Tim's City of Heroes Obsession

If you're wondering why Tim seldom does any of the blog writing, it all comes down to one thing: His obsession with City of Heroes these past few months. In case you never heard of it, City of Heroes is what they call a MMORPG, which stands for a Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. It's essentially a computer game that enables thousands of players to play in an evolving virtual world at the same time over the Internet.


Tim in some serious City of Heroes mode. (09/10/05)

There's a bunch of MMORPGs out there, but City of Heroes is the one Tim has latched onto. The premise of the game involves a place called Paragon City, which had become the worldwide capital of super heroes. The city had little or no crime and the residents lived in peace. But all that came to a halt when aliens invaded the earth and began their war of mass extermination. In the aftermath of the war, Paragon City lay in ruins, with most of the city's heroes dead or missing.

Subsequently crime and corruption grew rampant. Amidst this sudden influx of lawlessness, Paragon City made a call to the world's surviving and newly found heroes: “Come to Paragon City's aid!” And that's where the game players come in.

The coolest part is creating your own super hero. You select everything. The name. The powers. The weapons. The attire. The facial traits. Everything! The possibilities are endless.

That being said, I thought it was long overdue that we introduce to the world Tim's two alter egos: Red Flamer and Blackie Kat.


RED FLAMER
Red Flamer is the first character Tim created. He's what they call a Blaster, someone skilled at doing as much damage as possible while keeping a safe distance from enemies. Although Blasters are strong and powerful, they are also very susceptible to damage from villains. The challenge for a Blaster is to deliver attacks while still keeping an eye out for other villains in the area.



As you would expect, Red Flamer's powers involve fire (in contrast, other Blasters can use ice, energy, arrows or sonic blasts). One of Red Flamer's major powers is the Inferno, which allows him to blow up in a giant flame and take the villains out with him. In addition, Red Flamer has the power to fly, making him great for attacks from the sky.



One other distinction to note is that Red Flamer's powers are mutant, which means that his powers are encoded into his genes, and not learned or obtained through anyother means.

Red Flamer has wild, bright-red hair and a red goatee. He wears a bright red tank top with an emblem that resembles the eagle in the Polish flag. He completes his outfit with knee-high boots, red tights with black flames and a matching cape.

At the time of this writing, Red Flamer is a Level 34 super hero (the more you play, the higher the level). That means he has a cape (a level 20 exclusive) and an aura (a level 30 exclusive), which can be seen in the glowing flames emanating from his hands.


BLACKIE KAT
Tim's other character — Blackie Kat — is what they call a Defender. While Defenders can take some damage, and deal it out as well, their real strengths lie in augmenting other heroes and hindering villains. While Blasters are often solo characters, Defenders thrive in teams.



Blackie Kat, whose powers stem from a magic source, falls under the category of Dark Defender. Dark Defenders pull their powers from the netherworld (in contrast to other Defenders who use psychic powers or radiation). Blackie Kat uses her powers to immobilize enemies, slow their movement rate, or disorient them. She also has the capacity to heal and even revive people from the dead. In addition, Blackie Kat has a power called the super jump, which allows her to leap over buildings as high as 30 stories.



She has two costumes, which Tim refers to as her traveling clothes and her fighting clothes. As you would expect, all her outfits are black. And sexy! They definitely show off her best features, shall we say. On her left shoulder, she has a kitten known only as "Kitty." In addition, she has a pet called a Dark Servant, that she can recall from the netherworld to paralyze enemies.

At the time of this writing, Blackie Kat is a Level 40 super hero, which gives her a cape and an aura (it can be seen in the form of the pink sparkles that surround her).



Of course not letting Tim have all the fun, I too decided to create my own characters: G-Pride and Mad Mamacita.

G-PRIDE
Like his friend Red Flamer, G-Pride is a Blaster, but rather than throwing fire, G-Pride is a master archer who targets his enemies with good old fashioned arrows. G-Pride's skills come from a natural origin, which means his powers involve no mysterious forces or secret discoveries; He simply used his remarkable talents to train himself to the very pinnacle of human potential.



With his bright-colored tight pants, blue muscle T, and violet chest harness and wrist cuffs, G-Pride has a look that is as unforgettable as his powerful gaze. Although only a Level 1 (he hasn't actually faced any combat yet), G-Pride has a bright future ahead.



When not fighting oppression and intolerance, G-Pride enjoys entertaining, working out and never misses an episode of America's Next Top Model.


MAD MAMACITA
Mad Mamacita is what they call a Scrapper — the one who wades into the melee and mixes it up, delivering more damage per second than any other character type. Although Scrappers can deliver a lot of damage in a short period of time, they can be easily overwhelmed by large groups of villains.



Mad Mamacita's skill is in martial arts and super reflexes, making her one tough mama jama. Like G-Pride, her skills stem from natural ability. With her bad-ass brown and white leather motorcycle suit and designer sunglasses, Mad Mamacita brings it on with a vengeance (or at least she will when she actually experiences her first real combat). :)