Terminax

This is wagging the tail part again. Part of the whole problem is Fiacho is a bit of a blank canvas beyond his ken for European unity under his benevolent (haha...right) vision. We know what he wants. We've seen how he tries to get it but we really don't see the thinking that fills in his thought process like we have with Doctor Destroyer, Mechanon and many of the other Master Villains. In some sense, that is okay since it gives us plenty of room to choose for ourselves how to to draw the lines from A to B to C to D etc etc
 
Whereas Dean's put out the idea Fiacho might be White/Christian in view, I'd definitely eschew the Christian aspect and go with an athiest technocratic outlook. He's a politician, who's outlook has gone 180 degrees from his idealist/utopist youth of a Europe united, where cultures can grow side by side, everyone needs are taken care of and can advance the arts, sciences, technology and importantly themselves transforming Europe into the world's exemplar super-nation. Sadly he's cracked, and he's about driving Europe together for his need for power, and as a politician he's collected the tools to do just that. He's obviously a hands on type, but not necessarily a micro-manager. But those are my strokes added in, rather than what they might actually be.
 
Given Fiacho's actions, he's already worse than every single other terrorist/thug since World War II - I'm sure he'd be pretty hypocritical and view Muslims poorly in a secular, technocrat way that facists hide behind. He'd couch them as non-compatible with European morals and views, that they don't add anything of weight to European culture and in fact actively hinder Europe by not dealing with their own problems, and attempting to take over Europe with all the usual racist garbage views. I think similarly, he'd view the British negatively for Brexit and he should be smart enough to back Scottish independence/desire to return to the EU if only to divide attentions of his enemies. The UK team(s) have always been the major opposition to Eurostar so anything that hurts them is good for Eurostar. In fact, while I bet he rails at Brexit and wants to punish the UK for betraying the dream of an united Europe, I'm pretty sure he also recognizes that having them on the outside only makes him stronger on the continent.

Without trying to drag that part of the discussion any further into the mud, let's move on from what my European friends thought. I did not intend their remarks to be so controversial, just what a bunch of Europeans all had to say on the subject.
 
I think if I continue to use Eurostar, it'll be as I've already outlined before. It's a little late in the game to toss out them out given their place in both canon and my personal campaign world. Not to spoil any possible future plans but I think going forward I'll run a dedicated campaign with Eurostar making a full press run for European conquest  with the options being successful (small or large scale), flaming out or even possibly passing of the torch to the next generation of Eurostar.
 
Out of those three NPCs I've added to the team mix, Výrobca (The Manufacturer) is my favorite closely followed by Cadavru (the Body or Corpse depending on the translation). The third, the Extemist didn't work terribly well for me but was created to be a player's Hunter, so allot of his background was mixed with the player's backstory so I think I'd have to retool him if I use him at all going forward.
 
As mentioned before Výrobca is a Dieselpunk style engineer who combines a bulky, strong and metallic machine aesthetic with rune magic/magical smithing special effect. So he's sort of a magic gadgeteer mixed heavily with magically forged golem-like robots and vehicles. Combined with the added group of agents, Výrobca gives Eurostar a military force, albeit a small one that gives them allot more flexibility in terms of them actually taking/holding ground. He's less of frontline asset for the team and functions as a lesser lieutenant of the team, but still fully capable of combat if needed. He more fell into the group out of combination of self-interest/preservation than honest belief that a unified Europe under Fiacho's rule is possible but the chance of power it offers is too much to resist so he's along for the ride for now. He controls a total of 256 (+40 pts worth) of assorted enchanted mech minions and 32 (+25 pts worth) of assorted enchanted vehicles. He is also, almost unique in Eurostar in that he maintains a proper secret ID, as a very wealthy Slovakian oligarch with ownership in heavy industry and electronic manufacturing.
 
