So Luminary

Okay this has been on my mind since Christopher implied Baron Blade would have a hero deck, and I think others have brought it up:

Baron Blade tried to destroy the Earth by pulling the moon into it. This would have killed everyone, including him. Did he develop a newfound sense of self-preservation after that and his mad bombing run and his vengeance run? Why is he okay with destroying the Earth but not the multiverse?

I just want rampant speculation, and something to talk about. :)

I am guessing he found out the truth about his father. 

That makes sense.

He's totally a villain in Tactics, right?

I think his Positive-Energy Field experience might have left a lasting impression on him. We know he is still evil (see Tactics) and all of that, but maybe his worldview was shifted a bit. I think early on he just wanted revenge against the Parsons at any cost and if he had to die to achieve his goal, then so be it. I think his attitude toward his own life is a lot stronger now than what it was.

Well his scars got healed as seen on Positive Energy Field so possibly that changed his outlook on the multiverse.

The name "Luminary" is a bit strange though don't you all think? Why not just go by Ivan instead of a totally different handle?

Because superheroes get jolly pirate nicknames.

Ivan, while a good strong name, has no superhero style. Nor supervillain.

There's always the "You can't destroy the Earth, I'm going to destroy it" attitude for a potential reason why as well.

Yeah, I'm not feeling the "Luminary" name either.  My guess is that GtG thinks it's a good guy name but it's also a bit haughty so fits Blade's personality.  I would prefer something more along the lines of "Champion Blade" or "Savior Blade" or something that keeps the "blade", especially since we know he goes back to his old name in Tactics.

It reminds me of "Illuminati." Comes from the same root.

I think Luminary is the kind of name Blade would choose. That or The Genius.

As for the destroy the earth or not thing - he is the kind of guy who, if another villain was about to kill Legacy, would save the hero. There are things that you want to do yourself, not let someone else do.

And there is also a big difference between doing a lot of potentially dangerous to yourself collateral damage while following your own goal, and letting something else endanger you and your goals with its collateral damage.

I'm with Spiff. I feel like a different name with either "blade" or a synomyn, but a more positive title, would have suited him more.

If I remember correctly, Christopher said Blade was hiding out in Atlantis when he was pulling the moon into the Earth, and he figured he was safe from the results, that he would rise from the ruins...

You know, mad scientist stuff.

I'm entertained by how it obliquely references Legacy's lantern...

He should have just called himself "Heritage" or something to one-up Legacy.

Oh man I loooooove Luminary as a name. 

Maybe he has always been a nice sweet guy and was just misunderstood all this time?

This would nicely explain why Blade was in his huge armor suit right after the beam was destroyed because he had it on him to get to Atlantis in the first place.

Anyone else really curious what new nemesis icon he might get?   In regards to the name I like it but I certainly expected he would have had Blade in the name.  

I'm guessing he found out his father is alive, and was (in fact) saved from a fiery death by the elder Legacy... who Baron Blade then killed. Once he finds out the truth, he abandons the Baron Blade title (or turns it over to his father). 

Luminary means a person who inspires or influences others, especially one prominent in a particular sphere or it also means an artificial light. So maybe he has this name because he is influencing the other villians to save the world?

Pretty sure he influences others to be heroes too.

Something funny I just noticed while looking at the OblivAeon cover on the KS... there are two kinds of letters in the title "OblivAeon". Some are more "rounds", with a simple shape, while others are more "acute", or "blade-like". I have no idea of what kind of terminiology font specialists use. Anyway, funny thing is, the four "angular" letters are I,V,A,N.

Ivan.

Funny, isn't it ?

I think the artificial light is appropriate.

Just don't count the letters in "Ivan Blade".

Here's a theory:  Baron Blade actually *does* achieve redemption, in the course of events following the Vengeance arc, culminating in his turn to the side of good against Oblivaeon.  However, in the course of fighting and defeating Oblivaeon, everyone has to make sacrifices.

Baron Blade has to sacrifice himself.  Specifically, the self that, in this timeline, achieved redemption.  When Oblivaeon is defeated, and the universe resolidifies, Luminary will have never existed, because the events that lead him to reconsider his life never happened.  Baron Blade will exist once again, as Earth's Greatest Villain, and nobody(?) will remember otherwise.

I like it, but if true it's an important point to know while playing Luminary Blade (I can't not put the "blade" in there somewhere).  If you're playing the character, it helps to understand his motivations.  Is he just playing a long con and will go back to being evil later, or has he actually achieved redemption?

I think Luminary is perfect as well.

We know he is gadget based, and his name means someone who inspires or influences others.

It also means Artificial light.

My thoughts.

Baron Blade is no fool, nor is he isolated.  He probably saw the signs and figured joining up with the heroes was the most effective way to stop Oblivaeon from destroying everything.  After all you can't rule what doesn't exist, and you can't defeat Legacy if he's dead.

So he shows up and offers to help with his tech.

My guess is his tech is going to be used to help other heroes.  Combining his talent for invention with their super powers should be really effective.

It would also allow him to gather all kinds of data on the heroes that he never would be able to gain otherwise.

I do not expect Luminary to be a front line fighter, because that doesn't help Blade at all.  Let the heroes get beat up, just make sure they win, and leave the good Baron as the strongest force in the game.

