USPD is wonderous!

[Yamo]

I was a little skeptical when I was expecting it to be "just" a laundry list of Powers, but now that I finally have it in my hot little hands, I have to say that this little gem has dethroned CCK as my favorite Champions book.

The art, layout, and usefulness are dramatically improved over the other Champs products (IMHO).

And the text is surprisingly engaging for such a utilitarian volumn. The gimmick of the numerous "in-character" sidebars with UNTIL folks discussing various CU characters was an inspired choice.

Good show, all!

[Steve Long]

I have to give credit for the "gimmick" to Andy. I'd've been OK with just lots o' powers. But although it was more work for us both, I'm glad he convinced me to do it. If nothing else it's lengthened my list of villains to include in future books. ;)

[Nato]

The sidebar comments are my favorite part of the book, hands down! I read them all right away and wished there were more. They really flesh out a lot of the Champions Universe. Great job.

[TedJMill]

The USPD has kind of a "Nighthawk's most embarrassing moments" theme in some of the pictures and sidebars.
P. 121 - villain escapes by tossing diner stuff at him
P. 130 - stone gargoyle falls from a roof onto his head
P. 158 - he gets burned by illusionary fire
P. 163 - he gets attacked by schoolchildren

Is that deliberate, a running gag, or just how it happened to work out?

[Tom McCarthy]

He is, sort of, Seeker's replacement.

[Lord Liaden]

Well, Nighthawk is also getting electrocuted or something similar by Mechanon on the cover of Champions Universe. So if it isn't a deliberate choice, karma must be at work. ;)

[Hermit]

I hope they don't over do that sort of thing. One complaint I used to hear about Seeker was that his constantly getting humilated seemed to make him a joke. The only thing that saved him at all was he took it with a smile and was a bit of a swashbuckler. Nighthawk is not. He's the 'dark avenger' type of the group. Assuming we're supposed to take Nighthawk seriously, it's best not to make him the whipping boy of the Champions each and everytime they come up.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Hermit
I hope they don't over do that sort of thing. One complaint I used to hear about Seeker was that his constantly getting humilated seemed to make him a joke. The only thing that saved him at all was he took it with a smile and was a bit of a swashbuckler. Nighthawk is not. He's the 'dark avenger' type of the group. Assuming we're supposed to take Nighthawk seriously, it's best not to make him the whipping boy of the Champions each and everytime they come up. I think Seeker's origin had a great deal to do with the mocking and Nighthawk is his replacement. On top of everything else, he has that silly hood/hat. The headgear invites danger. It has to be hard running in the forest or in buildings having to dodge limbs and the tops of doorways, light fixtures, etc.

[Ben Seeman]

I've never understood why people don't like Nighthawk's hood. I think it's cool. So there.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Ben Seeman
I've never understood why people don't like Nighthawk's hood. I think it's cool. So there. You might be right. Since it stands up like that, it probably does provide for decent air circulation. ;)

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Ben Seeman
I've never understood why people don't like Nighthawk's hood. I think it's cool. So there.

Actually, when I first saw it sans color, I was picturing this yellow billed thing.. *Shiver*

Then I saw the colorized versions (silver, no yellow) and had to admit, it looked pretty cool.

I really don't think it's so honking huge that it would really impede him much, but that's me.
Frankly, given his immense weight, I would think Ironclad would be the one cast in the 'fallguy' role..litterally.

[Nato]

Actually, I think the love is shared among all the other members of the Champions, as far as getting butts kicked goes. I think it has a lot to do with showing villains in action for the first time - we want to make them look threatening. And actually, I don't think there have been to many scenes of Nighthawk getting flat-out CLOBBERED as there were of Seeker.

[Tom McCarthy]

There's no shame in showing Nighthawk dodging or blocking a lot of attacks; if you've tried to play him, you've done the same.

[TheEmerged]

Actually, I noticed that it tended to be the good guys getting beat on in general.

Darn it, now you're going to make me go and count them, aren't you?

[BobGreenwade]

Originally posted by TedJMill
The USPD has kind of a "Nighthawk's most embarrassing moments" theme in some of the pictures and sidebars.
P. 121 - villain escapes by tossing diner stuff at him
P. 130 - stone gargoyle falls from a roof onto his head
P. 158 - he gets burned by illusionary fire
P. 163 - he gets attacked by schoolchildren

Is that deliberate, a running gag, or just how it happened to work out? According to Steve (in another thread, which I don't recall... and I'm not even 100% sure it was Steve, not that I think on it), this was just how it happened to work out.

Personally, I like it. I'm just waiting for the Champions supplement with a cover showing Nighthawk in serious trouble, and somewhere in the background is a Champions comic book with Seeker in the identical situation. :D

[Jhamin]

And just to keep things balanced, it seemed to me that Sapphire spent alot of the book getting her clock cleaned as well, her costume just isn't as iconic.

[TheEmerged]

Okay, by my count there are 62 unique pictures in USPDB.

In 17 (27.4%) there is no victim.

There are 4 "kinda" cases. The first is a case where Gargantua is menacing civilains but isn't actually attacking. The second is the "non combat victimization" picture of Menton with two females.

The two other exceptions are hard to classify. In one, Ironclad is in the background as a villain demonstrates her power -- but he isn't be attacked and his posture doesn't qualify as being menaced. In the other, Stormfront & Sapphire are attacking each other but missing.

Of the remaining 41 pics, the "good guys" are the victim/being made look bad 33 (53.2%) times, versus 8 (12.9%) times where the black hat is going down.

Now, as for WHO is getting the beatdown in the 41 "obvious victim" pics...

Victims Unnamed
11 pictures
Also, there is an unrecognizable pictured with Defender being held by Grond (picture counted for Defender, below).

One-Hit Wonders
Ironclad (but see above), Thunderbird, Riptide, Kodiak, Amradillo, Dr. Silverback, Kinetik, Eurostar, and an alien craft.
Note: There is also a picture in which "the Champions" are in a darkness field, and you can make out Defender's leg and Nighthawk's beak. This picture counted for both.

Defender
5 (pg 11, 52, 73, 98, 210).

Nightwind, from MC
2 (pg 81, 114)

Nighthawk
6 (pg 52, 77, 121, 130, 158, 163). Anybody else notice he's getting beat on by the cast of Peanuts on 163?

Sapphre
3, not counting "sorta" case with Stormwind pg 250
(pg 18, 214, 226)

Witchcraft
3 (pg 153, 222, 255)

[rayoman]

I like it too. It reminds me of my childhood when BotP was on. How about giving him a robot sidekick, 7-Zark-7 (I think that was its name)?


Originally posted by Ben Seeman
I've never understood why people don't like Nighthawk's hood. I think it's cool. So there.

[Rechan]

I'm wondering, though, when we're going to get stats on a few of those villains otherwise unheard of.

Dreamwitch, Fleshtone, Plague (Yum!), The Curse...

[Steve Long]

You'll likely get 'em whenever we next do a book of enemies for Champions, probably a couple years from now. Some may appear here and there in other products as appropriate.

[Tamashii2000]

Originally posted by Ben Seeman
I've never understood why people don't like Nighthawk's hood. I think it's cool. So there.

Its... just SO blue falcon. I keep exspecting DinoMut to show up.