The Power of Costumes

[Hermit]

No, I'm not talking of "My fluttering cloak gives me a +2 DCV as it distracts my foe" sort of thing...

 

I'm talking about the psychological effects of being a super hero with a secret identity, and having not only powers, but anonymity while in a new persona.

 

This came up in the NGD boards. It was discussed that normally shy or reserved people might feel empowered by such protection from society and more often speak their minds, or act in an extraverted fashion (Spider-Man was used as the prime example). I had mentioned that there were some female characters in my campaign played by two lady friends of mine who did indeed enjoyed flaunting it a tad behind the safety of a mask (they also had characters who were all bussiness and practicallity, it evens out).

 

I remember some comics of the past studying the effects of masks in other ways. Bruce Wayne going through almost a ritual of "becoming the bat" like some modern day spiritual holy man of yester year. Kraven the Hunter once went bonkers, and took Spider-Man out to replace him, and placed great import on the costume wearing beyond merely "I want folks to think I'm him".

 

So, do you play anything regarding costumes for your characters as significant in how it lets them act and behave?

Why have they chosen the costumes they've chosen?

[Supreme Serpent]

For Public ID folks, not really. Though maybe they feel more "official" in their costumes, helps them get into the mindset, like wearing your "work clothes" may help you get into the needed mindset. It's a reminder of how you're supposed to act, and sometimes a reminder to others of what to expect from you.

 

For Secret IDs, it's for SID protection, so I often go for full face masks (plus, I'm bad at getting faces right ). The anonymity is freeing. Would YOU mouth off to supervillains if you thought their buddies could find your family? The "Spider-man" effect has been strong in several characters of mine.

 

Omega is definitely at home in costume, and for a long time he had problems with his normal life not measuring up to super-time. Now that he's involved in work that fulfills him more, it's not as much of an issue.

 

Jack O'Lantern's outfit, with the big flaming pumpkin head, is supposed to help him freak out the opposition, giving him an edge. He absolutely acts MUCH more crazy in costume, though it is a calculated act - he's not really bonkers. Well, at least HE doesn't think so.

[Chuckg]

Starguard -- wears a costume because superheroines are supposed to wear costumes, right? Besides, the goggles help keep /everybody/ from figuring out who she is (hey, she had Novice Hero, what can I say?), and you can't be taken seriously wearing a waitress outfit or rejects from the remainder rack at Target.

 

(The fact that she could use her Instant Change to walk around in a Yves St. Laurent original all day if she wanted hasn't occurred to her yet, and probably never will without assistance.)

 

Effects of wearing costume -- well, a waitress would never have dared to lip off to an established superhero. Starguard did.

 

 

 

Baron von Darien -- vampires /really/ need to maintain Secret IDs. It's a necessity.

 

Effects of wearing costume -- he's 1100 years old and has a 45 EGO. He'd act precisely the same if he were in costume, out of costume, or stark naked on the parade ground at high noon.(1)

 

 

Dr. Pain -- has a Public ID, and only wears a costume because he used to wear one in the wrestling ring. Granted, the one he wears now is /slightly/ more practical than the last one... after all, it can get chilly outside.

 

Effects of wearing costume -- he's more likely to be in "ring persona" in costume than if he's in a 3-piece suit... and yes, he does wear those. At least, if he's going to visit his lawyer.

 

 

(1) OK, in that last one he'd be busy going "Ow ow ow sunlight ow ow ow!" and running like hell for the nearest shade before he finally lost enough BODY to die... unless he had his 'Protection Vs. Sunlight' IIF Independent magic ring.... but you know what I mean.

[SaintQuakko]

John Wrath's thoughts on the subject of costumery:

All these young upstarts in their fancy duds and flashy tights are really missing the point. There ain't no such thing as a normal life once you pick up the mantle of "super-hero." (he spits) Once you decide to start playing in the big leagues, you're in for good. Might as well let the bad guys know who's giving them the ass whuppin', and if they want to look you up later, you'd better ready, no, glad to give 'em hell off duty too.

[Blue]

Re: The Power of Costumes

 

Originally posted by Hermit

So, do you play anything regarding costumes for your characters as significant in how it lets them act and behave?

Why have they chosen the costumes they've chosen?

 

Uncle Slam, is a Public ID type, looking very much like a buff version of our American icon. But he does give the psychology in that form. The costume should impress to some degree.

