Need a Little Help With a Character

[Pariah]

Fellow Herophiles, I need some help with a character. Any useful suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

The character's name is Echo. She's a superheroine in a modern American city. She's an African-American college student in her early 20s. Grad school, maybe. She has a secret identity; even her family don't know about her powers. She has the power to absorb light and other EM radiation and project it as sound. She's kind of like Dazzler in reverse. She's not a mutant; she gained her powers through some kind of 'radiation accident'. She's only had her powers for a couple of years, but she's quite proficient with them. She's not quite an introvert, she's more like an active observer who prefers to listen and learn rather than to speak. She's driven and dedicated to her studies, both in terms of academics and her powers. She wants to be the best, most knowledgeable person and the most capable hero she can be.

 

The problem: I have no idea what her costume should look like. None whatsoever. Color? Style? Logo? Accessories? Nope, haven't a clue.

 

Suggestions?

[Ninja-Bear]

My first thought is she has an Afro hair do. And her logo is sound waves. Is there a symbol for echo? Have the costume a one piece in Black and Green (what ever green fifth edition used). Really I’m thinking of Frizbee from the old Villain supplements.

[HeroGM]

For some reason I'm rhi king a radar icon. Guess the whole idea of echo location.

[Ninja-Bear]

1 hour ago, ChaosDrgn said:

For some reason I'm rhi king a radar icon. Guess the whole idea of echo location.

Radar icon would work too imo.

[HeroGM]

I just want to say I hate typing on a cell phone.

[dmjalund]

((-

[Greywind]

[DShomshak]

If she absorbs light, she might appear as a black silhouette when her powers are active -- which would make it easier to maintain her Secret ID. (Maybe with a halo of Kirby dots, a la Sunspot from the New Mutants, to add visual interest.) In that case, her costume might be very simple, with no logo as such -- much of the time, it wouldn't be visible. Following Greywind's sketch, it might be a leotard in one color, with two vertical arcs from shoulder to waist facing each other.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Spence]

23 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

If she absorbs light, she might appear as a black silhouette when her powers are active -- which would make it easier to maintain her Secret ID. (Maybe with a halo of Kirby dots, a la Sunspot from the New Mutants, to add visual interest.) In that case, her costume might be very simple, with no logo as such -- much of the time, it wouldn't be visible.

 

In this case, she doesn't need a costume.  Just activating her powers will activate a "costume". 

[archer]

Form follows function. If she's trying to become a capable melee fighter as well as an energy projector, she's probably looking for something skin-tight that opponents can't grab and will avoid belts, bandoliers, and such.

 

If she has skills she wants to use in the field, she'll have pouches or a utility belt to hold sample bags, lock picks, or whatever it is that she'll need.

 

If she sneaks around in back alleys at night, she'll want somber colors. If she flies high, she'll want light colors that blend in with the daytime sky.

 

Her description makes it sound like she doesn't mind fading into the background and might want to avoid drawing attention to herself. That might suggest colors that don't sharply contrast like dark green and black.

 

Something that would amuse me is dark green body with black sleeves, leggings, neck, and belt. Green bracelets.

 

She wears a hood with most of the hair area cut out so her hair can come out the back. There's a cut-out for her mouth (unless she has some sort of breathing life support apparatus). 

 

There's no cut-out in the hood for her eyes. Instead there's just a depression area around the eyes which is slightly darkened to suggest that she's blind. She enforces that impression by saying things to opponents who are standing out in the open like, "You can hide but don't think someone with MY sonic powers can't hear you."

 

Your choice as to whether she just sees through the cloth, like you can with most cloth, or if she has vision tech or powers. But it might make some villains approach her differently if they have the mistaken impression that she's blind. They might try to move extra quietly while not particularly hiding or work up flash grenades which effect her hearing/sonar rather than her sight.

 

That's the kind of edge which a smart person might try to gain for herself. It would also help hide her secret identity if everyone thinks the hero is blind.

[dmjalund]

If she gains powers from bright light, she won't want to hide in actual shadows

[Tjack]

  You might want to check out the artwork of Phil Cho on YouTube. He’s been doing character studies for an alternate universe called Earth-27.   It’s mostly DC but includes Marvel and characters from Ghostbusters Supernatural and Scooby-Doo.

  It may spring loose a few ideas.  Good luck.

 

P.S.  He just made Captain Planet & The Planeteers look cool.

[archer]

1 hour ago, dmjalund said:

If she gains powers from bright light, she won't want to hide in actual shadows

 

 

Heroes have to go where the crime is.... 

[Quackhell]

Following up on TJack's suggestion, I immediately thought of this Phil Cho art although it appears more tech inspired. 

[BoloOfEarth]

9 hours ago, Quackhell said:

Following up on TJack's suggestion, I immediately thought of this Phil Cho art although it appears more tech inspired.

 

Although, in line with Archer's post about misdirection and giving herself an edge, the "tech" could all be for show.  "Oh, no!  You've taken away my gauntlets and my belt!  Whatever am I to do?"

 

I've done that with a mutant luck manipulator.  Early in her criminal career she filled plastic Easter eggs with glitter and would thrown them when she used her powers.  If someone "disarmed" her, they'd quickly learn that didn't stop her at all.

 

Edit to add:  Since Echo has a secret ID, I'd add solid black goggles or a solid cloth upper-facemask to that - still play off Archer's fake-blind angle, and you need something to disguise her identity.  Or it you just want to use that picture as-is, you can say that she wears a high-tech motorcycle helmet with dark-tinted visor, and it's just not pictured.

[BoloOfEarth]

 

Not the best picture, but this fits the color scheme.

[Tjack]

3 hours ago, BoloOfEarth said:

 

Although, in line with Archer's post about misdirection and giving herself an edge, the "tech" could all be for show.  "Oh, no!  You've taken away my gauntlets and my belt!  Whatever am I to do?"

 

I've done that with a mutant luck manipulator.  Early in her criminal career she filled plastic Easter eggs with glitter and would thrown them when she used her powers.  If someone "disarmed" her, they'd quickly learn that didn't stop her at all.

 

Edit to add:  Since Echo has a secret ID, I'd add solid black goggles or a solid cloth upper-facemask to that - still play off Archer's fake-blind angle, and you need something to disguise her identity.  Or it you just want to use that picture as-is, you can say that she wears a high-tech motorcycle helmet with dark-tinted visor, and it's just not pictured.

 
    Since her powers seem all offense/no defense like say, Cyclops or Black Canary.  You may want to go with a costume with some armor to it.  Even if it’s only racing motorcycle leathers toughness.