togonomo
New member
I have been looking at the current heroes fashion and lore and a general timeline is unclear and hero inspiration is unclear.
I propose that heroes can come from any time between 1900 to 1960, meaning from the progressive era, new era, great depression, WW2, and early post war eras. My evidence for this comes from general hero fashion and statements in the lore.
The lower bound is decided by Seven who wears a striped prisoner suit, which was outlawed in New York in 1904. Granted striped suits existed in some prisons until 1958, but most striped suits were gone in a matter of years. The upper bound is decided by Shiv who has a greaser style popularized in the 50s, the fact Abrams drives a car in NYC, and Dynamo wearing a tweed jacket which didn't come back into fashion until the mid century (not that I accusing dynamo with being fashionable). There is also the fact that Abrams wears browline glasses, which weren't invented until 1947, and Haze's lore mentioning the CIA, which was founded in 1947. The majority of the characters' fashion and lore takes place between 1920 and 1950, this includes the mobster attire, prohibition smuggling, wartime research and development, and just the general vibe of most of the cast.
In terms of hero inspiration, I believe media from this period from around 1920-1950 is the main inspiration for much of the lore and heroes.
There are obvious connections to H.P. Lovecraft and other occult/scifi pulp writers with the patrons, the rift event, and whatever the underwater adversary is in Viscous' lore.
Abrams is an occult detective, more accurately a detective who is occult, similar to the comic characters Doctor Occult (1935), and The Phantom Stranger (1952) who would eventually go on to inspire Hellboy (unrelated but he is my favorite comic character) who is an obvious visual inspiration for our boy.
Bebop is a robot made from a junkyard, who I'm guessing from voice lines is also a prize fighter. Robot fiction was very popular during this time period I particularly would like to highlight I, Robot.
Dynamo is a bit different in that I cannot tell who his lore's inspiration is, but to me, he as a character is similar to Doctor Manhattan and Mischief from Interface. I'm sure there is a inspiration for him in some pulp magazine.
Talon is an American Indian wielding a bow, a popular style of character in western comics and pulps which were very popular around this time. This also goes with the near finished cowboy character.
I believe Haze takes inspiration from the golden age sandman Wesley Dods. Another comic hero popular at this time.
Infernus ties into the occult/horror fiction that was popular in pulps.
Not sure how Ivy is alive, but Gargoyles being used as demonic vessels comes from a 1932 short story titled The Horn of Vapula. There has also been other period media that depicts gargoyles as sentient beings but are not inhabited by demons such as Maker of Gargoyles (1932), and Conjure Wife (1943).
Kelvin is an adventurer, a common main character trope in pulp media. The most popular example being Doc Sampson.
Lady Geist is very clearly someone from 1920's high society, meaning she could take inspiration from any period movie actress. Her powers take inspiration from vampirism and vampires were in many horro pulps and early movies.
Jacob Lash is an asshole. They also existed in period media.
McGinnis takes obvious inspiration from Rosie the Riveteer, a popular fictional figure of the time.
I really don't understand what Mo & Krill are.
I could see Paradox's design being inspired by scifi pulps of the time. Many of the time abilties remind me of time travel which was became a very popular scifi trope at the turn of the century. There were also popular theif pulp characters like The Eel.
The ultimate of Pocket makes me think of Hellboy's frog monsters, who are inspired by the deep ones of the Cthulu mythos.
Seven's lore makes direct mention of the occult and the government's interference.
With Shiv and the Baxter Society, I could not find any period media about secret monster hunting societies. Regarding his design, there are too many prosthetic arms in media to place where it came from.
Vindicta is a ghost witch. Two common villains in pulp horror.
Viscous is a underwater cryptid. Both cryptids and underwater civilizations were popular themes in adventure pulp media. Also Viscous' visual design is reminiscent of scifi protagonists like Captain Future.
Warden is a magic freemason. Anti magic enforcer is essentally every long running protagonist of occult/horror pulp. The organization itself reminds me of the Ghost Club which was active at the time.
Wraith probably gets her inspiration from contemporary crime fiction. Also by her being telekinetic, does that mean she is Ixian?
Samurai films gaining popularity in the 1950s could explain Yamato's inspiration.
With all this, I firmly believe the way we as a community should be thinking about hero design is through the lens of 1920s-1940s media with a specific emphasis on occult, noir, and scifi that is superimposed over New York living at the time.
For instance, a character inspired by Zorro but is a Mets player and uses a bat instead of a sword. A chemical factory worker who becomes a mad scientist. A ghost Jazz trumpeteer. A mummy dock worker. A practicing occultist thats also a wallstreet stockbroker. A neanderthal/yeti who becomes a factory worker. A Doctor Fate style sorcerer who is now working as a Bob Hope style comedian. An Archie Andrews style teen who becomes demonically infested. You could superimpose a monster over any carnival attraction, and it would be gold for this game, zombie clown, invisible man magician, a Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde type strong man, you get the idea.
I hope the idea came through. I had to skim like 5 wikipedia articles for this information, so it came at a great cost. If there are any clear inspirations I had missed please let me know.