If this is an indication of the other heroes we'll see, the remaining letters clearly include L, from Death Note, and someone who plays the oboe. Secrets everywhere!

I always saw him as lex Luthor from the episode "Destroyer" from the Justice League Unlimited show.

He, and the rets of the Legion of Doom, team up to fight Darkseid. He fights alongside, because he knows, he's not strong enough, and reluctantly, needs to fight along side the heroes to stop a bigger bad.

No redemption, no chnage of heart, but without their help, he'll lose. So, he needs to be "a hero deck" to stop the threat he deems dangerous to him. 

He's still a ginormous pompous ass, but one that even legacy needs to fight along side. 

If Blade hasn't actually changed his spots, why the name change?  Why wouldn't he fight OblivAeon as Baron Blade, since that's who he is?  Hopefully the answer isn't just so we don't have a third Baron Blade deck in the game.

8 letter words are the best!

But why do they need HIM. The got tons of heroes joining from all the timelines… what does Luminary add that all those heroes don't? If he offers no sign of redemption I wouldn't let him join my club…

Considering it took Ra, The Ennead, and Anubis to put a scratch into the guy. I would also think that they are some of the most powerful being in the multiverse.  I'm fairly certain they will take all the help they can get.  

Lesser of two evils.  I can imagine Maia warning Paul about what he can gain by being around them, and Parsons telling her they will deal with it afterwards, if there is anything around then.

You don't sweat domination when facing extermination.

Because he's doens't want his world to end either. Also, they porbably know that, despite his tendencies, he is still competent, and smart enough to help stop him. 

I have a feeling this might be the reason, and though I do dig the name, it doens't suit him as much as "Blade" or something of that nature. To avoid confusion with wording and so on. But I think Luminary has this ironic twist to it. that he's not only the "brightest" individual out there, he also will bring (what he deems to be) a world on enlightenment. 

Also, they found out that the only way to defeat OblivAeon is to throw the moon at it, so they went to the expert.

TTGL STYLE!

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?"

Two meanings of "luminary" ( a celestial body, an expert ) in the same sentence - you deserve a Cookie-Bot, special squirrel recipe.

Awesome. Is that just a little R2-D2 that follows me around and opens its head and it's full of cookies? I should make luminary references more often!

See ? The Baron knows how to corrupt even the most valliant heroes

Cosmic Cookie-Bot is my source of power.

Luminary feels way more right as the name of alt-Blade than it does as actual-Blade.  Just saying...

Totally agree. In my mind, the Baron Blade we know as Luminary is the alt version. Thats just how im gonna play it in my mind.

Maybe Our Blade met his alternate (technically his sister) and decided to use her name as a sign to our heroes that he was on their side for now

+1 on Luminary appreciation. They should add some subtitle to each one:

"Still a psycho"

"She hates Legacy, but not this one"

Edit: Even the font looks better on Luminary than on Blade.

shrug I just thought the name was there to counter/out-do Legacy’s symbol.

+1

Regardless of the name, has anyone else noticed that the hologram around Luminary's hand is a orbital schematic of the Moon circling the Earth, with a potential impact arc drawn in?

THAT must be why they need Baron Blade on their side. They're going to beat OblivAeon by pulling the moon down to smash it!

Not gonna lie, if that's one of the possible ways to defeat Oblivaeon, I'd be ok with it. Science be damned.

Building on UMX266's good idea from another thread, Blade could simply be called "The Baron" now, which would make his alt "The Baroness".  "Luminary" feels like it's trying too hard.

Where have we learned that?

We haven't. It's merely somewhat well-founded speculation.

The letters in Baron Luminary's logo are outlined in red, white and blue, a lot like in Legacy's logo.  Why would Blade ape Legacy that way, especially since Blade isn't even American?

"Anything you can do I can do better..."

Huh, good question. The dominant colors in all of Ivan Ramonat's costumes are red and purple, with a little bit of white. That looks a little more like purple on the bottom to me. But maybe the colors could be tweaked to make that more obvious.

I'm also not sure where red and purple come from. It doesn't seem to be the flag of Lithuania, unless maybe it's about the historical flag.

This. Also note the L…Y naming scheme.

Blade is the consequence of Legacy, and his whole life is all about besting him, one way or another - and if it is by saving the world BETTER , let it be so.

A luminary is also someone you may want to follow and emulate - and Legacy is an icon that many would follow. This name is all about telling Leg : "I can be YOU, just better". Think about the "Doc.Oc becomes Spiderman but better" storyline.

Another point about the name : "Baron Blade" is surely known by the public as a villain. "I am Luminary ! I am here to save you" sounds better than "I am Baron Blade, I am here to save you !"

Whomsoever defeats Luminary, if they be worthy, shall forever more be Superluminary.

You know how Chrono-ranger has that card where if other people discard cards then Chrono can draw that many?  I'd love for Baron von Luminary's deck to be full of stuff like that, stuff that helps the team but also mostly helps Blade at the slight expense of the team.  I don't picture Luminaryblade going out of his way to save a lot of people if there's nothing in it for him.

Another theory, it might be related to what the people of Mordengrad call him. Part of Blade's story is growing up in a desperately poor Eastern European City where the people are starving around him. Who did this? Legacy's father to be sure, but it was the Allies and America who gave him his orders which destroyed the facility and drove the people into extreme poverty.

