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SuperHeroFan




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PostSubject: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyWed Aug 06, 2014 4:28 pm

Hi all,

Does anyone feel a little frustrated, or discouraged when you think you have 'THE best idea for X, Y or Z' and when you research, you find that it's been done, (not in your specific way) and do you eve feel like all the ideas, origins, or looks of characters have been done before.

I had no clue before I discovered PD and OS characters that I've had ideas, etc. that were done sometimes decades before. I don't mean the whole of your idea, char, whatever, but enough to make you crazy lol.

Are there any 'original 'ideas anymore?
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GoldenBard

GoldenBard


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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyWed Aug 06, 2014 10:11 pm

SuperHeroFan wrote:
Are there any 'original 'ideas anymore?

Well, considering that both the BBC & a major American network are airing Sherlock Holmes shows and the biggest movies these days tend to be based on comic books that have been around for ages, I'd say "no!"

But as I said before, plenty of great stories are based on stuff that's been done before, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. To be really original, you'd have to base a character on something that never existed before (like the girl on Who Wants to be a Superhero who was Cell Phone Girl 8 years ago, when cells were popular but not yet everywhere. But even that was a variation on DC's Airwave...). Total originality is hard to come by. Superheroes have been around since Action Comics #1 (74 years). Science fiction tales date back to at least Jules Verne (150 years). Detective stories have been around since at least "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (173 years). Wikipedia lists pages of superpowers, and TV Tropes lists pages of plot elements used in just about every kind of media. When you look at it like that, it's kind of hard to think you might come up with something that"S NEVER been tried!

Yes, some of the things you can't do with certain PD characters can be frustrating. Like if I ever do anything w/Phantom Lady (which I'd like to, eventually), I'd love to have her wear lenses so that she can see through her own darkness (that just makes sense). But that wasn't done in the original tales, and doing it now would just bring DC's lawyers, asking why I'm ripping off their version of the character. So maybe I'll just have to come up with another way to make it work. Or maybe I'll just have to find ways to work around the fact that she's just as "in the dark" as her opponents. I'm certainly not going to let it stop me from using the character. If you have an idea that you like, even if someone else has done something similar, provided it's not going to bring legal action, I say go for it!
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GoldenBard

GoldenBard


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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyWed Aug 06, 2014 11:34 pm

It occurred to me after my last post that maybe if you gave us idea of what kind of specific things/ideas you are talking about, it might make things clearer and make it possible to make suggestions for you. Anything in particular you had in mind?
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SuperHeroFan




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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyThu Aug 07, 2014 12:02 am

GB,

"If you have an idea that you like, even if someone else has done something similar, provided it's not going to bring legal action, I say go for it!"

I agree! I just have these ideas when I read, I guess I go on a tangent and think 'what if this..'. Problem is my ideas are like the mythological chimera, a mix of things. It's not the ideas that I have a problem with, it's the stories I try to create around them lol. I want to go from say, origin to the end, as I lose focus going from a-z, with b-y being the issue lol.

As one of my earlier posts from WAY back lol said, I wanted to create a story about a team of characters that are brought together to defend the planet and defeat 'the Big bad'. I was thinking:

They don't get along as most of not all hero teams do, they're just a bunch of differing attitudes drawn together.
Humanity doesn't know of them.
Not sure if these will be baseline human, mutant/metahuman, or enhanced characters. Maybe each of the types together.

Funded by various 'powerful people' within society.
(Sounds like Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy or Justice League I know...)
Characters are not the 'best and brightest' choices for the job.
I guess if I had to compare it to something, it would been 'MMPR / Sentai franchise + the Metal Hero franchise'.
pre WW2 - current era
No Pacific Rim/Transformer/Robotech type combining/transforming mecha. If there was a particularly good reason, yeah.
(I've looked at the PD heroes 'Rangers of Freedom' and the PD Shield character and wanted to keep different aspects, and re-imagine most of the backstory.)