Meanwhile Cadavru was a cold-war throwback. Created in the late 70s and active from 1981-1987, Cadavru was originally known as the People's Champion. Touted as Romania's best trained soldier combined with cutting edge science, he was on the surface a super tough and skilled martial artist and national symbol and was used to advance Romanian/International Communist propaganda. However for reasons unknown to the world, he vanished in 1987 and nobody with the knowledge of why or the program that created him survived the Romanian Revolution of 1989. The truth is very dark and didn't come out even  after Eurostar somehow found him, and incorporated him in Eurostar with a name change. Cadavru was in fact the result of Romanian scientists making both a super solider serum AND longevity serum based on what were believed a trio of vampires (but were they??? nobody knows for sure) dug up from an ancient vault who were experimented on using blood farmed from hundreds (thousands? again nobody knows) of children in state care. By 1987, Cadavru / The People's Champion was undergoing negative side effects from his treatments and was "preserved" and buried at a secret site. The scientists and bureaucrat (the hunter of Cadavru) in charge of the program saw the flames of revolution coming and vanished (perhaps to VIPER or some other organization?) with the fruits of their labor and test subjects. Eurostar *somehow* got wind of his location, dug him up and with "coaching" by both Fiacho and Mentalla has slowly adapted to the modern world. Cadavru's basically turned into some sort of undead thing who can function during the day (outside of full strength sunlight, which he is susceptible to) but his full strength comes out either underground or at nighttime. He's basically yet more muscle for the team, doing what Fiacho (and Mentalla) tell him to do and doesn't really have a life outside of the team.
 
The likelihood is a multi-tier plan where Fiacho establishes a real foothold, possibly even several and consolidates a real powerbase to act as a springboard for future conquests. I know allot of people look to Eastern or South Eastern Europe as places to start, but somehow I still feel Fiacho is a Dane, thus a Western European at heart and would very much like to have power at the core of what he'd consider Europe even if he also has his mitts in going-ons in the "hinterlands" of Eastern and South Eastern Europe. This is where I wanted but didn't get any guidance from my friends. My knowledge of Europe is pretty much limited to my cold war era education and travel guides/youtube videos or research into criminal organizations for game material. I want Fiacho to live up to his name/reputation and make a real go of it.

Yes it was. It means Panther in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.
 
So as I said before, the sexual slang version of it I thought it was a stretch but I'll take her word for it that it's true. I have zero reason to distrust her commentary or think she's making a crack.
 
And I'm surprised so many of you can't accept that other people can have different opinions than yours, trying to dismiss them in so many ways. I hardly think these people were just waiting to be offended. None of them expected me to hit them up for their thoughts. They just read the material I handed them which was verbatim from the books and by and large all viewed them as shallow stereotypes or bad jokes. I can see their POV, even if I don't wholly agree with them. I'm not shitting on anybody for having views here that differ with mine, it's supposed to be just conversation.
 
Be glad I didn't show them 4E European Enemies. Even if Eurostar gets a pass for whatever reason from you guys, 4E European Enemies is just chock full of ethnic/national stereotypes and I sat on sharing bits of that book with them after I got such a negative view about Eurostar.

Let's start with the easy ones. Bora is the exact stereotype of a demanding, extremely vain Italian blonde, Le Sone / Ultrasonique is French paranoia personified, Durak is a big dumb angry Slav and Scorpia is the murderous red hair, pale beauty Irish terrorist stereotype. We've all seen these stereotypes in popular culture and media. Digging deeper, Fiacho is seen as a joke character, no matter how "serious" you present him because of his schtick of trying to shove Esperanto down people's throats. Esperanto, being a made up language that has gone precisely nowhere since it's introduction except diehard nerds keeping it "alive" much in the same way diehard Star Trek nerds keep the phony Klingon language alive. I'm not going to try and relay precisely why Pantera was found to be insulting but it's basically comes down to a sexual innuendo joke. Now that one might be a stretch, but I'll accept it.
 
As for them finding offense, it boils down to the same kind of offense I feel when Canadians get stereotyped for talking slowly, say "yeah buddy" allot and have flappy heads as per South Park. It's funny, I guess in a low-hanging fruit sort of way, and kept in short bursts but if it keeps up especially if you're trying to present something in a more serious tone it quickly gets annoying and eventually insulting. The idea that Europeans don't have superhero comics/culture is false from the get go. It's not as rabid or developed as it is the USA but it certainly exists, and all the people I spoke with are familiar with Marvel/DC/Image superhero comics - far more than we are of theirs, because American media content believe it or not, is shown there. Shocking! I know! (Light sarcasm :D)
 
Beyond that, the notion they're terrorists is pretty thin. Fiacho wants to lead a United Europe. Okay, fine. That's it to his motivation. No reasons why Europe would be better under him, no policies explained or detailed. Bow before Fiacho coz that's all that's there. Pretty much everyone else in the group is there as muscle, except Mentalla who's there because of the protection Eurostar's muscle provides. Most terrorist groups are divided between ethnic or economic, or some combination of both. Us vs them. They have a cause that they use to appeal to people who they think, think like them and hope they'll join up while at the same time, dividing and demoralizing the opposition in order to achieve their goals. Thing is, most groups at least have an agenda a bit broader than just "Hey, Fiacho's our leader now. Be praised!" That's the problem with Eurostar. They're really a group of thugs led by a smarter than the rest thug. Their goal is so broad that it's impossible to achieve and what little guidance that is given, these guys are subtle as a rock. At the end of the day, they're more destructive pests than anything that'd drive people to wanting their rule or even be willing to work with them.

