The Letters Page! Episode 19 Discussion - Freedom Five

Creating this thread in the hopes that the episode comes up soon.  This seems like it should be the longest episode they do so far.  

I thought this week was Chokepoint/Termi-NATION. That next week?

Yes.  Freedom Five today and Chokepoint is next week.  

I am going to play Letter's Page Bingo this week, I claim number 13 (7th row, left column). If someone else wants to play I'm looking for a complete row, column or diagonal, I will mark the time of the episode if I go Bingo, whoever gets the lowest time is the winner!

EDIT: I got 36 minutes on a winning line

I hate Miss Information now.

Agreed.  I didn't realize I could dislike her more until this episode.  

:(

Sadness.  

*pours a 40 on the curb*

Yeah. I already spent most of the day crying... This came on an emotionally fragile day for me :(

Interested about 'Daybreak' though - I am going to speculate that Ra2 is on the team, and maybe Visioary, because I like the idea ofher beiong friends with FP Legacy 

Granted that I was multi-tasking, but part of that went by in a blur. I'm going to have to listen again, but also think the Miss Information episode will be very revealing.

I feel like there was more info about the publication-verse and the future timelines than the team itself.

That said, did anyone notice the swooshy new musical interlude? :O Is that the spoilers music, or the "stuff from the RPG that hasn't been released yet" music?

Not just any interlude. One composed by Trev-Marc Giffin entitled: The Trevorlude

That music already is in the video game in two different environment themes. 

Daybreak seems like the new mentee team of the Sentinels of Freedom, and they said it consists of "all-new characters."  So my understanding is that it's going to be 5 characters we've never even seen hints of before, and my guess is that they're going to be the "archetype" characters for the RPG, i.e. pregenerated characters that players can either use as PC's as they are, or use them as a starting point for building their own.  If that's the case, I'm expecting them to represent the most common mechanical superhero archetypes:

• Super-strength or FISS (flying/invulnerability/strength/speed)
• Speedster
• Blaster (energy attacks)
• "Normal" (martial artist, guns, gadgets, etc.)
• Mystic/psychic
• Suit (Bunker, Benchmark, etc.)

My understanding was that it was four new characters + Legacy.  Which checks off your first and third archetypes right there.  I'm skeptical that they'd include a new speedster unless that hero had something that clearly differentiated them from Tachyon, though.  Same goes for the suited hero, since the old FV had two of those.

What I read from it is that the prequel one-shot is the Freedom Five; then the RPG propery's introduction quest is the five new characters.

As for Daybreak, anyone else think they're going to be a heroic offshoot of the Citizens of the Sun?

I’m only partway through the episode, but I’ve already realized two things I want to share:

1. Probably the comics I would like to read most are the Freedom Six book and the F5 Termi-Nation book.

2. Christopher says that the art on cards does go with at least the issue number from the flavor text, during the discussion about when they build Freedom Tower.

I understood that starter kit will be the Freedom 5 + Unity. Then they "retire" and train new heores, and Legacy changes hero names to Heritage. Beacon/Young Legacy then takes up the mantle of Legacy and leads Daybreak, which is all new hereos.

I wasn't sure whether they were counting Felicia, but they did say "all new heroes."  Although it's also not 100% clear that Daybreak and the default hero team are one and the same.

If Felicia is part of the team, though, she's a FISS through-and-through.  FISSes frequently have oddball powers thrown into their mix, but like her laser eyes, they're typically single-purpose.  True Blasters, like Ra and Tempest, are more versatile with their attack powers, being able to shape and control the energies they unleash in a wide range of different ways for different purposes.  The Atomic Glare seems to be purely a point-and-shoot deal.

Good thought on Daybreak being former Citizens of the Sun.  It would make perfect sense for a junior powered team suddenly coming from nowhere and working together right off the bat, and of course "breaking away from the Sun" is a perfect description.

No, not always. We’ve said as much before, while they often are linked, it’s not all of them. 

[quote=MindWanderer]

Good thought on Daybreak being former Citizens of the Sun.  It would make perfect sense for a junior powered team suddenly coming from nowhere and working together right off the bat, and of course "breaking away from the Sun" is a perfect description.

[/quote]I'm also kind of imagining a scenario where the Citizens of the Sun are helping to fight the Aeon Men or something, and for the first time, people are cheering them and thanking them, giving them some idea that not every non-powered person is horrible.

Anyway of knowing for sure when they aren't?   I know some cards don't even reference an issue.  

This episode got me REALLY excited for the RPG. Even if I end up never playing it, I'm sure I'll get a kick out of the books.

That’s why it jumped out at me. I may have read too much into an offhand comment, though.

… Having finished the episode, I think now I’ve heard a good reason to get my hands on the RPG starter kit instead of waiting for the full book to come out! Sounds like there will be lots of good story bits, and good character stuff.

So, funny story: in my line of work, we often have to deal with really old stuff. Like, computer code written in the mid-90s. Sometimes, it’s a huge burden to deal with. But we can’t escape it, because once something works in flight it’s basically made of solid gold - we say it has “flight heritage.” I was complaining to a colleague once about how heritage code is awful. He said, “Oh, no, heritage stuff is great! It’s legacy code that’s terrible!”

What is a FISS?

Flight, Invulnerability, and Super Strength. 

I hear the term “flying brick” a lot. It’s your basic Superman package.

My guess is that we'll see several familiar faces, with new names. Here are my guesses!

Felicia 

The Dreamer (likely with a new name, and far greater control)

The Idealist (we know Dr. Medico is going through hard times, what with keeping Gloomweaver imprisoned, so maybe the Southwest Sentinels have disbanded, but she seems like someone who would want to keep being a hero)

Thiago- we know he becomes Ra in tactics, perhaps in the RPG timeline, he takes on an entirely new mantle... perhaps the next Wraith or Bunker? Perhaps using elements of both of their techniques?

I learned it as Flight, Invulnerability, Strength, and Speed (from the excellent comic, PS238).

Doesn't she still have that aneurysm?  I don't recall anyone saying anything about that being cured.  Not a great choice for a new team that's meant to last a while.

Where is it mentioned the Dreamer had an aneurysm?

All throughout her Wiki page.

On the other hand, we know nothing about the future of young Vanessa Long, formerly the Dreamer.  If we do see any familiar characters in the new team, she's a very viable candidate.

Is there not gonna be a thread for the Interlude for Dark Watch today? Whos supposed to be carrying the ball here?

It's only listed once in the bio of the Visionary and was an issue her mom dealt with.  There is no mention that the Visionary or Dreamer have that same issue.   Edit:  It's also not clear if Vanessa's parents in the main timeline we know went through the same experiments that caused her mom to have that aneurysm.  

You can 

Again that's not about the Dreamer.  And the second part you quote wouldn't be what I'd call an aneurysm.  

Edit: I'll grant you it's possible but nothing about the Dreamer indicates she is likely to have one as it doesn't appear her nor her mother were experimented on by Project Cocoon.   If we are talking Visionary in this Daybreak team then yes that could be an issue down the road. 

"… and the great strain required to bend time ruptured a blood vessel in her brain. While she could use a portion of her abilities to slow the bleeding, her time was still limited."

"… her body is failing as her mind becomes less and less connected to the physical world."