Anyway I try to look at it, it screams unoriginal.
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GoldenBard

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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyThu Aug 07, 2014 10:19 pm

SuperHeroFan wrote:
Anyway I try to look at it, it screams unoriginal.

Okay, I think I see the problem here. You’re too focused on “originality.” Remember, “original” doesn’t mean “good.” There have been plenty of “original” ideas that were utter drek, and plenty of great stories that weren’t original at all.

In the 1960s, there was a British author name John Creasey, who was talented, popular (several of his books/series were turned into movies/TV shows), and mind-blowingly prolific (supposedly, even he lost track of how many books he’d written). The thing is, most of the series he wrote were based on other series. The Toff is similar to The Saint. The Baron was based on another “gentleman thief” character of the day (can’t remember who off the top of my head). Another of his series was his take on a Bulldog Drummond-type character. And so on.

Similarly, SF/fantasy writer Lin Carter had series that were tributes to (or rip-offs of, according to some) Conan (Thongor of Lemuria), Pellucidar (Zanthadoon), Doc Savage (Prince Zarkon), and Barsoom (Callisto … although, to be fair, Burroughs originally borrowed the idea from Arnold’s Lt. Gulliver: His Vacation on Mars).

The thing is, this lack of “originality” doesn’t mean they’re bad. Reading The Toff isn’t exactly like reading the Saint, and I enjoy both. As much as I love Doc Savage, I still enjoy the Prince Zarkon books I’ve read (and wish I could find the ones I’ve missed). Both Pelludicar and Zanthadoon are great reads. I haven’t tried the Callisto books yet, but one day I will, and I expect I’ll enjoy them as much as the Barsoom books.

So, even if your initial concept “screams unoriginal,” what can you do with it that will go beyond the initial concept? It’s what YOU bring to the concept that is most important. If it’s similar to other stories you’ve read/seen, what did you see in those stories that you think should have been done differently? What characters were included that you think should have been left out? What characters should have been in the story that weren’t? Should the characters’ relationship have been different than how they were presented in what you saw? When you start to answer those questions, you can still get a great (and basically “original”) story, no matter how unoriginal the initial concept was. So, start to put together your team (do you have characters in mind?) and see what develops.
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SuperHeroFan




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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptySat Aug 09, 2014 8:50 pm

GB,

I just started reading Doc Savage through DC, then I've been trying to find the Bantam books. He seems a lot of heroes rolled into one, but does his own thing.

I've got the kernel of an idea for the characters, ex., some reason I see a female lead, as not too many females are used in the 'strong leader' category. Several of the characters are mid 20s- early 30's. So many team books I've read seem to have their chars have this tight bond even from the get go with just minor differences of attitude and opinion, so I wanted to actually have them work at being a team.

Setting: not sure, I do like the look of the WW2 era's planes/tech, and ideas of patriotism (away and home).
However, most books seem to take place 'now' or 15 minutes in the future.

I did briefly think about a character from the era turning up in the present, but too much Cap. A.
(Maybe switch and have 'present' char appear in past, and be stuck trying to get people to accept what he says, not commit him for being crazy, and then later he recruits members from that era?)
Stuck in the past, not wanting to change the future, tech is dated (from his/her POV), need to work within the limitations.
What if 'evil' char ends up in the past and wants to change it, to suit him...
I don't know...

As I said, one idea goes into another, then I get frustrated that it seems cheesy, or just a Frankenstein work, built from bits and pieces from other things. I did think about your questions at the end of the last post, and I wish I could just put it all out there, so to speak.

I'll watch or read something, and write down a possible 'what if they....' I must have notes written everywhere!
To me, I don't want people to read something I've done and think 'this is a knockoff of so and so.' I guess that was what original meant to me, but thinking about it, I don't believe anything is 100% original anymore. Even Lucas said SW was a homage to the Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers serials, and the X-Wing/DS fight was basically a redone scene from a ww2 fighter plane combat film.
So, if he can do it, I should be able to do something.
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GoldenBard

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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptySun Aug 10, 2014 12:03 am

Exactly. And Lucas went through MANY rewrites of Star Wars before he wound up with the masterpiece that everyone knows today (Dark Horse made a comic based on his first complete script, and it would have been a VERY different movie). And part of what he was changing, I'm sure, was tweaking things he thought were a little too derivative of other works. So I would say start compiling your notes and start writing and see what happens. I think you've got some really interesting ideas here.

