Lord Liaden

Enjoy your nap of delusion.

Again, it comes back to the criteria you use. Flare got some mentions and cover appearances in old Champions RPG books, but she was only written up for Hero System in the Champions comic adaptation. Lady Arcane is extrapolated from a character in The Coriolis Effect, but has never been in an RPG publication as Lady Arcane. As for female villains who show off the brand, Istvatha V'han has to be at the top of that list. The Empress of a Billion Dimensions is one of the biggest bads ever written for Champions in magnitude of threat, and has a 240-page source book devoted to her.

Deleted due to irrelevance. 😔

With Halathaloorm being one of the choices in the poll, and much of the discussion on this thread stressing making a city distinctive from all the other fantasy cities, I wanted to share some thoughts about this one. For one thing, the Oormali's unusual polytheism intrigues me. As I've mentioned before, I'm rarely satisfied with statements that a certain place/people simply are unusual in some way -- I always want to figure out how they got that way, and what the implications of that are for them. The first settlers of Halathaloorm were refugees from the tyrannical Fire-King of Zhor Cacimar, and the lives of the early generations of Oormali were reportedly very difficult. My rationale is that they supplicated to any gods they'd heard of -- foreign, barbarian, non-human -- to aid them to survive, and even invented some inspired by their new environment. Even when their situation improved, their exploration of other religions became a habit. As a result the Oormali have developed a notable body of theological and philosophical thought, and discussion and debate on those topics is endemic at every level of their society. Practitioners of theurgy, the art of "stealing" magic from the gods to power spells, are more common in Halathaloorm than anywhere else in the world, and include some of the most accomplished theurgists. Another thing I was struck by is the distinctive Oormali language, exemplified by their names for themselves and their city, and their unique name for the god of rivers and lakes, known in the Westerlands as Bandaro, and whom they call Waheshwool. Halathaloorm is built on the shore of Lake Sahaliir, which has a substantial population of merfolk; and these words sound to me like flowing water, and appropriate sounds to be made by humanoid mouths speaking in water. My conclusion is that due to extensive interaction with the merfolk, their language influenced the Oormali's. As Halathaloorm is described as a city with numerous canals and extending onto several small islands, I would expect no small number of merfolk to have settled underwater in those areas, as full citizens of the city. They help with fishing, repairing boats and docks and the like, escorting trade vessels up and down the South Chekuru River, and protecting the city from raids by hostile merfolk tribes. Zhor Cacimar, the city on the opposite side of the dangerous Greenmaw jungle from Halatharloom, is noted as having a class of merchant-ranger known as Goldwalkers who are adept at traversing the Greenmaw. It would seem a little unreasonable to me that the merchants of Halatharloom wouldn't have also adopted the Goldwalker caste. If they haven't, though, their population demographic includes 4% Seshurma (lizard-man), so perhaps they're the ones who guide Oormali traders through the Greenmaw.

I think we have to make a distinction between "iconic" in terms of the history of Champions the game, and "iconic" in relation to any of the official incarnations of the setting. There are a few characters in that first category with the high profile and longevity to be considered icons, most already mentioned on this thread; but few of them are heroes, and fewer are women. OTOH there are no few villains and heroes who are very much icons within one continuity, but not across all editions of Champions. For example, Lung Hung from VOICE of Doom is a major villain in the history of the game, and one of the most notable women villains ever published for Champs; but she and her origin concept haven't been even mentioned since 4E. In the current official continuity Vanguard was the Superman analogue in power and universal respect, but he's dead. Ushas of India is an avatar of the Hindu goddess of the same name, and considered one of the most powerful heroes in the world, but she's never been written up. Black Mask is a woman and the latest in a line of masked heroes stretching back to the American Revolutionary War; but she was created for 5E Champions and has no earlier history with the game. Many other Champions characters could be considered icons depending on the standard you measure them by.

I feel like I need to present a different perspective on Gareth Edwards' direction of Godzilla. He was tasked with creating a new incarnation of this iconic creature which had, over the course of six decades, been reinterpreted many times, while still defining and remaining true to the essence of its character. His accomplishments on that front should not be dismissed. Every Legendary "Monsterverse" film featuring Godzilla has used Edwards' G. It looks and sounds like his G. It moves like his G. The way it's shot to show the scale of these creatures and the human perspective of them, is inspired by how Edwards did it. The ranking of Gareth's work compared to other directors in the Legendary series is not universal. I know hard-core Godzilla fans who consider his 2014 film the best of them. I know moviegoers with no previous experience with the genre who consider it the best. Like I always say, "best" is subjective, but objectively there's a lot to admire in that movie. Any time you're the first to do something, successors will take what you did farther. Anyone's personal reactions to a movie are valid, and reasonable criticism can certainly be made. But Gareth Edwards set a foundation for the directors who came after to build on, and it's a solid one. Give the man his due.