To those people, Blade is a hero. He brought back wealth and status to the city, fights those who wronged them, and really is their savior.

Blade is a hard man, ice-cold, but what if during his trial after the Vengeance arc, his people still supported him? We know he is free, what if it is because of them? It might be much harder for him to turn his back on these people who call him their hero, and they might have given him the name Luminary, as the their brilliant leader.

Also, it occurs to me that the Fort Adamant arc has revealed deep-seated corruption in the US military.  Greatest Legacy was responsible for the death of Blade's father and the destruction of his home, but if it turned out that Legacy was just a pawn of a secret miliatry plot, it might help Blade set aside his hatred at least a little bit.  Nothing like knowing that your enemy was playing the fool to cheer you up and make you feel generous.

I do find it interesting that Blade's father was working on a shrink ray, and now Luminary is helping Sky-Scraper shrink (and grow)

Other possible names I thought of, inspired by this thread:

Kommander Kris

Duke Dagger

Excellent Edge

Most kidding aside, as much as the "L_________Y" connection is cute, I also kinda doubt the guy who named his personal guard the "Blade Brigade" would give up his brand management that easily.  However, too me, the point is largely mute, since in my group's ongoing continuity, Blade II is dead, and Blade I is otherwise accounted for.  In that sense, Luminary is ideal for us, since it's easier to attach to a different character without causing confusion.

I've been uhming and ahhing about the Luminary hero deck since the first update and the concept just feels really weird given that Blade goes back to being a bad guy in Tactics - and even weirder to think about using that hero deck in some other games. The story is the story, so I'll take it as it comes, but it just feels more right for Blade's daughter to be Luminary and for him to be a promo card, as in "oh yeah, she came through the rift between multiverses and then there was this one time that her father stood alongside the heroes to save the planet from destruction".

Anyways, I like the parrallel it has to the Legacy decks, all we need now is a prom card for "Lithuania's greatest Luminary" and then we're all set

I've been thinking about it, it sounds like the major conflict is going to be at Fort Adamant, where a ton of military secrets are held.  What better way for Blade to get access to all those secrets then to help fight the villian who is going to be there anyway?  He gets more info about the heroes he wants to destroy, perhaps steals some secret tech and just has to prevent the destruction of the world he technically lives in from being destroyed sounds like plan to me.

Can't you just pretend the Young Luminary is the "real" one and Ivan is the "promo"? Thats my head cannon already and its soooooo good.

I like the idea that Baron Blade thinks he is really fooling Legacy, and that everyone will actually believe he is a hero, because he doesn't actually know them and thinks they are all inferior and stupid.

I imagine a lot of internal maniacal gloating that he thinks the others don't notice.

Yes, even during a vicious battle to save existance as they know it.

Baron doesn't do somewhat crazy.

I agree with this… in my mind its like a Fanatic thing where even though all her cards say Fanatic thats not what she calls herself or what others call her (to her face anyway). For me this is Baron Blade helping the heroes and sharing a deck with the alternate timeline hero Luminary. The deck takes that name for game mechanics reasons.

It's fine in my head that Baron Blade is a hero.   He wouldn't be the first villain to go back and forth.   It makes sense at this to point that he would consider helping out and I honestly seeing him trying to one up Legacy through out.

Same here. Though I think he won't hesitate to turn things in his advantage while helping. I'd bet that in the official story, he ends up stealing oblivion shards right under the nose of the heroes : "Yes, my allies, I can, with my unmatched scientific genius, use these shards for our cause. I'll take them to my laboratory, and make a weapon against our ennemy. No need to keep an eye on them - they are safe with the Ba… Luminary !"

As someone else mentioned (can't for the life of me find it right now), Blade isn't so much becoming a Hero as he is saying to OblivAeon, "You don't get to kill Legacy and destroy the world, **I** get to kill Legacy and destroy the world."

So naturally, as soon as the crisis is averted, he goes back to being his typical evil genius.

As to the name, I'm guessing he was aware of Ivana since the initial shattering of the timelines and took her heroic name to mock her.

And, yes, I agree, outside of the OblivAeon battle, I'll probably only use the Ivana Luminary card, treating BB Luminary as an event-based promo.

It's kind of like the ending to Turtles Forever, where after 80s Shredder and Krang help the turtles preserve their multiverse, he's promising to come at them with some devious scheme even as he's giving them a ride back to their own dimension.

I guess I am wondering what happens after OblivAeon. Does everybody remember it? Does it revert back to some previous point before it happens (with only the survivors)? That could be why Blade is still bad, since he never turned good, or why Matty has a different name (would have turned good anyways, but a different sequence of ecents led up to it). shrug I guess we will find out!

Luminary will be a lot more palatable as a hero, I think, if his deck does a lot of collateral damage to other heroes in the game.

This would not only tie into Blade being more villainous, but also suggest that his inventions often fritz out on him.

It's what I expect from his deck. Or, rather, lots of cards that gives other heroes the opportunity to hurt themselves for greater power.

"Consider the price of victory" indeed ;).

Another thing to consider, last time we saw Blade was Vengeance. It was stated in Vengeance that the super serum blade took to increse his power wrecked his body.