Now, are you planing on using public domain characters for this? If so, for your strong female lead, may I suggest Madame Strange? She would seem to fit the bill, and only appeared in 3 short comic tales, so she's pretty wide open to do whatever you want with her. And she's a bit on the aggressive side, so I think she'd fit in to your notion of characters who work together out of necessity, rather than because everyone's all buddy-buddy.
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SuperHeroFan




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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyFri Aug 15, 2014 6:45 pm

GB,

I'm not entirely sure if I want to go w/ all PD heroes, or a mix of PD / my own yet.

Thanks for replying, what part of my ideas did you like, and I'll try to tweak those, and what didn't you like?

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GoldenBard

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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyTue Aug 19, 2014 10:20 pm

SuperHeroFan wrote:
I'm not entirely sure if I want to go w/ all PD heroes, or a mix of PD / my own yet.

Thanks for replying, what part of my ideas did you like, and I'll try to tweak those, and what didn't you like?

A mix of PD characters & your own might be interesting. And you can always twist PD characters so they're bare little resemblance to the originals anyway (Malibu's Protectors had a character named "Midnight Blue" who was supposedly based on "Blue Lady," but they had different looks, costumes, powers, origins ... about the only things they had in common was that they were both women and both had "blue" in their names).

I like stories set in the 1930s to read, but to write... honestly, that's more research than I want to do. Your idea of a modern-day character sent back to the past is interesting; it would be neat to see him/her struggling with the lower level of technology: "Now I have to do research without just Googling what I need to know on my smart phone? How do I do that?" Maybe the Big Bad is also from our time (or even further into the future) and the hero winds up just following him/her/it? Or just sends power back through time to some unwitting pawn (which might explain how, a PD villain like, say, The Claw came into being).

I like the idea of the team not immediately "clicking" as a team (to go back to your MMPRs idea, I always thought that anyone who'd buy that a jock, a nerd, a gymnast, a cheerleader, and a "normal" kid would instantly become friends just because they got matching uniforms has totally forgotten what it means to be a teenager). On the other hand, some stories go too far in the other direction, with the characters always squabbling. I think it should be more like working in an office: we worked together because we had to, but there are some people I got along with and a few I disliked. I didn't spend all my time arguing with the ones I didn't get along with!

From what I've seen, I think you're ready to start figuring out your characters. Who's on your team?
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GoldenBard

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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyThu Aug 21, 2014 1:19 am

Hey, SHF, I have a few other ideas I wanted to pass on. Please realize that these are just “ideas,” not even “suggestions.” If you don’t want to use any of these, that’s fine. Part of me actually hates commenting too much on someone else’s story, because I don’t want to feel like I’m “taking over…”

As I’ve indicated, powers and fighting are nice, but a big part of what appeals to me in a story are the characters and how they fit together. There’s really no need for ALL of your characters to be strangers brought together to fight the Big Bad at the start of the story. Giving them some history might give you more to play with. For example, I was thinking about the character relationships while watching Rizzoli & Isles. That show started off with a Boston PD detective; her partner; her former partner/mentor (who works with them on the squad); her patrolman brother; and her best friend¸ the medical examiner. There was also her mother, who wound up dating her captain for a while, and later another brother who came back into town.