If I've learned anything, its that you need to trust people about when something is or is not a stereotype of an ethnic group that includes them.  They deal with it more and they have stronger opinions.  Telling someone who deals with it when you don't that it isn't that bad doesn't land well.  If actual Europeans think Eurostar is a bunch of shallow stereotypes we should maybe believe them.  Just because they aren't as bad as the guys from European Enemies doesn't mean they are good.
 
When you watch stuff made in other countries and the guy from the USA  has a cowboy hat, a gun & a Confederate Flag belt buckle I personally don't take offense (I actually know those people), but it *is* a stereotype (The Guy from the USA is never from South Dakota and dresses in sweater vests).  I'm willing to bet the people who choose to write their shows that way never really think about what that says about how they think of my countrymen.

I've said a few times that I feel like Eurostar as written makes a lot less sense in 2021 than it did in 1984.  While the European Union isn't a paradise it is a long way from the cold-war divided Europe with a post-franco Spain and the Irish troubles going full-bore.  (also, while I am an American and likely don't understand everything going on, didn't the active IRA violence mostly end in the late 90s?  If so, Scorpia is at least pushing 40 and is likely older.)

Fiacho's "united Europe" motivation is pretty interesting, but it needs to evolve a bit if it is going to make sense in the 2020s.

I told you exactly what material I gave them - the 4E Classic Enemies entry on Eurostar and 6E Villains Volume 2: Villain Teams entry on Eurostar. I let them go over the canon presentations as written and simplify solicited ideas of how they could be used with actual European viewpoint. Nothing more, nothing less. I've simply relayed their remarks back. And, just in case it isn't obvious my interaction was with each of them individually and there was no group discussion between us. In your first reply you've flat out said they must be defensive and/or don't understand things because they don't have a superhero tradition. I called you out on that already. So let's not keep attacking people you don't know, much less interact with. Stick to discussing the topic.
 
My own use of Eurostar, clearly shows I've tried to use them pretty straight out of the books with a few changes from how they've worked out in canon to fit my needs, but I've explained those changes and why and they're not particularly super different. I do find it difficult to label them as pure terrorists because... well honestly, they've got no particular ideology other than Fiacho's desire to rule Europe and make it the pre-emanant power in the world. If you read the rest of the group in either 4E or 5/6E aside from Mentalla and Ultrasonique, they're all thugs of various stripes, only united because Fiacho (and Mentalla) manipulating them or giving them an outlet for their thuggery. Mentalla as I said before, joined the group for protection because Eurostar thugs are powerful enough to presumably protect her from Doctor Destroyer. Ultrasonique is the odd man out considering his severe mental disease - he's certainly dangerous and quite capable of destruction but he's doing it because Fiacho's manipulations of his condition than out of a desire to commit thuggery that the others are. They have no subtlety, no base of followers, etc to work with. All their plot seeds and history show they've got very little substance as a group. They're a steam hammer being tasked with forging a new order and only capable to smashing everything to bits. Fiacho is supposed to be smarter than anyone else right? There's very little evidence of this in progression of the Champions Universe story.
 
Professor Muerte, if we're going to use him as a counterpoint I'd say is not too different than Fiacho except Fiacho has managed for all his negative traits not be prone to melting down like Professor Muerte was. Both are men who've focused themselves, using technology for death and destruction but Professor Muerte always came across as a flawed, lesser Doctor Destroyer (which is I believe the point!) - a man who views himself as a God of Death, where Fiacho is more a man driven to see his will done, brutal and vicious but still considerably more grounded than Professor Muerte.

