#about the character. thinking the name Prototype Halcyon...

[valiant-portabella-pirkko]

me @ myself: i do not need more gw2 character ideas. i do not need more gw2 character ideas. i do not need more gw2 character ideas. i do not n

my brain, ignoring me: but consider: a sentient jade-powered watchknight construct affiliated with the Tideturners, matching with the watchwork wings

[lobselvith8]

Captain Ramirez - Before the journey to Gorgon

The trailer for the upcoming DLC for The Outer Worlds has released, and it seems The Unreliable will venture to Gorgon. I’m looking forward to exploring the territory of the asteroid with my protagonist, Javier Ramirez, Martian scientist turned renegade Captain of the Unreliable. 

And a man of science. Looking forward to the new Science! weapons.

Like my Lone Wanderer, Courier, and my male Sole Survivor, my Unplanned Variable is Latino. I envisioned him as someone with eyes reminiscent to the Martian eyes in Ray Bradbury’s the Martian Chronicles. Given that it is never explained how the main character is proficient with weaponry (presumably leaving it up to the player to fill in that aspect of their history), I tied that into his Martian background. 

Meeting Parvati lead to a lot of surprises (like how she names a robot Jeremy if she’s the one to fix him up), and her request to join the crew is very sweet (and insightful into the kind of person she is).

A reminder about why Captain Ramirez has absolutely no sympathy for Reed Tobson.

One of the great things is that the protagonist does not have to kill everyone in order to resolve matters. Certain games unfortunately push you down a route where you have to kill, even in circumstances where you’d prefer another option or where it doesn’t make much sense for the character you’ve crafted (putting you at odds with The Story).

My Captain managed to avoid killing any of Cassandra’s Outlaws. After deciding to help her (as she shared his disdain for the Corporations), he used his skills to put the raptidons to sleep, and talked his way into a successful outcome where everyone walked away alive.

Orson Shaw is a fellow scientist so Javier helped him out rather than stab him in the back.

Shaw was able to proceed with his research, creating the Ulti-Nature, and bequeathed it to Alex Hawthorne’s successor as a token of appreciation. The entry reads, “Orson Shaw built this prototype for Auntie Cleo based on blueprints found by Javier Ramirez. Maybe it won't blow up in your hand!” As comforting an entry as one could read in Halcyon. ;)

Sherman Bradshaw let Ramirez know that as strange as Halcyon seemed, it was even stranger.

After some amusing back and forth exchanges, Sherman Bradshaw and Rachel Lockwood survived, and Sophia Akande was not pleased about the latter, but the Captain gambled on the promise of Phineas Welles to sway things in his favor. It did. :)

Felix’s recognition of your actions is nice (although I wish the acknowledgement of acting as a double-agent carried through all the way as it’s odd when he thinks you’re truly a loyal member of the Board despite having subtly informed him at least twice by that point that you’re not sincerely serving the interests of the Board or the Corporations).

Celeste Jolicoeur is fantastic. She really stands out in Byzantium. Also, this is the kind of dialogue I wish I had to describe Orlais in Inquisition (another place that deserves to be torn down brick by brick).

Hortense Ingalsbee - who represents everything wrong with Byzantium and Halcyon.

Et tu, Ellie? :(

Surprisingly, Anton Crane was swayed by Javier’s words to find his own path instead of remaining subservient to the Corporations. Antone found his way to the Groundbreaker, one of the last bastions of freedom in Halcyon, and was trying to figure out what he was going to do with his life (he declined the offer to work with Phineas Welles). This outcome was really nice.

Cassandra had been spared by Ramirez (after he used his silver tongue to get the research she possessed), so the fact that she ended up meeting Anton and received her own happy ending was nice. Perhaps Cassandra might show up again in the future. Maybe in Gorgon, perhaps?

[cryptocism]

So since pretty much everyone agrees that Tim needs a name change, and I think most people dislike the first two RR costumes (I dislike the pretty much Robin one too, because it seems like he hasn’t accept losing Robin, when I feel a lot of his comics right after Bruce W died was about that?) which leads me to: What do you think Tim’s costume would look like if he got a good outfit, and what name?

o yeah i was not a fan of the cowl. and the n52 design is just… so busy and excessively accessorised (excessorised???) - i drew it a couple times for this project im workin on and the whole process was me squinting at reference panels and whispering softly but passionately “what the fuck” - and i agree on the rebirth RR design, it looks more derivative of dick and jasons retconned robin costumes than inspired by tims og 80s design (however. the unternet costume - its simple and appealing and clearly nightwing-inspired and i am a fan, also the giant scythe/halberd/mace thing was so ridiculous i loved it)

which is why i thank pat gleason for my life bc tims new outfit is such a good modernisation of his original robin design. so i mean to answer ur question i think tim has a p good design right now (although not for long i guess since they announced hed get a new look/codename soon) BUT if i were in charge of debuting a new design and name… hm……….