So here's Blade, cooling his heels in jail, severely limited by the damage he did to his own body. The FV, particularly Tachyon and Legacy show up for a chat. They need help, they know it, Blade knows it. They negotiate. Tachyon will help fix Blade, Legacy will use his influence (and the pending extinction of reality) to get Blade out, maybe Wraith throws in the cash. The condition, you get to fight an unstoppable being bent on destroying everything in existence, and we probably won't make it out alive anyways.

Makes sense to everyone involved, but the FV aren't a private group, they are funded by the Government. The public doesn't like, trust, or even care about Blade, so the heroes need a way to calm the public. OvlivAeon hasn't hit a major metropolitan area, he could be gov't BS, but he could also be real, not a big enough push and not enough to get Blade out, so Blade re-brands. Waxes on about how the American Justice system and his time in a cell made him turn over a new leaf. All of it is completely false, but it is enough to quell the public and not cause them to be a distraction from the main event.

Last we see Baron Blade would have to be Positive Energy Field in Realm of Discord after Vengeance since that shows his scar healing.  

Correct.

Also don't forget that at some point, Baron Blade was also put on Trial! Now THATS a comic I wanna read.

Chaosmancer's post reminds me that by the time of Tactics, the Freedom Five have a more distant relationship with the government.

With their revealed ties and relationship to FILTER it doesn't surprise me

I've decided I don't hate the name Luminary as much as I did at first, but mostly because I was able to come up with a logo for his oversized hero card that feels right to me.  The logo uses the same font and colors as the villain, has a thin line of red along the bottom intimating there's still some evil buried deep down in there, and it has a moon icon behind it in case we forget he's the guy who tried to smash the moon into the Earth.  That all helps it feel to me like it's still the same guy, regardless of the new name.

I don't think there's ever been a question of whether there's room in the game for a hero who's only barely a hero.  I think we're all down with that.  The only question is whether the name "Luminary" feels right for a Baron Blade who's breaking good.  It definitely does feel like he's ruining his own branding with such a complete name change, but I like that hero card enough that I think I can live with it now. :)

Believe me, I am fighting the urge to begin a thread about it. The Baron was expeted since the base game, for me (it fits too well his archetype to have a temporary go at beign a "hero") but I feel there are too many heroic villains now . But, well, it's the last expansion, let's go crazy !

I really really like what you did with the Name design aspect Spiff. That seems a lot better to my eye than what is on the KS page right now.

Do me a favor and redesign Fuge State Parse next because that text is super bad

Some of the official logos are really great and I would never touch them.  Captain Cosmic is a great example.  But I  100% agree about Parse (I wasn't a fan of the original Parse's logo either), and it's definitely on my list.  I've got some ideas for a few others as well.

If I could get clean art for all the new heroes (art without their text already covering things), I could go to town with the new stuff, but I still don't have art for VotM, so Oblivaeon art is likely still a ways away.

@GtG, if you ever wanted to use any of my logo designs, that'd be fine with me. Just let me know and I can tell you what fonts I used so you can make sure you can use them for commercial products. I just do this for funsies, so there'd be no question of having to pay me or anything. 

Here's where my mind went with the whole naming convention thing:

During the OblivAeon crisis, the heroes receive some much needed support from someone just calling themselves, "The Luminary". This help proves integral in buying the heroes the time they need to regroup and form a plan of attack. When Luminary finally shows himself, it is of course, none other than Baron Blade. Blade professes a desire to leave a legacy of his own, and a distaste for anyone else killing Parsons. Legacy doesn't trust this newfound heroism of Ivan's, but he appears sincere, at least in his hate. The other heroes choose not to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

Luminary joins the side of the angels and after a time, is instrumental in giving them even a ghost of a chance against OblivAeon. Eventually, even Legacy comes to trust Luminary as they launch their final combined effort against the Great Destroyer. The battle is brutal and not without it's casualties. When it comes time to deal the final blow to the seemingly godlike being, OblivAeon launches a fierce countermeasure against Legacy and Beacon. At that moment, Luminary interposes himself in between the two forces and seemingly disintergrating into nothingness.

Reeling, Paul Parsons galvanizes the heroes into a final push against OblivAeon. The combined might of the Freedom Five, the Prime Wardens, the Darkwatch, the Southwest Sentinels and heroes from all over the world deal a mortal blow to the invader. A blinding light erupts from the center of OblivAeon's chest and the heroes race away from the ensuing Earth-shattering explosion of energy. OblivAeon is no more. Nothing remains of where he once stood. Nothing except a small blinking device.

OblivAeon was a being of immense power. The amount of energy such a being could produce would be stronger than any force we could imagine. Stronger than the moon that gives us the tides. Stronger than the luminous sun. If someone could harness that energy they would become more than a man - more than a title. They would become...

THE EMPYREAL BLADE!

Spiff, that logo is tremendous. It made me realize that he should probably have a slight name change, too: Lune-inary!

… Daughter? His daughter is not involved in this, at all. The female Luminary is HIM, just genderswapped. I don't know why people keep assuming she's his daughter!

Probably an assumed symmetry with Legacy and Young Legacy? Plus Blade looks plder than Luminary. Probably from the beard.