In a similar way, maybe a few of your characters have worked together before? Maybe it went well, or maybe it didn’t… Also, the PD wiki lists characters w/the same last name. For instance, Miss Fury (Marla Drake) links to “Drake Family Characters,” which includes the 2nd Black Cobra, Stuntman, the Whistler, and girl detective Jane Drake. So, if you were to use any of these characters, they might be cousins who each work in their own particular way. They might get along for the most part, but there might be some old family grudges in the background too (“Your dad cheated my dad out of his share of grandpa’s inheritance, you bastard!”). On a related note, if you do the "hero travels back to the past" idea, maybe the hero is the descendant of one of the other characters … and now has to deal with the fact that great-grandpa or grandma ISN’T the ideal hero/heroine he always thought, but a real human being with real weaknesses and foibles.

Something else from the more “supery” side of the characters: Are you planning a group of similar, themed heroes (like Power Rangers/Sentai) or a more disparate group of characters (like JLA/Avengers). Also, I mentioned the idea of a future villain creating an historical villain by sending power back, but I realized this could also work for a hero’s origin: some of the power “splintered” in the time stream and wound up empowering a hero, in addition to the villain it was meant for.

Any of this seem useful?
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SuperHeroFan




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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyTue Aug 26, 2014 5:59 am

I have a little 'mix' of a couple of themes: sentai/PR (the sentai are always more darker in tone, and character than PR),
as far as the team, I was thinking of 3-5 differing individuals that come together through "cause/event". (Don't have the particular reason yet (JLA/TT, Avengers.)

I was thinking of an alternate Earth too, history/tech/sci/ is slightly slower/faster then 'ours'.

I like the idea of the team not immediately "clicking" as a team (I was never friends with people in those categories.)

I had the idea of a WW2 pilot either coming to the future, or a F-14 pilot brought to the past. For some reason I like a 'fish out of water' stories. The others I wanted to be brought together because of family. Their families' ancestors have a connection to some power that their descendants have, a dormant gene? The gene activates though some sort of tech? (I really like the F4U Corsair, and the ol' Black Sheep Squadron tv series, so I wanted a Corsair in there somewhere, and I like the look of a F14 as well.)

I like the 'office' idea, people having to get together for something, maybe not best friends, but team members.

Also, I mentioned the idea of a future villain creating an historical villain by sending power back, but I realized this could also work for a hero’s origin: some of the power “splintered” in the time stream and wound up empowering a hero, in addition to the villain it was meant for.

Any of this seem useful? I like the temporal angle, having someone send the power through time to affect someone else.
Maybe the act of sending the power creates the villain? (That's a Batman creates Joker angle though..)
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GoldenBard

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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyWed Aug 27, 2014 9:32 pm

Interesting, SHF; you said some stuff that really clicked with me…

As to the characters connecting, are you familiar with Philip Jose Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe idea? Here’s a link:
http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Pulp2.htm
Basically he claimed that a radioactive meteor landed in the town of Wold Newton in 1795, altering the genes of several families. Basically EVERY great literary hero & villain (Sherlock Holmes, Doc Savage, James Bond, Fu Manchu, etc.) dates back to this event, allowing for them to cross over. Others have expanded this idea to include comic book characters and international heroes (for instance, you can Google “French Wold Newton Universe” to see how classic French characters have been folded in.

As much as I think he’s a little over the top by including EVERYONE, maybe you can use something like this, where a piece of a comet breaks off and becomes a meteor, infecting your characters’ ancestors. Now the comet is passing through our solar system again, and the radiation causes the latent abilities to start to appear. In fact, the radiation could also cause the time warping that brings a character forward or backward in time … or into an alternate reality, if that’s the way you want to go. You could tie this in w/the Big Bad; maybe he/she/it is using the energy to power his/her/it’s world domination plan. Following up on that, maybe present-day characters with the the energy, realize that some evil has altered the world by changing the past, and send one of their number back in time (to a slightly altered version of WWII, allowing you to tie in an alternate reality) to fix things.

At this point, I think you really should start figuring out your characters, then you can start to build your plot a little tighter around them (at least, that’s how I usually work). Here are the options, as I see them:

Nonpowered heroes: Can be a powered armor wearer or pilot a giant robot (both not the norm for the 1930s, but don’t let that stop you if it’s what you want), build/carry super gadgets, be an expert in martial arts/combat, have a specialty like detective work or acrobatics, or be the best with a weapon.