Let's start with the easy ones. Bora is the exact stereotype of a demanding, extremely vain Italian blonde, Le Sone / Ultrasonique is French paranoia personified, Durak is a big dumb angry Slav and Scorpia is the murderous red hair, pale beauty Irish terrorist stereotype. We've all seen these stereotypes in popular culture and media. Digging deeper, Fiacho is seen as a joke character, no matter how "serious" you present him because of his schtick of trying to shove Esperanto down people's throats. Esperanto, being a made up language that has gone precisely nowhere since it's introduction except diehard nerds keeping it "alive" much in the same way diehard Star Trek nerds keep the phony Klingon language alive. I'm not going to try and relay precisely why Pantera was found to be insulting but it's basically comes down to a sexual innuendo joke. Now that one might be a stretch, but I'll accept it.
 
As for them finding offense, it boils down to the same kind of offense I feel when Canadians get stereotyped for talking slowly, say "yeah buddy" allot and have flappy heads as per South Park. It's funny, I guess in a low-hanging fruit sort of way, and kept in short bursts but if it keeps up especially if you're trying to present something in a more serious tone it quickly gets annoying and eventually insulting. The idea that Europeans don't have superhero comics/culture is false from the get go. It's not as rabid or developed as it is the USA but it certainly exists, and all the people I spoke with are familiar with Marvel/DC/Image superhero comics - far more than we are of theirs, because American media content believe it or not, is shown there. Shocking! I know! (Light sarcasm :D)
 
Beyond that, the notion they're terrorists is pretty thin. Fiacho wants to lead a United Europe. Okay, fine. That's it to his motivation. No reasons why Europe would be better under him, no policies explained or detailed. Bow before Fiacho coz that's all that's there. Pretty much everyone else in the group is there as muscle, except Mentalla who's there because of the protection Eurostar's muscle provides. Most terrorist groups are divided between ethnic or economic, or some combination of both. Us vs them. They have a cause that they use to appeal to people who they think, think like them and hope they'll join up while at the same time, dividing and demoralizing the opposition in order to achieve their goals. Thing is, most groups at least have an agenda a bit broader than just "Hey, Fiacho's our leader now. Be praised!" That's the problem with Eurostar. They're really a group of thugs led by a smarter than the rest thug. Their goal is so broad that it's impossible to achieve and what little guidance that is given, these guys are subtle as a rock. At the end of the day, they're more destructive pests than anything that'd drive people to wanting their rule or even be willing to work with them.

I told you exactly what material I gave them - the 4E Classic Enemies entry on Eurostar and 6E Villains Volume 2: Villain Teams entry on Eurostar. I let them go over the canon presentations as written and simplify solicited ideas of how they could be used with actual European viewpoint. Nothing more, nothing less. I've simply relayed their remarks back. And, just in case it isn't obvious my interaction was with each of them individually and there was no group discussion between us. In your first reply you've flat out said they must be defensive and/or don't understand things because they don't have a superhero tradition. I called you out on that already. So let's not keep attacking people you don't know, much less interact with. Stick to discussing the topic.
 
My own use of Eurostar, clearly shows I've tried to use them pretty straight out of the books with a few changes from how they've worked out in canon to fit my needs, but I've explained those changes and why and they're not particularly super different. I do find it difficult to label them as pure terrorists because... well honestly, they've got no particular ideology other than Fiacho's desire to rule Europe and make it the pre-emanant power in the world. If you read the rest of the group in either 4E or 5/6E aside from Mentalla and Ultrasonique, they're all thugs of various stripes, only united because Fiacho (and Mentalla) manipulating them or giving them an outlet for their thuggery. Mentalla as I said before, joined the group for protection because Eurostar thugs are powerful enough to presumably protect her from Doctor Destroyer. Ultrasonique is the odd man out considering his severe mental disease - he's certainly dangerous and quite capable of destruction but he's doing it because Fiacho's manipulations of his condition than out of a desire to commit thuggery that the others are. They have no subtlety, no base of followers, etc to work with. All their plot seeds and history show they've got very little substance as a group. They're a steam hammer being tasked with forging a new order and only capable to smashing everything to bits. Fiacho is supposed to be smarter than anyone else right? There's very little evidence of this in progression of the Champions Universe story.
 
Professor Muerte, if we're going to use him as a counterpoint I'd say is not too different than Fiacho except Fiacho has managed for all his negative traits not be prone to melting down like Professor Muerte was. Both are men who've focused themselves, using technology for death and destruction but Professor Muerte always came across as a flawed, lesser Doctor Destroyer (which is I believe the point!) - a man who views himself as a God of Death, where Fiacho is more a man driven to see his will done, brutal and vicious but still considerably more grounded than Professor Muerte.

