (giving existential riddles to others) and unaffiliated with the various clans until things go wrong and evil is afoot. Even down to the signature attack he teaches naruto being a ball shaped energy of similar size and shape to the Philosopher's stone. Scholar's story as a wanderer also sounds like the Elric brother's father from Fullmetal Alchemist, and there you have the alchemy connection. Plus, a plethora of man-ponytails.
I understand being hesitant trying and tease out who we think might be influences on these characters, but it is all in good fun. The >G are obviously huge fans of comics in general by the countless references in just Adam's art alone.
Anyway, I have never heard of Cloak&Dagger so thank you for the link. Just reading that wiki quick I think the comparison to Cloak is much better than mine. Inque is obviously more liquid ink based powerset (my mind drifted that way due to the name of a card that I got the definition of wrong. I was thinking of Calligraphy. PTs will hopefully put that mistake together. I cant discuss specific card names here obviously).
I feel pretty strongly about the Venom/Carnage influence atm. I anticipate talking a lot more about that angle on these forums once Vengeance hits.
Bishop is interesting for chrono ranger, though it speaks to a mutant element that isn't there... Maybe lobo would be better? Or Sam Becket with a gun?
While I readily agree that most of the SotM heroes are (at the very least) done in homage to DC/Marvel superhero comics, I also appreciate the unique twists that make them different. But, overall--and when billing them to new players--I tend to describe them like this:
Legacy - Superman smashed into Captain America
Wraith - Batman/Moon Knight (minus the Egyptian mythos)
Tachyon - Flash/Quicksilver
Absolute Zero - Iceman meets Captain Atom (in terms of the containment suit)
Bunker - Iron Man (specifically the War Machine armor, worn by Rhodey) and Steel
Visionary - Jean Grey
Haka - The Incredible Hulk, with a more interesting personality
Tempest - Martian Manhunter meets Storm
Ra - Egyptian Thor
Fanatic - This one always gets me. She's like Hawkgirl in temperament, with a power set closer to Ghost Rider or The Spectre.
Fixer - Iron Fist/Shang-Chi
Expatrette - The Punisher
Argent Adept - A full-on D&D-style bard, with a touch of Green Lantern's aesthetics.
NightMist - Doctor Strange with a Cthulhu mythos bent.
Chrono Ranger - Cable meets Jonah Hex
Omnitron-X - The Vision or Brainiac 5
Scholar - The Dude abides...with a touch of Richard Dragon (as a mentor role)
Unity - Magneto gets chipper and becomes a summoner.
KNYFE - Psylocke (in power-set) and Black Widow (in background)
The Naturalist - Beast Boy
Parse - Oracle meets Hawkeye
Setback - Scarlet Witch in terms of power-set, with a Deadpool temperament (4th wall breaking and such)
The Sentinels themselves are a little more complex, though I see Mainstay as a friendlier Lobo and Writhe seems a lot like Cloak.
Cable is a great call for chrono ranger
Lobo? I do not see that one personally. My two initial thoughts went immediatly to either Bishop or Cable. I thought Bishop was closer with the timetraveling and weapons, but Cable has seen time travel as well and has that metal awesome arm. There are core elements to both characters that can be found within Chrono to some degree.
Edit: Actually, Bishop has a crazy arm as well he stole from Forge.
Also, Platinumwarlock, I think your description of Fanatic is tempermentally similar to Hawkgirl is spot on. I never thought of that angle.
For direct comparison, Unity is most specifically Will Magnus and the Metal Men.
This is interesting. What makes you say that Will Magnus is a more direct fit than say Forge?
Thanks for saying that. Forge is always the first one that pops to mind, for me.
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I like both of those comparisons for Unity. Forge meets Will Magnus...very cool!
Oh yes. I did not mean to imply I thought Magnus wasn't appropriate.
