Coming Home to City of Heroes Homecoming

City of Heroes was the first MMORPG I played. After I found my online gaming home in World of Warcraft, I only dabbled in it briefly in 2008, and I never really went back before it closed around 2012 or whatever. But a year ago, the developers of a fan server worked with the original developers to bring it back. I finally gave that a try.

Alright. I installed it early in the day because I thought I could just let it do its thing while I went about my business, but it only took a few minutes. I suppose because it’s still essentially a game that was meant to run on low grade 2003 computers? I went to the character creation screen to see what was up before I reminded myself that I shouldn’t even give it the 15 minutes at that point in what was going to be a busy day.

I went on later in that night to make a character and realized that morning’s restraint was especially wise because the creation did not take 15 minutes. It was probably closer to an hour. I knew the customization system was deep, but I didn’t think it would take me that long. Satisfying though.

Then I played for a few minutes and chose the villain alignment purely because I like the Rogue Isles better than the early hero zones. But because my chaotic neutrality skews towards positive ends, I’ll switch later on because that’s an option now and enjoy the later game’s more interesting hero zones.

Whenever I actually decide to play. Not in a rush. A taste was fun.

Back in the Paragon City Groove

Despite the fact I hadn’t really spent much time in it since the mid aughts, I never lost my appreciation for the setting of City of Heroes. It captured my heart to an extent most fresh superhero worlds don’t quite reach. I knew there was a novel that took place in its early years, but I was unable to find it in any digital format, which is how I read since I don’t like carrying books around. But I did find an old paperback copy and bought it just in case. That was years ago. 

When quarantine began, I pulled it out since more time at home meant more time to read in a place where the book was anyway. Then I got to the end and discovered there was another book, which I ordered immediately. Of course, in the current situation, it took months to arrive, which actually worked to my taste in the end since the story took place in an era long after that of the first book. 

Anyway, it’s been fun to revisit the world of the first big online game I ever played.

Bonus Question!

Best city for heroes?

If Marvel’s taught me anything, it’s the magnetic pull of New York for anyone with a superpower.

Fatigue Fatigue

Superhero movies.

Among other things, this last year saw the finale to a storyline that began 11 years ago with the film that cemented the current cinematic superhero zeitgeist. “Iron Man” to “Endgame” and all the stuff that’s run alongside that stuff. And for something like half of that time period, people have been talking about the idea of “superhero fatigue”.

But does anyone else feel something closer to fatigue fatigue? Like . . . I could really live without hearing people whine about stuff they have no interest in. There are all kinds of things I don’t care about. I prefer to talk about the things I like. This blog should evince that quite well. I’ve never seen the point of arguing for the death of anything. Especially in this post-monoculture world where the mainstream’s been divided into innumerable tributaries that cater to all sorts of diverse tastes. Am I biased because I love the whole superhero mythos? Not really. I remember when those Hunger Games movies were huge. I never watched a single one, but it was still annoying to hear aspiring intellectuals dismiss them with lazy comparisons to “Battle Royale”. It was especially bad because most of them didn’t actually seem to know anything about “Battle Royale” beyond the fact that its basic plot was similar to that of the Hunger Games. It was just a reprise of all of those people that accused Rowling of copying Hogwarts from whatever magical school was foremost in their minds without any consideration for the possibility that broad ideas like child soldiery or mystic academia can be independently created and executed in myriads of equally valid directions.

I could also deal without people who drone on about constant adaptations and remakes. Like, dude. “Gone With the Wind” is one of the most deified movies of the golden age of cinema or whatever, and it was based on a book. Execution’s the only thing that matters. If someone has a take on something, they should be allowed to spin it out. Same with sequels. If people like a thing, let them have more of it. Especially since “Empire” is the Star Wars film that gets the most praise. No “Empire” in a world without sequels. And the good stuff’s always going to be worth letting the bad stuff pass through. Filtration’s futile.

But yeah. It’s much easier and more satisfying to concentrate on the things you love and leave everything else for the people who do love it. It’s really not that hard.

Bonus Question!

Best sequel?

“Rush Hour 2” is the one that sticks out in my mind because it came out during a formative time in my life and it actually has a 2 in the title.

B

Black Scorpion

So. Dwayne Johnson finally gave an official announcement about his Black Adam movie. And that’s great. The last two big DC superhero movies, “Aquaman” and “Shazam”, were my favourites of the franchise, and this looks to be a bit of a mix of both. Big, classic adventure from the former and shiny magic from the latter.

But really, the mystic desert action its premise implies makes me hopeful for it to be the Scorpion King sequel we never got. Or the one we didn’t get The Rock in. That movie definitely had sequels. And all of them disappeared into the void without even scraping Dwayne.

So. This should be epic.

Bonus Question!

Best Scorpion?