I'm not assuming anything, just stating what I think makes more sense to me as a storyline that encompasses having Luminary as a hero in a regular battle.

Regardless, I can’t wait for the Mad Bombshell variant (of the variant).

EDIT: That would give Blade a regular card, promo lady version, and WWII version just like Legacy!

... do we have a Baron Blade I promo?

Fyodor Ramonat and his Zeppelins/Robot soldiers of Doom?

Too awesome for a promo.  He deserves a full deck, and a cool environment to go with it.

I always saw Baron Blade as a Dr. Doom Charater. Having Super science, a country and an army.

Lumanary is probably just phase for him, Big bad comes down, my country is in trouble (he magicly cares now, forget about that moon thing), Might as well be a hero to my people. (I like the whole WW2 story someone posted) going to join the heroes to beat a big bad.

He did Science to Sky-scaper that is risky, stuff that Tachy will not do. I doubt he has a moral compas. Who know what other things he have done "for the greater good*" Lumanary will be good for as long as the story needs him to be, then be bad there after. I mean Lex Luthor does that time to time.

*Good form his point of view.*

Also any of the Villian that are human can totaly help. Wraith is just a human, why can Ermine go steal something important. I will remind you that Hawkeye saved the world many time because he was human. See example. He also did something with thanos when he had the infinty gantlet that let Adam win. Classic comic book troope. So us human can relate to the "non Powered ones" and cheer for humany's power.

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/01/10/a-year-of-cool-comic-book-moments-day-10/

Promo Luminary is a Heroic Female Baron Blade form a differnt multiverse. Please lets not forget that, I Think it rocks. I want my gender bended Chrono ranger Please.

Sure, but Doom and Lex don't take on new identities for those five minutes of teaming up.

(Although, really, I'm not even sold on that much for Blade - what we've seen of him so far is much more the cackling silver age Lex than the scheming businessman who aided the Justice League in Destroyer.  Ah, well - I've been wanting a dedicated mad science deck, so this will still be all to the good.)

I kinda feel like this about some of the others, too - Harpy is a bona fide hero, sure, Benchmark, Lifeline and maybe La Comodora, but Bluminary, Thriya and Stuntman are all totally villains who are going to go back to being total villains as soon as all this blows over. Having them as heroes irks me somewhat, and I'd much prefer to see Ivana and parallel Stuntman as the base characters for just that reason.

This is also why I'm so vociferously against having an Ennead hero deck, as some have suggested. At least the others presumably had a few issues or maybe a mini-series in which to be heroic - the Ennead had about two minutes between 'heroes' and 'dead'.

I'm not bothered by these temporary heroes becoming villains again after the crisis is over. More that they never stopped being villains, they just acted in their own best interests to save the multiverse from annihilation.

I still have issues with Luminary/Baron Blade being okay with causing extinction level events but wanting to stop Oblivaeon. I know people are like "He wants to be the one to do it" but it just makes his face turn a stretch to accept. How nihilistic do you have to be to attempt to wipe out humanity, and how narcissistic do you have to be to insist that only you get to do it?

I mean I'll ultimately be fine with it overall because hey, a hero deck, and I love hero decks and I don't have issues with the name or the logo.

Lifeline is the same person he was before. He hasn't changed his viewpoint, just his operational objectives.

I'm not sure Ambuscade will go back to being a villain -- the bio implies he gave up villainy even before the whole OblivAeon thing started. If Tactics says otherwise, however, nevermind.

Tactics does indeed say otherwise. He's also part of the crime team For Profit.

I think that ambuscade post oblivaeon is more of a mercanery than an outright villain.  He does whatever because it pays.  Crimal aspects just happen to pay better.

Alas, Tactics does say that.

I continue to feel as though Tactics is the sort of Bad Future which superheroes are usually bent on preventing.  It's very odd to me.

Except that against OblivAeon, any future is a good future.

Akash'Bhuta goes through enough things (sacrificing to the Void and absorbing shards to become Akash'Darsha) that combined with the fact she is literally just fighting to save herself (being the spirit of the Earth) I have no issue with it. She's a spirit and trying to cope with the most incredible change of her existence.

Oh, no! We’re in the darkest timeline!

I got the impression that part of the future darkness of Tactics is due to the massive destruction caused by the OblivAeon event.  So, even in victory, there is huge loss.

People are talking about Ambuscade becoming a hero - but it looks like from the promo decks that these are alternate timeline versions of Ambuscade that Nightmist grabbed via "Become the Portal". Stuntman has no scars, and the variant version states that the scars 'never stopped his acting career' (which is obviously did for our timeline's version of Ambuscade).

I just assumed that Stuntman is an alt timeline version of him that goes away after the OblivAeon crisis.

The regular version of Stuntman is very much implied to be the main universe's Ansel Moreau (note the band-aid covering the place where his scar is on his incap side in Villains).

Stuntman has a scar but it's covered by a bandaid.   His "scar" which is seen on his incap side from VotM is pretty minimal.  

Stuntman is wearing a plaster on his face, exactly covering the scar Ambuscade has on his face on his Votm uncapped side

Wasn't his really prominent scar on the right side of his face? We only see his left side on his Hero card, but his promo shows his right side, and his scar is very much visible.

The promo is from an alternate reality where he embraced his scar and became an ultimate stuntman. 