Jean Grey is a telekinetic first and a telepath second, while Visi is clearly the reverse (indeed, I don't think any of her card art depicts telekinesis at all, although I often use this as an explanation for when she uses Wrest the Mind on something like a Plummeting Monorail). To me, it's pretty clear that she's a lot closer to Professor X, apart from gender and lack of wheelchair...both are driven megalomaniacal characters with noble aims but dark personality traits, who are willing to use one of the most traditionally "bad" powers (mind control) to good ends, but eventually go around the bend as a result. (Xavier gets better since he has an ongoing series.)
I don't see this at all. To me the most defining trait of the Hulk, separate from all the generic "brick" superheroes, is that he gets more powerful from getting angry. Haka never seems to get mad; he's a happy-go-lucky kind of guy who never seems to take anything personally. I can't think of an exact analogue, but I'd put him closer to the Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing than to Hulk, and probably still closer to Colossus of the X-Men (minus the shiny). Someone who's a better fit than that probably exists, but is increasingly obscure; the best I can come up with is maybe Doc Samson.
Argent looks like Dr. Strange (in terms of the visual aesthetic of his powers, more than his costume), while Misty acts like him. I don't really see the Green Lantern in Adept but that's probably a case of personal blinders on me. Also don't neglect to mention how Nightmist's Mist Form equates her to Shadowcat.
Don't forget his powerset, which is vaguely similar to characters like The Phantom Stranger or Uatu the Watcher, ones who are plugged into the flow of destiny and like to show up at plot-critical moments to be all cryptic and stuff. (Unlike them, he's actually useful.)
The Sentinels overall are clearly a Fantastic Four analogue (although as a joke, which is not originally mine, I like the idea that they're a one-less-member version of the Planeteers with Naturalist as their Captain Planet.) Even to the point of their nemesis being equatable to Kang the Conqueror, who's one of the FF's most pernicious foes. (The FF's actual nemesis would clearly be Doctor Doom, who's Baron Blade to a T, but Baron Blade is the "nemesis" of Sentinels of the Multiverse overall, rather than just of the Sentinels. Although it is interesting that they'll be published in the same box as presumably a new version of BB.)
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
Pretty sure the picture we have of the Sentinels as a group is a homage to the X-Men, the floating head representing either Prof X or Marvel Girl doing their thang.
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Visionary has Mass Levitation and Telekinetic Cocoon, which are both telekinetic-type powers/abilities. And, either way, all of these are meant to be a holistic view (and a generalization, at that), combining both mechanics and aesthetics. Visionary's dark vs. light side, her telekinetic and telepathic abilities, her "morph" into a more powerful power-set...that's more like Jean Grey/Phoenix than Professor Xavier.
Also, what Xavier ongoing series are you talking about? Professor Xavier is dead (again), as of Avengers vs. X-Men.
Haka has lots of straight-up smashing abilities--it's called Elbow Smash, after all--as well as Ground Pound, which is a classic Hulk move. His incapacitated side calls back to the Secret Wars mini-series, where Hulk is literally holding up a mountain. And, I did say (which you left out of the quote)--"With a more interesting personality". To me, Haka is more dynamic and interesting than the standard Hulk portrayal, which tends to wallow in self-pity and self-loathing. Haka's a cheerful dude who teaches kindergarten and genuinely relishes being around other heroes.
All of Argent Adept's powers utilize green energy--take a look at his cards. While that's where the similarities between he and GL end, it's a pretty strong link.
I find that the only real link between Shadowcat and Nightmist is Mist Form...we don't really see Nightmist walking through walls or phasing through goon, which are in Shadowcat's wheelhouse.
I don't see The Scholar as having much to do with The Watcher or The Phantom Stranger at all--his power set is pretty well defined: project energy, heal, and transform yourself into other states of matter. I do see him as that mysterious advisor, which is why I suggested Richard Dragon, coupled with The Dude's aesthetics.