I propose that heroes can come from any time between 1900 to 1960, meaning from the progressive era, new era, great depression, WW2, and early post war eras. My evidence for this comes from general hero fashion and statements in the lore.
The lower bound is decided by Seven who wears a striped prisoner suit, which was outlawed in New York in 1904. Granted striped suits existed in some prisons until 1958, but most striped suits were gone in a matter of years. The upper bound is decided by Shiv who has a greaser style popularized in the 50s, the fact Abrams drives a car in NYC, and Dynamo wearing a tweed jacket which didn't come back into fashion until the mid century (not that I accusing dynamo with being fashionable). There is also the fact that Abrams wears browline glasses, which weren't invented until 1947, and Haze's lore mentioning the CIA, which was founded in 1947. The majority of the characters' fashion and lore takes place between 1920 and 1950, this includes the mobster attire, prohibition smuggling, wartime research and development, and just the general vibe of most of the cast.
In terms of hero inspiration, I believe media from this period from around 1920-1950 is the main inspiration for much of the lore and heroes.
There are obvious connections to H.P. Lovecraft and other occult/scifi pulp writers with the patrons, the rift event, and whatever the underwater adversary is in Viscous' lore.
Abrams is an occult detective, more accurately a detective who is occult, similar to the comic characters Doctor Occult (1935), and The Phantom Stranger (1952) who would eventually go on to inspire Hellboy (unrelated but he is my favorite comic character) who is an obvious visual inspiration for our boy.
Bebop is a robot made from a junkyard, who I'm guessing from voice lines is also a prize fighter. Robot fiction was very popular during this time period I particularly would like to highlight I, Robot.
Dynamo is a bit different in that I cannot tell who his lore's inspiration is, but to me, he as a character is similar to Doctor Manhattan and Mischief from Interface. I'm sure there is a inspiration for him in some pulp magazine.
Talon is an American Indian wielding a bow, a popular style of character in western comics and pulps which were very popular around this time. This also goes with the near finished cowboy character.
I believe Haze takes inspiration from the golden age sandman Wesley Dods. Another comic hero popular at this time.
Infernus ties into the occult/horror fiction that was popular in pulps.
Not sure how Ivy is alive, but Gargoyles being used as demonic vessels comes from a 1932 short story titled The Horn of Vapula. There has also been other period media that depicts gargoyles as sentient beings but are not inhabited by demons such as Maker of Gargoyles (1932), and Conjure Wife (1943).
Kelvin is an adventurer, a common main character trope in pulp media. The most popular example being Doc Sampson.
Lady Geist is very clearly someone from 1920's high society, meaning she could take inspiration from any period movie actress. Her powers take inspiration from vampirism and vampires were in many horro pulps and early movies.
Jacob Lash is an asshole. They also existed in period media.
McGinnis takes obvious inspiration from Rosie the Riveteer, a popular fictional figure of the time.
I really don't understand what Mo & Krill are.
I could see Paradox's design being inspired by scifi pulps of the time. Many of the time abilties remind me of time travel which was became a very popular scifi trope at the turn of the century. There were also popular theif pulp characters like The Eel.
The ultimate of Pocket makes me think of Hellboy's frog monsters, who are inspired by the deep ones of the Cthulu mythos.
Seven's lore makes direct mention of the occult and the government's interference.
With Shiv and the Baxter Society, I could not find any period media about secret monster hunting societies. Regarding his design, there are too many prosthetic arms in media to place where it came from.
Vindicta is a ghost witch. Two common villains in pulp horror.
Viscous is a underwater cryptid. Both cryptids and underwater civilizations were popular themes in adventure pulp media. Also Viscous' visual design is reminiscent of scifi protagonists like Captain Future.
Warden is a magic freemason. Anti magic enforcer is essentally every long running protagonist of occult/horror pulp. The organization itself reminds me of the Ghost Club which was active at the time.
Wraith probably gets her inspiration from contemporary crime fiction. Also by her being telekinetic, does that mean she is Ixian?
Samurai films gaining popularity in the 1950s could explain Yamato's inspiration.
With all this, I firmly believe the way we as a community should be thinking about hero design is through the lens of 1920s-1940s media with a specific emphasis on occult, noir, and scifi that is superimposed over New York living at the time.
For instance, a character inspired by Zorro but is a Mets player and uses a bat instead of a sword. A chemical factory worker who becomes a mad scientist. A ghost Jazz trumpeteer. A mummy dock worker. A practicing occultist thats also a wallstreet stockbroker. A neanderthal/yeti who becomes a factory worker. A Doctor Fate style sorcerer who is now working as a Bob Hope style comedian. An Archie Andrews style teen who becomes demonically infested. You could superimpose a monster over any carnival attraction, and it would be gold for this game, zombie clown, invisible man magician, a Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde type strong man, you get the idea.
I hope the idea came through. I had to skim like 5 wikipedia articles for this information, so it came at a great cost. If there are any clear inspirations I had missed please let me know.