whatever his new name is, it’d preferably have something to do with wherever his personal storyline is headed, which i dont know, and for all my complaining abt how red robin is a shit name i dont actually have great alternatives lol. i did see somewhere the suggestion for the name “Cardinal” which i dont hate, so ill use that as a placeholder for now (although “Halcyon” is an interesting option)

tangentially, my personal preference for his robin graduation would be a miniseries featuring tim and damian both as robin, begrudgingly having to work together to fight some greater enemy and becoming true brothers along the way. ending with tim giving damian his blessing to be robin (a post-mantle blessing but still) with the first amicable passing on of the robin title literally ever

as for Look: his new design should a) accurately reflect his character b) mesh well with whatever tone his personal storyline is going for c) be a natural progression of gleasons newest iteration while still d) able to stand as its own iconic look

i always thought tim would do really well in a more grounded noir-style detective story, both using and especially subverting the tropes of the genre (for instance tim befriends every femme fatale and romances absolutely zero of them. theyre pals and have weekly movie nights or smthn) obvs using some of the mystery elements to springboard into classic comic wild times etc etc. theres also a great opportunity to include some more cyberpunk aesthetics to the look and feel ofthe story

i.e. tim is part of the waynetech r&d teams, working with them to develop new technologies, and proceeding to test out some of the prototypes while doing vigilante work (bc terry had to get his rocket boots from somewhere ok). gotham is still gotham, but its starting to see some of that neo-futuristic/blade runner flavour from batman beyond.

so. cyberpunk detective story starring cha boy tim drake. im not gonna draw it rn but lemme just gather some ref elements here in case i ever do

first off - motorcycle, obviously. redbird is back babey and this time its a two-wheeler. all his gear would be modded the hell out of, but the motorcycle itself would be an approximate balance of 70% ducati and 30% tron lightcycle situation. a speedy bike with ample room for the edgy overkill batfam aesthetic, with maybe a little akira in there who knows

same goes for helmet; 70/30 on this modern/cyberpunk situation. heres a quickly photoshopped “cardinal” helmet lol 

although theres totally room for some daft-punk leds in there. serving as a heads up display AND a fun neon aesthetic. I really want to play into that John Wick neo-noir situation.

besides that… ive got a preference for street style over the superhero spandex, so… detective jacket. every detective has a good jacket. norm breyfogle made a comment on his early tim robin designs that itd be pretty either/or on jacket vs cape, merging the two looked a little silly. for robin they probably decided on cape to keep things classic, but for cardinal i can do what i want

and i want to bring back some of this popped collar.

which i basically did for that other tim design i drew, which i still like, so this one would probably be at least a lil borrowed from that. 

attempting to merge cape/jacket might end up smthn like these:

which admittedly i like. 

admittedly… i do also like the concept of wings introduced in tims n52 design, i just think they couldve been hidden/incorporated better

greig rapson had a sweet robin design that had a sort of flight-suit (which dove into the actual mechanics??? i love) and since id want to dive into tim testing out waynetech prototypes, its a pretty good natural progression from him to terrys glider thing

the whole ensemble would be fairly understated however - enough to semi blend in with any crowd, hero or civilian. after all the story focus would be just as much about solving the mystery as it is punching the bad guy

the various interchangeable gadgets would be both prototypes of terrys eventual batsuit, and also all the failed prototypes that never managed to get off the ground. just to add an element of tension/plot devices wherein tims gear could break or malfunction pretty much anytime.

im fixated on this rocket boot situation though so itd be a paired down version of terrys eventual seamless/invisible design. still noticable and clunky, but working with the sleek modernish style outlined by gleason

smthn almost similar to the prowler actually from spiderverse - as in: Clearly Rocketboots, and clearly diy’d the shit out of, but still working with that Aesthetic

(most of the screencaps of prowler are dark af so im taking this from jesus alonso iglesias concept art) 

im debating on the addition of more overtly birdlike/cyberpunk elements, so ill add this here cause its dope as fuck (from ahmet atil akar). 

and a lot of batclan capes tend to end with that concave spiked look, which works great for bats but not really for birds. a tailcoat might emulate the bird tail, but it also might evoke Penguin a lil too much idk.

also in the interest of keeping everything within the same sort of design language, i would Love to see some new villains emulating deconstructionist/architectural kawakubo fashion:

like could you imagine the supervillain potential

so uhhh yeah. budding cyberpunk detective story with a little noir and a little technological advancement progressing in fits and starts. taking from the gleason foundation with heavy black featuring brighter coloured accents and modern sleekness, made a little dorky via prototype technology, with some extra neon blade runner shit thrown in there.

depending on how much i love or hate the new codename/design reveal i might draw this via inspired motivation or spiteful motivation lol