Dark Visionary. Thats really all you need to make the case that Visionary is closer to Jean than the professor. Visionary for me compares just as well to Prof X as she does to any other telepath. The connection to the Phoenix here though is undeniable.
I understand not liking the Haka=Hulk comparison. I think that comparison is hard to escape because of their sizes, melee strength, and a healing factor that is unrivaled. Personality he is nothing like Bruce Banner, but when we are making comparisons, we are not saying they have to be carbon copies, but there needs to be definitive similarities, and Hulk has those. Personally I find Haka to be more Hank McCoy in demenor and intelligence
The Sentinels as a play off the Fantastic 4 is really appropriate I think. You have the brusier in Mainstay/Thing, the inventor in Richards/Writhe, the superpowered female in Idealist/Invisible Woman, and another guy who flies and glows really brightly in Medico/Human Torch.
well, I saw them from the start as X-Men meets Fanastic Four since they are basically mutants, no origin for their powers (for most of them). Also find it funny that the name Jean Gray is used instead of Phoenix since Vi's power looks to be straight out OP from the get go (Psychic Time Travelling, GO!).
When I describe Tempest to new players, I say "the alien son of Storm and Aquaman". Fortunately his concept rocks.
Man, now I want a NightCrawler deck... and Colossus one. Heh, just imagined good ol' arcade X-Men: Children of the Atom with SotM characters. Uhhh a Spiral Villain! Don't care much for Mojo though. I guess the burned Flesh Villian that is a lot of art loosely fits a similar role as Sabertooth (he's everywhere, he's dangerous, but everyone kicks his butt)
@Envisioner: your ability to constantly have a negative tone/attitude in EVERY post you make outstounds me. Congratulations on constancy!
YYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Such a badass game.
Yes! Spiral is awesome!
I do! He's awesome too!
Ha! Take that!
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
I always see Chrono Ranger as sort of a Jonah Hex. You know, when Jonah was captured by Aliens and made to hunt people for Mogul? Unless I'm imagining that....
Also, doesn't Visionary's costume come from a Jean Grey Uniform?
And I always think of The Scholar as Iroh/Hoenhiem with a bit of a Dude mixed in.
"An artist's responsibility is to be irresponsible. As soon as you start to think about social or political responsibility, you've amputated the best limbs you've got as an artist."
David Cronenberg
Okay, that was hilarious.
"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal
Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)
I've always thought that Wraith was "Batman by way of Peter Parker" and Haka reminds me of a more responsible version of Valiant's new run of "Archer and Armstrong"'s Armstrong.
Expat seems like what would happen if a child of an unredeemable Magneto became The Punisher.
Chrono Ranger reminds me of Jonah Hex, but I've not read much Hex.
Ra, God of the Fun
Draw, God of the Sun
The Matriarch's Psychic damage is her forcing a gratuitous amount of Snapple facts about birds into a hero's brain.
Oh man, I can't believe I didn't see the Jonah Hex = Chrono-Ranger one. Perfect, down to the gruffness. Maybe a little more kid friendly though.
I made a set of character selection cards a while back (you may remember I asked for help on here). One side has a picture of the hero with the generally accepted "analogue(s)" printed below it. The other side has a difficulty-colour-coded radar/star/web diagram (cribbed from a file on BGG) to give a rough indication of how focused the decks are to elements like offence/defence/deck manipulation/support, with a short description of how the hero plays. I intended the cards to be a useful resource, especially for new players, to be able to make an informed choice about who to play.
It took ages to actually make them. Editing descriptions, laying out cards, printing, spraying with acrylic, cutting, corner rounding, sanding (where the spray wasn't as smooth as I'd like).
And most of the time people completely ignore them. No-one's ever said, "Wow, Jean Grey! I HAVE to play Visionary!"
I still end up doing my tiny "hero in 2 seconds" descriptions - Legacy: makes everyone else better, Expat: normal with guns, Tachyon: does lots of stuff very fast, Wraith: lots of gadgets, Unity: makes robot minions.