Let's start with the easy ones. Bora is the exact stereotype of a demanding, extremely vain Italian blonde, Le Sone / Ultrasonique is French paranoia personified, Durak is a big dumb angry Slav and Scorpia is the murderous red hair, pale beauty Irish terrorist stereotype. We've all seen these stereotypes in popular culture and media. Digging deeper, Fiacho is seen as a joke character, no matter how "serious" you present him because of his schtick of trying to shove Esperanto down people's throats. Esperanto, being a made up language that has gone precisely nowhere since it's introduction except diehard nerds keeping it "alive" much in the same way diehard Star Trek nerds keep the phony Klingon language alive. I'm not going to try and relay precisely why Pantera was found to be insulting but it's basically comes down to a sexual innuendo joke. Now that one might be a stretch, but I'll accept it.
 
As for them finding offense, it boils down to the same kind of offense I feel when Canadians get stereotyped for talking slowly, say "yeah buddy" allot and have flappy heads as per South Park. It's funny, I guess in a low-hanging fruit sort of way, and kept in short bursts but if it keeps up especially if you're trying to present something in a more serious tone it quickly gets annoying and eventually insulting. The idea that Europeans don't have superhero comics/culture is false from the get go. It's not as rabid or developed as it is the USA but it certainly exists, and all the people I spoke with are familiar with Marvel/DC/Image superhero comics - far more than we are of theirs, because American media content believe it or not, is shown there. Shocking! I know! (Light sarcasm :D)
 
Beyond that, the notion they're terrorists is pretty thin. Fiacho wants to lead a United Europe. Okay, fine. That's it to his motivation. No reasons why Europe would be better under him, no policies explained or detailed. Bow before Fiacho coz that's all that's there. Pretty much everyone else in the group is there as muscle, except Mentalla who's there because of the protection Eurostar's muscle provides. Most terrorist groups are divided between ethnic or economic, or some combination of both. Us vs them. They have a cause that they use to appeal to people who they think, think like them and hope they'll join up while at the same time, dividing and demoralizing the opposition in order to achieve their goals. Thing is, most groups at least have an agenda a bit broader than just "Hey, Fiacho's our leader now. Be praised!" That's the problem with Eurostar. They're really a group of thugs led by a smarter than the rest thug. Their goal is so broad that it's impossible to achieve and what little guidance that is given, these guys are subtle as a rock. At the end of the day, they're more destructive pests than anything that'd drive people to wanting their rule or even be willing to work with them.

I think I feel the same as the OP, in wanting better guidance with Eurostar because they feel awfully clunky as is. I shared Eurostar's backstory with several European friends (Dutch, French, German, Polish and Spanish) and they were all pretty much of the opinion "These must be the creation of an American, with no understanding at all about Europe except to make insulting stereotypes and give them the thinnest of backgrounds." so I couldn't get them to give me any input on how to flesh them out better.
 
At my table, Eurostar is usually setup more of a dark mirror supervillain team to the player's superheroes. They have all the power that any superhero group could want, but instead of doing good with it they act as a destructive force. Europe is portrayed as a mostly already ordered place with Eurostar as a significant threat on the continent, actually a step below VIPER and counterparts to real world situations like Brexit, the Ukrainian/Russian tensions and the (refugee/"worker") migration from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. (I prefer to fictionalize real-world conflicts a bit, in order to give space to my players to not feel they are getting political discussion pressed on them.) Anyhow, Eurostar is less grim dark terror and more professional thuggery. Interfere in their plans, and they WILL come after you. I have mostly adopted the 6E version of the group, with the exception that I had the 4E version White Flame and Whip killed rather than Bora and the Whip by VIPER and replaced by Scorpia and Feurmacher. I've also expanded the team with three more members: Výrobca - a dieselpunk engineer/magical smith who commands a force of magical constructs/vehicles from Slovakia, Cadavru - a cold war era "zombie" super soldier from Romania, the Extremist (Szélsőséges in Hungarian, and no I don't make anyone try to say it!) - a superboy clone from Hungary who survived on the mean streets of Budapest as a gang member until his powers grew in his later teenage years and he suddenly went on a rampage killing friends, rivals, criminals and law enforcement alike before Fiacho got his (and Mentalla's mind control) claws into him. Eurostar also has a small agent corps, split between infiltrators and a cadre of terrorists/soldiers - somewhat increased in capability and numbers since the end of the Eurostar-VIPER war. In their last use in a campaign, they massacred a governmental team of Turkish supers while conducting attacks across the country before retreating back into Europe causing the Turkish government to collapse and be replaced by an anti-EU military junta and a hardening of the borders. Turkey's sole surviving super, a poor man's Iron Man tried to go after Eurostar himself but got torn in two by the Extremist while flying illegally through Europe.