The promo is an alternate reality version of Ansel.

About Blade: let's not forget that characters change and evolve. The baron we saw trying to pull the moon into earth is not the same man toward the end. He might still harbor a ton of hate for the Parsons, but I don't think we can just totally dismiss the effects of the positive energy field on his worldview. I'm sure it has shifted slightly over the course of the comic. 

I also thought Stuntman was an alternate reality version of Ambuscade.  That would be disappointing if he was just Ambuscade, Stuntman seems much more of a good guy, while Ambuscade seems like an over-obsessed hunter.

EDIT: Clarification

Stuntman is the man known as Ambuscade and the promo version is just him brought in from an alternate reality much like Ivana for Luminary. 

Ambuscade is a movie star with a hunting obsession.  The obsession consumes him and he starts hunting heroes.  Pays for "Shady Genetics Corporation" to give him powers, he gains energy-manipulation powers but his face is scarred, he quits acting and hunts heroes, now his only passion.

In Villains he heads up the Slaughterhouse-6 to continue that quest.

When that fails Ambuscade gives up.

He decides to go back to the movies.

Then Oblivion attacks, and he becomes Stuntman, a hero.

In Tactics the power he gained from "Shady Genetics Corporation" is fading.  He is working as a mercenary for money to try and pay for more power.

In Uprising he is working for the Operative as she tries to rebuild the Organization.  In For Profit Ambuscade and Operative have formed a merc team, ditching everything but the quest for money.

I don't get the feeling he is a villain playing hero, I think his hunting is over, he comes to terms with it.  But Oblivion attacks and he becomes a real hero, living out his movie career in real life.

For an adrenaline junkie like Moreau I could see being the hero filling both the need to take down big prey and be a star.

But when his powers start to fade he loses that too.  More than anything now he just wants to be powerful again.  That's how we get from where we first met him to For Profit.

This logo is perfect! I'm a day late, but remarkably impressed. The moon in the back is an especially nice touch. Bravo!

Any effects positive energy field may have had are purely theoretical since we lack a lot of information about that fight in particular and about Blade's actions following said fight.

Plus we're looking at a massive change from someone willing to wipe out humanity entirely to someone willing to fight for humanity's survival. That's a huge shift in perspective and I can see the positive energy field causing that kind of shift, if it caused anything at all.

Characters change and evolve. They develop. I don't see what's so unbelievable about blade having an interesting character arc

I guess what I am saying is that there's no overt sign of it. I agree with you that something could have changed his outlook, just that whatever did is not explicitly in evidence.

And the change is a fairly big one.

Speaking strictly for myself, it's mostly that I nevre found him to be an interesting character.  I might go so far as to call what we do know of him the least interesting character (TOG et a Character Card, at least) in all of SotM.  Which should make me view nay changes in a positive light, but the face turn which we already know won't last just isn't enough change to get my attention.  The problem with seeing the future, I suppose.

In reply to everyone talking about my view on Tactics' future in general: yes, from an in-universe point of view, any price would be worth stopping OblivAeon.  But I don't assess stories from an in-universe viewpoint - I exist in reality, as do the writers who created this narrative.  I was remarking that I fount it a surprising decision to have their "Big Event" end Tolkein-style with a scarred and diminished world, rather than with a sense of new beginnings such as we see at the end of Crisis On Infinite Earths - or even the "everything is different now" approach with Marvel events like House of M or Civil War push towards.

Whilst it is assuredly interesting to learn that Progeny's attack turned Rook City into Broken City, I see that as secondary to the choice for there to be a Broken City - a former fixture of the setting and home to many major heroes, now made into a post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by the insane degeneration of a formerly-suave villain and an army of twisted clones of a despised psychopath.  That's a deliberate tonal choice, and a pretty strong one.

And for some poeple, it works really well!  But to me it is, if not the darkest timeline (surely Iron Legacy has a lock on that), still a timeline so dark it makes me less enthused about the official developments of the story's future - even as I eagerly seek out all the new characters and beautiful art which are entwined with that future.

Ironic: yes, definitely an interesting choice.  It made me think of post-LotR Middle Earth as well.  (Hey, at least it's not post-Quenta Silmarillion Middle Earth, right?)

I'm not sure whether Moonfall is before or after FFA #1, but since they seem to both be early appearances of Blade and thus near to each other we know that Moonfall and OblivAeon are around thirty years apart. Thirty years is an INCREDIBLY LONG TIME. I can completely and utterly see Blade, initially incredibly angry and driven by burning passion, attempting to take down the world just to defeat Legacy (and, as others have pointed out before me, he was safe in Atlantis at the time), but that doesn't mean he has to remain that way for the next thirty years. And after all, look at Mad Bomber Blade, or Vengeance Blade, and Tactics Blade - they all want to take down Legacy, but none of them are gunning for the world any more.

And not to belabor the point, but Blade never tried to kill himself. Read his bio, if you've not already; Ivan Ramonat is determined to survive. He is not going to take kindly to someone trying to end the multiverse he's currently living in.

I would argue that if you're crashing the moon into the Earth there is no such thing as being safe on Earth. Hiding in Atlantis is great, but it wouldn't have saved him. He'd be completely aware of that.

Which as smart as Blade is means he knew he would survive from there.  