 

Anthem however is a Secret ID, for a couple of reasons. Though she's only a kid, she aspires to be a role-model of sorts; that's something you can't do if people are following you around in normal life analyzing everything you do. The example she wants to be is what you can do for your country and for others, and that's all in hero ID. Not that she drinks, smokes, or is promiscuous or something in normal ID; quite the opposite. She still feels very restricted by her need to be a role model and fears that if she does something wrong or just viewed as wrong in normal life it will catch up to her if her secret ID is exposed. Just about any costume you hang on her is not going to look very badass, being a scrawny kid.

 

Audra Blue has no secret ID or real costume to speak of.

 

That's cool. I didn't realize I'd hit the big 3. Secret, Public, and Non-Heroic.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by SaintQuakko

John Wrath's thoughts on the subject of costumery:

All these young upstarts in their fancy duds and flashy tights are really missing the point. There ain't no such thing as a normal life once you pick up the mantle of "super-hero." (he spits) Once you decide to start playing in the big leagues, you're in for good. Might as well let the bad guys know who's giving them the ass whuppin', and if they want to look you up later, you'd better ready, no, glad to give 'em hell off duty too.

And besides, John Wrath's "Load Bearing Harness" is distinctive enough he doesnt even need a costume!

[Killer Shrike]

I have designed several OIHID characters with extra EGO and/or PRE in their HID. It only makes sense to me that some characters are going to be much more confident and expressive in their heroic persona than in their "real life" ID.

 

Same holds true for characters that have some other form of Activated uber-state, like Growth or DI.

[SaintQuakko]

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

And besides, John Wrath's "Load Bearing Harness" is distinctive enough he doesnt even need a costume!

You have to fight gravity any way you can!

[Hermit]

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

I have designed several OIHID characters with extra EGO and/or PRE in their HID. It only makes sense to me that some characters are going to be much more confident and expressive in their heroic persona than in their "real life" ID.

 

Same holds true for characters that have some other form of Activated uber-state, like Growth or DI.

 

I've done that myself.

 

It's interesting to play up the frustration a super hero must feel with his mundane life. Imagine some poor mentalist who tries desperately to hold onto high ethics, but is just SO Tempted to get a little revenge on his jerk of a boss.

[BishopofB&W]

Originally posted by Hermit

I've done that myself.

 

It's interesting to play up the frustration a super hero must feel with his mundane life. Imagine some poor mentalist who tries desperately to hold onto high ethics, but is just SO Tempted to get a little revenge on his jerk of a boss.

 

Considering that comic book canon usually has mutant powers manifest at the onset of puberty, it's surprising that there are more than a handful of heroic mutant mentalists. Surging hormones+Lack of Impulse Control+Power To Alter Others' Thoughts=Villain-In-The-Making.

[Hermit]

Originally posted by BishopofB&W

Considering that comic book canon usually has mutant powers manifest at the onset of puberty, it's surprising that there are more than a handful of heroic mutant mentalists. Surging hormones+Lack of Impulse Control+Power To Alter Others' Thoughts=Villain-In-The-Making.

 

This bald guy appears and kicks your butt.... metaphysically that is.

 

On the flip side, I can see a teenager who gains mental powers, tries to either use them for revenge or 'love' and ends up turning someone into a vegatable by accident. The character then seeks redemption for the rest of his life and becomes a crimefighter driven by the guilt of his action.

[Killer Shrike]

Sting, of the Harbingers, was using his mental powers subconciously to make his girlfriend love him. He later copped to it and felt horribly guilty and angsty over the whole afair. He shortly had a big fight w/ Harada and dissappeared.

[Trebuchet]

Zl'f doesn't technically have a Secret ID; that Zl'f and the former Russian Olympic gymnast Elena Alekseyeva are one and the same has been public knowledge since 2003. So her costume is not so much a disguise as a "uniform," since it doesn't even feature a mask.

 

How does she keep a private life? She bought the Perk Alternate Identity/Deep Cover and so has a carefully constructed alternate personna as a young Russian orphan who now works for a multinational philanthropic organization, and whose apparent identity is several years younger than Elena Alekseyeva. As part of her cover, she was even the legal ward of a Norwegian couple even though she was techically an adult in her true identity. Although she's legally an adult now in both guises, she still rooms with the Norwegian family who are collectively her DNPCs. She's also picked up idiomatic Norwegian along the way, so she now can say she's a Russian orphan who has lived in Norway since she was a child. (Technically true, since she was still only 16 when she fled Russia and eventually came to Norway.)

 

And she always wears glasses. Hey, it works for that guy in Metropolis, right?

[Doug McCrae]

A person might feel this way:

 

In normal ID I'm just an ordinary person with all the complexity and compromise that entails. When I put on the costume I become something simpler, purer, clearer. I'm no longer Jeff Jones, I'm like a god or a force of nature - like Hercules, or fire, or energy. I feel a lot more confident, I know exactly who I am. I know my place in the universe.