Let's start with the easy ones. Bora is the exact stereotype of a demanding, extremely vain Italian blonde, Le Sone / Ultrasonique is French paranoia personified, Durak is a big dumb angry Slav and Scorpia is the murderous red hair, pale beauty Irish terrorist stereotype. We've all seen these stereotypes in popular culture and media. Digging deeper, Fiacho is seen as a joke character, no matter how "serious" you present him because of his schtick of trying to shove Esperanto down people's throats. Esperanto, being a made up language that has gone precisely nowhere since it's introduction except diehard nerds keeping it "alive" much in the same way diehard Star Trek nerds keep the phony Klingon language alive. I'm not going to try and relay precisely why Pantera was found to be insulting but it's basically comes down to a sexual innuendo joke. Now that one might be a stretch, but I'll accept it.
 
As for them finding offense, it boils down to the same kind of offense I feel when Canadians get stereotyped for talking slowly, say "yeah buddy" allot and have flappy heads as per South Park. It's funny, I guess in a low-hanging fruit sort of way, and kept in short bursts but if it keeps up especially if you're trying to present something in a more serious tone it quickly gets annoying and eventually insulting. The idea that Europeans don't have superhero comics/culture is false from the get go. It's not as rabid or developed as it is the USA but it certainly exists, and all the people I spoke with are familiar with Marvel/DC/Image superhero comics - far more than we are of theirs, because American media content believe it or not, is shown there. Shocking! I know! (Light sarcasm :D)
 
Beyond that, the notion they're terrorists is pretty thin. Fiacho wants to lead a United Europe. Okay, fine. That's it to his motivation. No reasons why Europe would be better under him, no policies explained or detailed. Bow before Fiacho coz that's all that's there. Pretty much everyone else in the group is there as muscle, except Mentalla who's there because of the protection Eurostar's muscle provides. Most terrorist groups are divided between ethnic or economic, or some combination of both. Us vs them. They have a cause that they use to appeal to people who they think, think like them and hope they'll join up while at the same time, dividing and demoralizing the opposition in order to achieve their goals. Thing is, most groups at least have an agenda a bit broader than just "Hey, Fiacho's our leader now. Be praised!" That's the problem with Eurostar. They're really a group of thugs led by a smarter than the rest thug. Their goal is so broad that it's impossible to achieve and what little guidance that is given, these guys are subtle as a rock. At the end of the day, they're more destructive pests than anything that'd drive people to wanting their rule or even be willing to work with them.

Let's start with the easy ones. Bora is the exact stereotype of a demanding, extremely vain Italian blonde, Le Sone / Ultrasonique is French paranoia personified, Durak is a big dumb angry Slav and Scorpia is the murderous red hair, pale beauty Irish terrorist stereotype. We've all seen these stereotypes in popular culture and media. Digging deeper, Fiacho is seen as a joke character, no matter how "serious" you present him because of his schtick of trying to shove Esperanto down people's throats. Esperanto, being a made up language that has gone precisely nowhere since it's introduction except diehard nerds keeping it "alive" much in the same way diehard Star Trek nerds keep the phony Klingon language alive. I'm not going to try and relay precisely why Pantera was found to be insulting but it's basically comes down to a sexual innuendo joke. Now that one might be a stretch, but I'll accept it.
 