Powered heroes: Can fire/control a form of energy, be a master of the natural elements (or one of them), heal super fast, have magic or psychic abilities (or both), alter his/her body (stretching, growing, shrinking, shape change, etc.), absorb the powers/abilities of others, have super speed, have powers based on some animal, be incredibly strong, or be an “ultimate” like Superman (as much as I like these characters, they can be hard to write around unless you tone down the power level a little, but again, up to you).

Any preferences?
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SuperHeroFan




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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptySun Sep 07, 2014 3:10 pm

GB,

I knew of the WU through Doc Savage, and Fu Manchu (as I read Master of Kung Fu, Shang-Chi when I was a kid, still enjoy it). I do think that the 'current' WNU is overpopulated with characters from all genres, so I wanted to stay away from that as much as possible.

I was thinking:

a. Artifacts of some sort bring team together..not my favorite idea
b. Members are already military, different branches brought together by.....?
c. I like the ancestor idea, maybe latent genes are made to function through the 'hero organization' researching family trees for the gene through DNA and such? gene therapy/nutrients/vitamins help to activate the gene, then some crisis 'flips the switch' and the members have enhanced abilities? Nothing like Supes, Flash, etc. just possibly around the level of Cap. A, or the Six Million Dollar Man. (The Rangers of Freedom have an origin that might work with some additional research.)
d. What if the tech is actually hidden in ancient civilizations' monuments? Placed there by advance, but evil beings who wanted the planet wiped clean of life for whatever reason, and the tech they believed could kill humanity, actually empowers them instead? (I was watching War of the Worlds '53 movie and the '88 tv series and thought what if they had been monitoring us and sending viruses/tech, etc. to Earth for their use for hundreds, thousands of years?

http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/site_map_yearsort.htm

What if every instance of the timeline was real, and either humanity had 'forgotten' through alien means, or only those involved directly were wiped due to orders from 'shady organization', and the ones that were able to tell, they come off as crazy?

I especially liked part 1 and 2 of this page - http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/killraven.htm

"As much as I think he’s a little over the top by including EVERYONE, maybe you can use something like this, where a piece of a comet breaks off and becomes a meteor, infecting your characters’ ancestors. Now the comet is passing through our solar system again, and the radiation causes the latent abilities to start to appear. In fact, the radiation could also cause the time warping that brings a character forward or backward in time … or into an alternate reality, if that’s the way you want to go. You could tie this in w/the Big Bad; maybe he/she/it is using the energy to power his/her/it’s world domination plan. Following up on that, maybe present-day characters with the the energy, realize that some evil has altered the world by changing the past, and send one of their number back in time (to a slightly altered version of WWII, allowing you to tie in an alternate reality) to fix things."

I LIKE this idea!

"At this point, I think you really should start figuring out your characters, then you can start to build your plot a little tighter around them (at least, that’s how I usually work). Here are the options, as I see them:

Nonpowered heroes: Can be a powered armor wearer or pilot a giant robot (both not the norm for the 1930s, but don’t let that stop you if it’s what you want), build/carry super gadgets, be an expert in martial arts/combat, have a specialty like detective work or acrobatics, or be the best with a weapon."

I would prefer the characters to use powered armor/suits, nothing too outrageous. Possibly a containment suit of some sort, they wear when undergoing the gene therapy, or whatever other origin that makes sense, then the suit keeps the abilities in check, and then the characters transform into the more powered version where they can really cut loose, (within their abilities, as I don't think a 'Superman' type hero is needed.)

In my opinion, I'd hold off on the armored suits, a la Iron Man, HALO...for a while at least. Since the characters are working with tech from present, or past, then they should try to use present tech in the past, and reverse engineer it, as much as possible.