There's no way to survive a lunar impact. Baron Blade might have believed he'd survive, but I give him credit for understanding E=MC^2. But okay, say he has a super heavy duty bunker from which to survive. Now he's ruler of a lava-covered Earth with no other life on it. Except maybe Legacy, because Legacy can be immune to environment damage.

Well that leaves him alone to take care of Legacy.   

Yesterday I was able to talk to Christopher about Baron Blade and his becoming of Luminary. 

For starters, Baron Blade wants enough people on Earth to survive so they can witness his brilliance. While Baron Blade is a genius, he doesn't tend to think out his plans entirely, due to his hatred of Legacy. He comes up with a plan to kill Legacy, not really thinking out the consequences of his plans outside of that. It's not that he wants to die by pulling the moon into the Earth, it's that he hasn't thought that he would die by pulling the moon to the Earth. In the FFA#1, he tries to drill to the center of the Earth, he's smart enough to do so, but once again didn't factor in the length of time that's going to actually take. In Vengeance, he injects himself with all kinds of serums to make him stronger, ignoring what it could do to him just for the sake of trying to kill Legacy.

On him becoming Luminary, Christopher confirmed that Baron Blade is helping the heroes because he says OblivAeon as something that could kill Legacy. He is not willing to let someone else succeed where he has previously failed. So he's going to help defeat OblivAeon, ensuring that he'll have more chances down the line to kill Legacy. I also asked what would be the justification to have Baron Blade versus Luminary. It would be because Luminary sees the other as an imposter and cannot let him kill Legacy, because that's what Luminary will do. 

Summary: Baron Blade doesn't want global destruction, only to kill Legacy but fails to think of all the repercussions of his plans. He'll fight any villain if they are a threat to killing Legacy.

Ronway, thank you for posting that. It makes a lot of sense.

Thanks Ronway.  What you got from Christopher follows what the theory we've has on why he became a hero for now.  It also goes along with my thought that even if pulling the moon into the planet is a bad idea Baron Blade thought he would nevertheless but that may not have been the case if succeeded.   

Maybe it pulled the moon into the Earth really gently.

Superman made his debut more than 75 years ago, and for that entire time, he's been about 29 years old.  If he deviates from that age, it's (1) a time skip or alternate universe rather than actual aging, and (2) more often to get younger than older.

Comic book time is strange.

I assume that Sentinel Comics works like the Big Two American comic book companies, and that long periods of time don't really result in aging.  They might still result in character development, of course  -but there's no gaurentee.  Based on what Ronway learned from Christopher (thanks, Ronway!), Blade is one of those non-development cases.

However Sentinels Comics does have a few time skips here and there. The biggest one being where Ra was defeated by The Ennead and disappeared for a few years before coming back and beating them. Overall I think time works the same as real life comics but there have been moments where time shifts or there are noticable differences.

True story: DC comics once had a one year timeskip during a three-year period where (as far as I could tell), about a week of time passed across the Green Lantern family of books.

Do not look directly at Happy Fun Comicbook Time.

Superman has also changed a lot during that time.  He may not age, but he changes.

Look at the difference between, say, Lex Luthor 30 years ago (mad scientist bent on killing Superman/taking over the world) to today (Calculating businessman bent on killing Superman/making money, but still doesn't want the world to end).

30 years ago, in 1986, we juuuuuuust had post-Crisis Luthor, the calculating businessman.  That's not character development which happened to the cackling joke which Blade is inspired by, it's a revamping of the character which happened by restarting the universe.

Genuine, over-time changes to superhero characters aren't unheard of (look at Jean Grey, or Dick Grayson), but they're (1) not exactly the norm, either, and (2) not something can map to real-world time, let alone the fictional "real-world" time we're discussing here.

But, hey, assume whatever works for your game.  My group's versions of the SotM characters are wildly different from the canon ones by now, and I certainly wouldn't push anyone to use either of those versions in lieu of their own preferences.  I was just saying that, if  Blade is really just the same Legacy-hating madman, as he is being portrayed (and as Christopher has confirmed he is intended to be), I don't get the name change.  To me, that would bespeak a change in outlook which Blade is explicitly not feeling, and apparently not even feigning.  If you like the name enough to think Blade would be tickled by it as well, or your Blade really is having a change of heart (temporary or otherwise), or for any other reason that argument doesn't work for you, that's fine.

Certainly, I don't think any of us will change our outlook on the philosophy of comic-book characterization over this as-yet unreleased hero.

I just assumed it was akin to early Doctor Doom and Luthor's Silver Age-esque plans... with time, these plans became more... reasonable and the characters were fleshed out.

Two words: Temporary Amnesia

Progeny hit the Baron in the head. All he knows is the destruction being caused by OblivAeon. He wants to be good... but crazy is crazy and as his memory slowly returns, his nefarious plots begin to brew anew.  

Yes, but to be fair, his viewpoint originally was heroic, more or less.  He just was operating on bad data, leading to mistakes of judgement.

That said, I think all of the core five "heroes" have plausible reasons to remain heroic after this event except for Luminary, given canon.  The Matriarch is outright reformed, Deadline never was malicious in the first place, and La Commodora seems to have learned wisdom from her long years. 