As for them finding offense, it boils down to the same kind of offense I feel when Canadians get stereotyped for talking slowly, say "yeah buddy" allot and have flappy heads as per South Park. It's funny, I guess in a low-hanging fruit sort of way, and kept in short bursts but if it keeps up especially if you're trying to present something in a more serious tone it quickly gets annoying and eventually insulting. The idea that Europeans don't have superhero comics/culture is false from the get go. It's not as rabid or developed as it is the USA but it certainly exists, and all the people I spoke with are familiar with Marvel/DC/Image superhero comics - far more than we are of theirs, because American media content believe it or not, is shown there. Shocking! I know! (Light sarcasm :D)
 
Beyond that, the notion they're terrorists is pretty thin. Fiacho wants to lead a United Europe. Okay, fine. That's it to his motivation. No reasons why Europe would be better under him, no policies explained or detailed. Bow before Fiacho coz that's all that's there. Pretty much everyone else in the group is there as muscle, except Mentalla who's there because of the protection Eurostar's muscle provides. Most terrorist groups are divided between ethnic or economic, or some combination of both. Us vs them. They have a cause that they use to appeal to people who they think, think like them and hope they'll join up while at the same time, dividing and demoralizing the opposition in order to achieve their goals. Thing is, most groups at least have an agenda a bit broader than just "Hey, Fiacho's our leader now. Be praised!" That's the problem with Eurostar. They're really a group of thugs led by a smarter than the rest thug. Their goal is so broad that it's impossible to achieve and what little guidance that is given, these guys are subtle as a rock. At the end of the day, they're more destructive pests than anything that'd drive people to wanting their rule or even be willing to work with them.

I think I feel the same as the OP, in wanting better guidance with Eurostar because they feel awfully clunky as is. I shared Eurostar's backstory with several European friends (Dutch, French, German, Polish and Spanish) and they were all pretty much of the opinion "These must be the creation of an American, with no understanding at all about Europe except to make insulting stereotypes and give them the thinnest of backgrounds." so I couldn't get them to give me any input on how to flesh them out better.
 
At my table, Eurostar is usually setup more of a dark mirror supervillain team to the player's superheroes. They have all the power that any superhero group could want, but instead of doing good with it they act as a destructive force. Europe is portrayed as a mostly already ordered place with Eurostar as a significant threat on the continent, actually a step below VIPER and counterparts to real world situations like Brexit, the Ukrainian/Russian tensions and the (refugee/"worker") migration from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. (I prefer to fictionalize real-world conflicts a bit, in order to give space to my players to not feel they are getting political discussion pressed on them.) Anyhow, Eurostar is less grim dark terror and more professional thuggery. Interfere in their plans, and they WILL come after you. I have mostly adopted the 6E version of the group, with the exception that I had the 4E version White Flame and Whip killed rather than Bora and the Whip by VIPER and replaced by Scorpia and Feurmacher. I've also expanded the team with three more members: Výrobca - a dieselpunk engineer/magical smith who commands a force of magical constructs/vehicles from Slovakia, Cadavru - a cold war era "zombie" super soldier from Romania, the Extremist (Szélsőséges in Hungarian, and no I don't make anyone try to say it!) - a superboy clone from Hungary who survived on the mean streets of Budapest as a gang member until his powers grew in his later teenage years and he suddenly went on a rampage killing friends, rivals, criminals and law enforcement alike before Fiacho got his (and Mentalla's mind control) claws into him. Eurostar also has a small agent corps, split between infiltrators and a cadre of terrorists/soldiers - somewhat increased in capability and numbers since the end of the Eurostar-VIPER war. In their last use in a campaign, they massacred a governmental team of Turkish supers while conducting attacks across the country before retreating back into Europe causing the Turkish government to collapse and be replaced by an anti-EU military junta and a hardening of the borders. Turkey's sole surviving super, a poor man's Iron Man tried to go after Eurostar himself but got torn in two by the Extremist while flying illegally through Europe.

I dunno. I like plots to have consequences and Luther Black being destroyed/DEMON devastated is the likeliest outcome to me. DEMON should be able to renew itself into a new direction and style, remaking itself in the process. I also liked the 4th version. Baba Yaga and the Rose will always have special places in my heart. Even if it's cut out on a table...  

I have pretty much everything Champions and it's all welcome. Regardless if I use it or not. The modern takes of Doctor Destroyer and Mechanon are pretty decent and livened up the original takes considerably. Modern VIPER... it's okay but it's not my VIPER. Similarly COIL and King Cobra modern take isn't bad but I'll never use it. I preferred both their 4th Edition incarnations but I've extensively reworked them for my own campaigns so it's not like it's gone. I'm more mixed over DEMON... the original take was okay with 4th Edition's definitely interesting but the changes in 5th Edition weren't bad either, but given the organization as written then should be gutted presently and I don't know how to feel about that.
 