This is what sparked my interest, but with WW2 look to it. http://www.30characters.com/2010/11/18/21-air-force-1-0/, as well as http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=world+war+2+iron+man&qpvt=world+war+2+iron+man&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=E55997DC5D5B925E2A651A2F82569BBA4A9FB545&selectedIndex=27

(Sorry for the long links, I don't know how to get them smaller.)


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SuperHeroFan




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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyWed Sep 24, 2014 9:09 pm

GB,

Have you been able to take a look at the ideas I was thinking about? I am curious if they might amount to anything.

The ideas you had got me to thinking, 1) I'd like to at some point create the 'look' of these characters and have them drawn in character turnarounds, and the idea of the team having to travel back to the past to stop the bad guy, but what if the Big Bad villain was from the past, and an ancestor of a team member, or at some point in the future, a character is the reason why a bad guy will exist? Would the team member's action somehow lead to the villain in the future, or the future/past villain is a family member of someone?

(I feel like this post got away from me. Sighh.)

I think the WW2, post WW2 and Vietnam 'conflicts'/wars could be decent settings for story, characters as described.

For some reason I keep going back to War of the Worlds as a backdrop. (The cities aren't evac'd, big show of force from the bad guys from the '53 movie, and the 2nd season of WotW tv series.)

I was thinking of a military experiment to make a perfect soldier, use current state of the art tech and an accidental visit into the future, updating the tech the team uses. (Or they arrive from the present and have to make their tech work with materials in the past.)

Their suits are enough to show what branch they are from, the jackets have different mission and/or tour patches, so no color call outs as PRs always do.

Sort of a 1940s hero, looks retro. Starting from here. Without jetpack. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3006/3382477306_2bf09d41e9_o.jpg

Nothing too futuristic, I want to stay away from the PR look, but keep the idea. Protective suits that enhance abilities (whether natural or man made), and an enhanced suit when the enemy isn't going down.
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SuperHeroFan




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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyTue Oct 14, 2014 6:01 pm

Hi all,

Anyone willing to give me a critique on my ideas, let me know if I need to change gears and come at the idea from a different angle? Since my idea originally was based on sentai/MMPR, I didn't want any giant robot/Pacific Rim types. Eventually, maybe, but I want them to make sense as to how/why they were built first, but the backstory of my characters is more enjoyable to brainstorm.

Any ideas?
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GoldenBard

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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyWed Oct 15, 2014 12:16 am

I'm really sorry for not getting back to you sooner, SHF; I just saw your posts today (don't ask me how the heck I missed them). Anyhow, here's some grist for the mill...

SuperHeroFan wrote:
What if the tech is actually hidden in ancient civilizations' monuments? Placed there by advance, but evil beings who wanted the planet wiped clean of life for whatever reason, and the tech they believed could kill humanity, actually empowers them instead? (I was watching War of the Worlds '53 movie and the '88 tv series and thought what if they had been monitoring us and sending viruses/tech, etc. to Earth for their use for hundreds, thousands of years?

Not bad, but I'm not sure about the aliens actually creating the one thing that can stop them. If we were talking about a solitary hero (like Gerry Anderson's Captain Scarlet), I'd be okay with it. But when the villains accidentally create an entire TEAM to battle them, you run the risk of them seeming incompetent. But supposed there were TWO alien races, and the good race left the tech here for mankind to find/use when the bad guys attacked? Part of that tech might actually be genetic tinkering that creates super powers.

In fact, in Marvel's short-lived Barker-verse (created by Clive Barker), WWII was actually a battle between 2 alien races, and they altered mankind's memory after the conflict.

SuperHeroFan wrote:
I think the WW2, post WW2 and Vietnam 'conflicts'/wars could be decent settings for story, characters as described.

For some reason I keep going back to War of the Worlds as a backdrop.
Between the end of WWII and the start of Vietnam, we're talking 9 years. For a series of stories, that's a pretty manageable time frame, and could give you plenty of time for your characters to grow/change. One idea might be that H G Wells' Martians actually WEREN'T Martians, but were aliens from another solar system who used Mars as a "staging ground" for their invasion.