The historical research that I've read asserts that Lincoln didn't start out as an abolitionist. His thinking and position on that subject evolved over time. Slavery at that time was an institution entrenched in American law, and a significant part of the economy. Abolishing it would have been a daunting task for any politician to undertake, even the most courageous and enlightened. As for some of the tactics Lincoln used to advance his program, records indicate that he could indeed be politically ruthless. But you have to look at the realities he was dealing with. I mean, would you allow the representatives of states which are openly rebelling against your government, to participate in votes on your government's conduct?

It's an arguable case. But I'm confident Lincoln did what he believed was needed for the greater good of the country. Donald Trump does nothing unless it benefits himself, and everything else be damned. Trump embodies one of Abraham Lincoln's more famous statements: "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." In that regard I expect Lincoln would have held Trump in contempt.

I concur. But my point was, in previous years he'd be more devious in hiding his venality.

For his comic-book adaptation, I'm afraid Giant did eventually get a signature crest.

But it wasn't until 2020 that Amy Coney Barrett was pushed through less than two months before the presidential election, when McConnell had argued that eight months before Obama's term was up was not enough time to properly vet Merrick Garland. When confronted with that disparity Mitch essentially shrugged it off.

Don't expect actors to resemble who they play. Appreciate them for their performance, and leave it at that. Elevating them as persons just because of their talent usually leads to disappointment. Same advice for professional athletes.

The foot-on-chest move has become pretty much standard for Legendary Godzilla. He used it on the female MUTO when he first shoved her down, and on Ghidorah at the end of their fight. Godz is so massive in his lower body, it makes sense for him to use that weight to his advantage. Displays of dominance without lethal follow-through are actually the rule in conflicts in the animal kingdom, although normally only within the same species.

The MUTOs were actually parasites on Godzilla's species, so his antipathy toward and desire to destroy them was very natural and in his self-interest. I too noted that Legendary G has never used other than his natural weapons, with which he's well equipped. It's another element separating him from Legendary Kong, who's always used artificial weapons and quite cleverly. In the way it's been presented Kong fighting Godzilla often resembles a man fighting an animal.

This is the guy who insisted on holding the Senate vote on Donald Trump's impeachment charge after the Biden inauguration, then used the fact Trump was no longer sitting President as an excuse to vote not to convict him. "Hypocrite" doesn't begin to cover him. What's staggering is that he doesn't even try to hide it anymore. Trump has convinced the GOP that their voters will swallow any garbage they feed them.

For Organization #2, DEMON. Nearly as venerable as VIPER, and under 5E was developed as the snakes' supernatural counterpart. I agree with Opal that you need to add Mechanon to the iconic villains list. He's (it's?) been there since the first edition of Champions, even before Dr. Destroyer, and in the core rulebook through Fourth Edition. Also UNTIL for organizations, unless you were confining your list to villainous orgs. It's hard to settle on "iconic Champions heroes." Defender is really the only one who's had any staying power. Marksman got a comic-book write-up but has never been statted in any edition of the RPG. However, I will nominate Seeker both for his infamy, and for having been the central character in Watchers of the Dragon. I also have to take a little exception to your "dishonorable mention" category. There's an implication of subjectivity there that won't necessarily be shared by other Champsfiles. I for example am very fond of VOICE.

This is probably an appropriate place to mention The Phenomena Department, a Hero System urban fantasy campaign setting developed by our long-missing colleague, Michael "Susano" Surbrook. By his own assertion it's inspired by the X-Files, Delta Green for the Call of Cthulhu RPG, and the anime Silent Möbius.

I was being quite literal. Teddy in particular was not shy about personally thrashing scalawags.

Teddy Roosevelt would not be standing next to Donald Trump and smiling. He'd punch his lights out.

Even the history of Dungeons and Dragons, biggest gorilla in the zoo, is littered with original, quality settings which fell by the wayside. Al-Qadim. Birthright. Dark Sun. Eberron. Hollow World. Planescape. Ravenloft. Spelljammer. It's not unusual for originality to work against you.

I think Aarn having established some permanent settlement near the Ettinstone to transfer cargo between vessels on the Ordring and Loskell rivers, could give us the best of both worlds in one book. We can have Aarn for everyone wanting big-city adventure, but we can also have the smaller border town that Spence has ably defined the usefulness for. And if the Ordring-Loskell system is a major trade and transportation route, that would also have the story advantage I postulated for Ishthac on the Shaanda River, of people from many lands passing through the town. The border the Ettinstone is on is between Szarvasia and Thurgandia, specifically Thurgandia's problem child, Verlichten. That has to lead to trans-national complications.

For the most part, humans are like ants to these creatures. But when Godz noticed the ships in SF Bay he might have interpreted them as large animals, which he avoided because he didn't need to hurt them. Whales, for example, have been seen to be careful in their movements around smaller creatures, including human divers.

Like the lines at the end of KOTM: "Good thing he's on our side." "... For now."

I get what you're saying in terms of anthropomorphising the Titans, but these creatures have never been depicted as no more than animals. They're intelligent, they fight tactically. Ever since Godzilla pried open the MUTO's jaws and poured fire down its throat, it's been clear he has imagination. Kong displayed creative thinking repeatedly on Skull Island.