Just assume I'm always doing that.
Damn it, Ronway!
Silverleaf, I for one would be very interested to see these cards. Any chance you can post em on here? :O
I'd love to share them, but since the radar diagrams came from someone on BGG, I'm not sure it'd be right for me to post them. I don't want to look like I'm claiming credit for someone else's work.
(However, if someone were to send me a private message, I could try to help in some way...)
Just assume I'm always doing that.
Damn it, Ronway!
+1.
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
Haka to me seems a lot more like Duncan McLeod than like the Hulk. He even has Savage Mana and Dominion to represent the Quickening. His Hakas are also representative of a particular kind of martial artist concept, or perhaps a pro wrestler.
One other Wraith fun fact: First appearence is Mystery Comics 27. Batman's first appearance is Detective Comics 27.
It only dawned on me this morning, but my ex-avatar Chrono Ranger, who is unquestionably in my top three heroes, is even cooler than I thought he was....because he's Hellboy! I mean, CR's not a demon prophecied to bring the apocalypse, and Hellboy's not a time-traveler, but everything else fits - each is a gruff loner with an unflinching conscience and a super-weapon in place of one of his arms, who wanders from place to place destroying monsters, ruggedly individualistic and possessed of strange personality quirks, with a heavy reliance on custom firearms and a tool-chest of miscellaneous solutions to unusual problems. It's so perfect that I can't believe I never thought of it before.
"Is there beauty in a forest, if no creature stops and calls it lovely, now and then? Isn't that what 'sapience' is for?"
--David Brin, "Brightness Reef"
Also fun fact: there's an Elseworlds Batman storyline called "Detective 27" which features such historical luminaries as Allan Pinkerton, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and Babe Ruth. It's a fun little romp...
Another revelation: Mr. Fixer is totally Casey Jones from TMNT
Or Nite Owl 1
I don't know what makes me different and I don't care. Maybe it's not my problem, but why do they stare? - The Living End, Strange
I thought he was just really old.
I've always seen Fixer to be a little bit like Mr. Miagi.
Good ideas are usually just bad ideas a stubborn person eventually fixed.
ARISE, FELL THREAD!
I was inspired by a coment in another thread:
... and I wanted to hear more people's analogues!
Here are the ones I tend to use:
Absolute Zero: Mr. Freeze as an antihero - Antifreeze!
Argent Adept: Kyle Rayner using music - ionTUNES!
Bunker: Warmachine!
Chrono-Ranger: Old West-style Cable - Cable Eastwood!
Fanatic: 90s theological antihero but with angelic imagery rather than demonic - The Lightness!
Expatriette: GUUUUNNZZZZ!
Haka: Hulk, surprisingly-sophisticated and an outcast tribal leader - Hulk Panther!
KNYFE: Punch Lantern!
Legacy: Minuteman! (What, none of you played Freedom Force?)
Mr. Fixer: Aged up Power Man - Power Oldman!
The Naturalist: Beasy Boy/Iron Man - Beast Man!
Nightmist: Cthulhu-style Dr. Strange - Dr. Strange Aeon!
Omnitron-X: Brainiac 10!
Parse: Archery hero but reserved rather than cocky - Autistic Arrow!
The Sentinels: Fantastic Four with disparate origins - The Fractured Four!
Setback: Longshot Spider-Man - Spider Shot!
Tachyon: Superscience Speedster - Dr. Impulse! Or maybe Flash Fantastic. I am open to change.
Tempest: Aquamartian Manhunter!
Unity: Static and Gear rolled into one - Static Shock!
The Visionary: Time-travelling Raven pastiche - Chrono-Raven!
The Wraith: Batman.
"Is it a bird?"
"Is it a plane?"
"No... it's ironic!"
I had to laugh at... well just about all of it.
For me, not knowing much about comic lore, I keeping getting a Wolverine vibe from KNYFE
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