Akash'Thriya… okay, here's the thing:  if you take the variant as canon, she taps upon the Void.  If the Void is what I think it is, this can't help but change her.  Note that every other known user of the Void is a hero, save for Oblivaeon and those empowered directly by him.  I would not be shocked if the portion of Akash'Bhuta that does this is changed, and no longer able to dismiss the importance of humanity. . . and this is the price the Void exacts on her.  Akash'Bhuta loses a portion of herself permanently, and Akash'Thriya can never go back to being part of the larger primordial godbeing she once was.

Baron Blade is the one exception, but only because of Sentinel Tactics establishing a future canon.  Otherwise, I'd totally willing to believe that time and events could have mellowed him, at least enough to be within plausible reach of some vague form of redemption.  This is not so much because of his own nature, as because of the nature of his adversary, Legacy.  "Superman helps Lex Luthor become a better person" is a perfectly appropriate plot.

( As for the mini-expansion heroes?  Ambuscade is in the same position as Baron Blade- plausible arc, future canon says otherwise.  Of course, his apparent "redemption" isn't a huge deal anyway, since he's just going from being a selfish villain to a selfish 'hero'.  Benchmark. . . is entirely dependent on what the hell he actually is, and what is going on with RevoCorp, etc. )

All variants are canon for all characters.

Another version of Akash'Bhuta, named Akash'Dharsha, appears in Tactics. She is a villain there, right?

On one of the art streams I believe Christopher did confirm that Benchmark was genuinely a good guy. So its likely that Revocorp is using his desire to do good and help others to boost their image. I'm pretty sure he's a straight up hero for the most part.

I'm pretty sure that Stuntman is an alternate reality Ambuscade since his action hero promo says that the scars didn't stop his acting career, while in the prime reality, it did, turning him into a villain. Also, we do know that Benchmark the character in the suit has wholly good, heroic intentions, while we don't know if that's the same for Revocorp.

Do we know anything about her story?  If not, that could support my scenario:  Akash'Dharsha is the name for the larger portion of Akash'Bhuta that is still an amoral goddess of nature and chaos.

That's the case for the variant "action hero" Stuntman.  The normal version is Ambuscade, just Ambuscade after he got sick of being beaten up by heroes, and decided to go back to acting.  Though I imagine even variant Stuntman is still fairly amoral as heroes go, he just has a lot of positive reinforcement.

My interpretation of those bios was that the action hero promo is from an alternate reality, while the main "Stuntman" deck is from the main Sentinels timeline.

Stuntman is from our timeline and is our Ambuscade. No doubt about it.

Akash:

She doesn't want to wipe out humanity for nefarious reasons, she wants to play with her planet.  Humans just don't take kindly to their cities being turned into deserts, lakes and forests while they are eaten by all the really cool new animals and plants she thinks up.

Think a kid building catles in a sandbox that 5 minutes ago was a sprawling ant empire.  If Ants had superpowers that kid would be enemy #1, meanwhile the kid is like "Stinking ants, you're ruining my sandbox."

Oblivaeon threatens her world.  She isn't changing sides of the coin, she's the same spirit, just has a different enemy, much worse than the little things that keep messing up her fun, and therefore worthy of much more drastic measures.

Baron:

I find Christopher's comment intriguing.  I'm getting a Joker+Lex Luther vibe from it.  Like Baron sulks around cursing LEgacy, and then suddenly has a brilliant idea that might work, throws it together as fast as he can and throws it at Legacy.

Like the Mars base trap, he gets not Legacy and is not at all prepared to deal with it.  An elaborate large scale plan that hasn't been thought through very well, and he loves every minute of the fight.

For Luminary that works.  He isn't thinking it through, there is no grand plan, just throwing inventions at Oblivaeon hoping one of them helps.  I expect his deck to be amazing and have all kinds of colatoral damage potential.  I can see him fighting along side Legacy, just like I can imagine the joker fighting his way through another villain's base to rescue Batman so he can defeat Batman himself.

Stuntman:

Love his progression, and it makes his tactics character make so much more sense.  He becomes a hero and can show his face again only then to lose his powers, and thus his ability to be a hero.  He can't take being weak again and goes back to villainy to get money to buy more powers.

I love the alternate version as well, Super action hero guy shows up to save the real world.  Hopefully they remember his TiVo.

People keep on talking about Ambuscade losing his powers in the future.  Hasnt' he lost them already?  VotM Ambuscade doesn't do Energy damage...

(In fact, I think it's kinda suspicious how he has two electric allies, a thermal one, and a vaguely-defined "redirect power" one, but no One-Shots evoking any of his classic "energy absorbsion" gimmick.  Maybe the Slaughterhouse Six were supposed to help re-jump his powers and failed?)

I imagine the Stuntman deck will provide some further answers.  It could just be that his energy powers are marginal enough importance that the Villains deck simply doesn't have room.

I question any interpretation which leads to "his main motivation is of marginal importance."

In Villains Ambuscade is trying a different approach, which may be relying on a team instead of his powers.

His too many guns card could be part of his powers too.

I know I’m doing thread necromancy but I love how this aged.

No worries -- we don't really jump on folks about that (unless they're spammers ;-). 

But that's hilarious! :-D 

Definitely made re-reading my old threads worth it.

Ha!