 

Alan Moore puts it very well in Marvelman chapter 8. Mike Moran is describing his experiences as Marvelman to his wife:

 

"He thinks so differently to me. His thoughts are like poetry or something. And his emotions...

 

His emotions are so pure. When he loves you it's gigantic. His love is so strong and direct and clean...

 

When I love you it's all tangled up with who's not doing their share of the washing up, and twisted, neurotic things like that."

 

Admittedly Mike Moran doesn't just put on a costume to become Marvelman, his body changes (and seemingly his mind also to some degree).

[ZootSoot]

This is the "truth" behind The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson did not imagine Hyde having superhuman powers, and careful reading should reveal that Jekyll and Hyde had only one mind. It is the ring of Gyges, Jekyll, without the pressure of Victorian society, became a monster because he believed he would never be connected with his crimes.

 

In one of Crimson Tide's early adventures he bought bondage masks for himself and one of the PC heroines because they did not have access to costumes and needed to hide their identities. Somehow it came off quite differently than traditional masks would . . .

[BoneDaddy]

The uniform makes the an - or woman. I was a totally different person in uniform than in civvies. Today, I don't swear when I wear a necktie - it just doesn't happen. I have coworkers who never knew I swore - for years, becuase they never saw me in a T-shirt. The same thing happens in any costume. I was the Joker one Hallowe'en in college, and I was FREE, so free for the night. I loved it. It was a total license to misbehave.

 

Same thing probably holds true for the tights. It helps the hero compartmentalize their lives. In this uniform, I can see human beings get killed and still go on. Outside of this uniform, I can watch a romantic comedy with my wife.

[Chuckg]

Cop, or in the service?

 

My own Navy time, same thing -- my posture changed in uniform and out. (My vocabulary didn't, but us [bleeping] sailors swear all the [bleep bleeping] time... *g*)

[lemming]

Hey Chuck, there are some kids on the board.

 

Thanks

[Brandi]

With Irving it's really moot. Being a giant stone lion is going to shape people's impressions and his own personality right from the get-go. And even if someone like his team's Flash (a gadgeteer) engineered a holographic image projector for him, what's he going to disguise himself as?

[caris]

hehehe, as the person who brought it up, I'm actually surprised to realise that I've never really actually played with the dicotomy in any gaming. Though to be honest, I spend so much of my time just reveling in the dicotomy's existence in the role playing experience. The characters I play aren't me (ok, there is one exception, but even he is far enough removed since I am not a were-bear), so through the characters I play I get to do things I'd never do in real life. I can explore urges, thoughts, what have you through my character without ever actually having to do them myself.

[farik]

The whole Husky persona is a super science costume for the escapism searching teenager Kenneth Clarke. Husky is fantasy fulfillment for Kenneth as the Kenneth character matures the line between Husky and Kenneth will blur.

[caris]

Originally posted by farik

The whole Husky persona is a super science costume for the escapism searching teenager Kenneth Clarke. Husky is fantasy fulfillment for Kenneth as the Kenneth character matures the line between Husky and Kenneth will blur.

 

The interesting thing to me would be to see how much does Kenneth become like Husky, and how much Husky will become like Kenneth.

[farik]

Originally posted by caris

The interesting thing to me would be to see how much does Kenneth become like Husky, and how much Husky will become like Kenneth.

 

I agree

 

I'm planning on basing that on what kind of experiences the character deals with. If brawn solves more problems Kenneth will slowly be sublimated if brains save the day more often Husky will mellow and become more tactical.

[Storn]

The hardest costume and drawings I've ever had to tackle was my own character Vector in the long running RDU. His costume changed as he did. In the beginning, it was a vest and flight goggles, gloves, baggy pants...he was a pilot after all.

 

At the end, his outfit is stately, as befitting a politician and statesman. It screams authority.

 

Oh, yes, there is power in a costume. I draw so many, I can affect the way players play their characters by an illustration and by that specific costume. I've seen it happen. Costume (or lack of), personality, codename and appearence are a parts of a whole. But costume and codename are symbols... symbols have power. Hence the word; "iconic"

[Hermit]

Looking back on this, I have to admit Storn seems dead on. There have been times when I've just had no concept at all, started to draw on a template (Because I stink artwise), and then suddenly I have this image that conveys something... and I get inspired to run that way.

 

I sometimes look at the art in Champions books and get ideas. I want to know more about Pieces and others in the USPDB in large part because their images have perked my interest.