Out of the groups that never made the cut, RAVEN (or Raven...) and it's relationship with VIPER was always a cornerstone at my table. The VIPER-RAVEN war where RAVEN loses, is taken over by VIPER only to be reborn as Raven, a Bond-esque criminal conspiracy was a great arc. Terror Inc being murdered so two of it's members could be transferred over to Eurostar kind of sucked but it made sense. I know Professor Muerte was reborn in one of the 3rd party updates and I appreciate that was done, but it's one of those stories I'll never use and would do it another way. How Crusader went from his roots to a dark Vigilante was another great arc. Funny how Dark Champs had some of the best comic feeling stories but by 5th, descended into either edgy realism for edgy realism sake or edgy cartoon for edgy cartoon sake and didn't maintain the balance that made Dark Champs special.
 
I'm honestly very glad VOICE and the Geodesics did not make it into the modern game. VOICE isn't the worst of concepts but that team wasn't all that great for how deadly their reputation was. Geodesics had Dr Kirby Loo in the background and both him and the VOICE's leader were yellow peril menaces and I'd like to think we could get better these days.

Tucker struck a nerve when he started ranting about Canadian internment camps the other day. I realize Trudeau isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and that his government has it's problems, but to call sending travelers refusing to quarantine properly upon entering the country, to guarded hotels to complete said mandatory quarantine is somehow akin to Nazi deathcamps makes my blood boil. This is from a guy who supports the open air caging of illegal adults and children in terrible and unjust conditions! 

Tucker struck a nerve when he started ranting about Canadian internment camps the other day. I realize Trudeau isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and that his government has it's problems, but to call sending travelers refusing to quarantine properly upon entering the country, to guarded hotels to complete said mandatory quarantine is somehow akin to Nazi deathcamps makes my blood boil. This is from a guy who supports the open air caging of illegal adults and children in terrible and unjust conditions! 

Is it possible to have a character with the ability to do multiple actions on the same phases during a turn? 
 
One way I can think of is using a computer (or multiple computers?) linked to a character who has multiple cybernetic limbs, each capable of firing their own distinct blaster but that seems... rather involved to get the intended effect. I have a couple of other ideas for other characters that can do distinct multiple actions on the same phases during the turn, but let's work out this cyborg one first.

I wanted to list a few more Dark Champions and Champions villains but waiting for a restore of the files from da man so I know which books I'm drawing from
 
Laat year I ran a villain team game of Viper's most expendables - basically a suicide squad and it was allot of fun if short lived over the body count.
 
 

I wanted to list a few more Dark Champions and Champions villains but waiting for a restore of the files from da man so I know which books I'm drawing from
 
Laat year I ran a villain team game of Viper's most expendables - basically a suicide squad and it was allot of fun if short lived over the body count.
 
 

The toy every boy wants growing up... a Big Wheels Car! Except his version goes 100 mph and has a smoke screen/oil slick or spike (in the shape of Jacks maybe?) dispenser out the back.

If you play together, rather than online I find a rolled up newspaper and a spritz water bottle are good tools to inform players they're being bad.

If you play together, rather than online I find a rolled up newspaper and a spritz water bottle are good tools to inform players they're being bad.

Yeah there's a need to clarify the setting somewhat in order to answer this kind of question. If the game has a functioning government and military hierarchy then yes, superiors do need to be respected and obeyed but that comes with a caveat of who is in the chain of command and the situation of the ground. An Air Force General is not going to be giving legal commands to Marine Force Recon except under certain conditions for instance, though the Marines will respect the General.

Kinetron and Caliber, from 4th Edition High Tech Enemies and 4th Edition Dark Champions respectively. Kinetron is an absolute monster when charged up, capable of tossing around your typical hero team. Where Kinetron is smart hammer, Caliber is a scapel wielded by a maniac. You got a tough hero with a weakness to certain attack? Caliber can tailor himself to deal with it. Need to lay down cover fire for the Viper agents to get away and not reveal your position? Caliber's got it handled. Need a nutjob willing to go out the front of the bank and shoot it out with the cops? Caliber. Or his future replacement, which of course Viper will equip after the latest one gets himself killed.
 
Honorable mentions to Boomerang and Starhand from 4E Challenges for Champions, and Buzzsaw and Wallbanger from 4E Champions Presents #2. All four are great simple mooks. Wallbanger has the same gimmick as Kinetron which makes him pretty dangerous despite being only middling power wise, Boomerang is your typical blaster, Starhand is a brick with a couple of neat tricks and Buzzsaw your close combat specialist.