BBC America did an interesting take on War of the World recently where they said that after winning the war, mankind reverse engineered the Martians' "living tech" until it was everywhere. But some conspiracy theorists have suggested that this was what the Martians wanted, as it offered a way to "infect" our society, so even in losing, they won.

Also, I keep thinking of your team more as a "superhero" team (I guess because of your board name and because that's what I'm most familiar with). Now, when I think "sentai," I automatically think of the mecha things (but my knowledge of the genre is pretty much limited to the American Power Rangers bastardization). I can understand why you DON'T want to do that, but maybe you can replace it with some other kind of high-tech vehicle? This has a history going back to the pulps, when Thunder Jim Wade's Thunderbug could operate on land, on water, under water, and even crank out wings so it could fly like a plane.

Also, it occurs to me that (in Power Rangers at least), the teams seem to have a "focus." You might want to do that, picking character that are all based on natural elemental forces, or animals, or something like that. You could even alter their traditional costumes to get more of sentai meets armed forces vibe, if that's what you want. I actually think that might be fairly cool.
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captainwhizz

captainwhizz


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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyWed Oct 15, 2014 4:35 am

For some reason, I started thinking of Stargate, with the idea of ancient warring alien races coming back to Earth, and a small military/ research group is set up to gather intelligence and prepare the Earth's defences.

Or maybe a 12 Monkeys/ Days of Future Past/ Terminator type deal, where an alien race or two invade the Earth and cause horrendous destruction, the survivors of humanity fight to survive, until their scientists come up with a way to send a small group of highly-trained, well-equipped fighters back in time to try to change the course of history?
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SuperHeroFan




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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyThu Oct 16, 2014 1:10 pm

@GB,

YES, that's exactly what I was thinking of..'You might want to do that, picking characters that are all based on natural elemental forces, or animals, or something like that. You could even alter their traditional costumes to get more of sentai meets armed forces vibe, if that's what you want. I actually think that might be fairly cool.'

I'm just trying to write notes, and do research on real world capabilities of the modern and 'future' soldier - armor, weapons, etc. I keep thinking of a secret organization along the lines of SHIELD, seeing as how they seem to have tech that is more advanced than any RL military/civilian organization. I am trying to find a way to incorporate sentai ideas with the military. I can't see USN Seals with sentai powers tied to dinosaurs, etc. If you've seen Go-Busters, they are a sentai group that uses tech that deals with uploading/downloading MotWs, and then, and then the villain tech.

@CptW,

I did think about the ideas of the 'Terminator and Stargate, with the idea of ancient warring alien races coming back/coming to Earth, and a small military/ research group is set up to gather intelligence and prepare the Earth's defences.'

I had watched the 88 WotW series and the '53 movie and my take was, possibly the alien tech is retro engineered to work, or possibly the alien race intends to wipe humanity out, and their virus/tech kills a majority, but some people seem to change, and thrive when exposed to ________ (insert reason).

@GB, maybe it happens right after the Wold Newton (or similar) meteor that doesn't automatically change or kill the victim, it could take one, or several generations to alter a human's genetic material?


@CptW, I have always had a time travel idea for this, but as GB can agree, I've had a problem with being original, in the way that I wouldn't want people to think 'read this before', or seen it.

I was thinking that this team would have to deal with past/future issues as well, possible future tech is found in the current era, or a member joins from the past (after the current team is stuck in the past)




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captainwhizz

captainwhizz


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PostSubject: Re: Ideas One Has...   Ideas One Has... EmptyFri Oct 17, 2014 3:07 am

SuperHeroFan wrote:

@CptW, I have always had a time travel idea for this, but as GB can agree, I've had a problem with being original, in the way that I wouldn't want people to think 'read this before', or seen it.

I was thinking that this team would have to deal with past/future issues as well, possible future tech is found in the current era, or a member joins from the past (after the current team is stuck in the past)

Being original isn't as important as a great story with great characters Smile
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