Working on my avatar design and need some ideas

[Battleclad]

So I've had a look around the forum and I can't particularly spot anywhere more suited to this so...

Since completing Freedom Force (maybe again, not sure if I ever got around to playing it before), well actually since before completing it, I've been trying to come up with a decent design for a custom skin of my current hero alias Battleclad. At the moment he's somewhere on his fifth outfit and I somewhat want to have a finalised design before I get around to adding to my system in the coming fortnight.

Anyway the reason for the thread is that I've hit a wall, while I'm happiest with this draft of Battleclad he's not entirely there yet before I skin him. He's also the reason I've been trying to round up as many meshes as possible in the past few weeks...

Anyway here is the current design draft: (Just bear in mind it's more the costume design then the model, still not settled on what it'll be)



Yes, I'm aware he's only a stock image from Hero Factory at the moment but it's the closest I've come to being happy with him so far. Anywho here's a very brief list of things I've actually decided about him.

- Entire left arm is a cybernetic replacement.
- He has no powers as such and instead uses his costume to empower him. Although his left arm is technically superpowered when used with the costume as it absorbs shock and allows him to hit on par with supers..

Like I said a very brief list of things I've settled on for him, now for the things I've not settled on.

- The visor/lenses, While I'm not actually after something like that it's being used as a placeholder element. At the moment I'm trying to decide between the slit visor style, separate lenses or a faceplate.
- His left arm, should it be covered or not...
- A kama, I'm personally very found of kamas and I'm sorely tempted to try and figure out a way to give him one. That's more of a a personal preference thing but I'd love to hear people's input on if a kama is actually a good idea or not.
- Also the main crux of this is if I go with a skintight suit or an armour suit ala Iron Man style, again I'm open to thoughts here.

I might add the last rough design I drafted up in the Champions Online Demo, I was using it solely for ideas really but it has some good points to the design.

[bearded]

ideas:
the kama is a japanese weapon, created from a farm tool. and you want your suit to give you powers. my idea is for the suit to be skin tight but give the aura of armor, using circuitry, and the kama also is a tech device, it gives different powers based on settings. like it could have an electro switch so it melee's with a bolt of electricity with high stun. or an ice setting, or acid.
the effects of the suit aura would be a field surrounding the character that looks vaguely like battle armor, hence the name battle clad.
the visor could give powers of enhanced sense, using ffx.

[Battleclad]

Hmm not the kama I had in mind but I do like that idea, I forgot briefly there's a weapon called a kama. I meant the "skirt" kama worn by the ARC troopers and some Jedi during the clone wars. Still the farming tool kama is also growing on me, given I've RPed a character who hefted around a scythe as his weapon in the past.

[Outcast]

If it's a skin tight suit and it is the one responsible for his powers, i think a covered cybernetic left arm would make sense.

If it's a ironman type of armor, i think you can leave the cybernetic left arm exposed, since technically as you said it's super powered.

With a name like Battleclad, i'm leaning more on the ironman type armor design.

What kind of powers you want for him will also be a deciding factor. If his powers is somewhat similar to Marvel's Guardian/Vindicator, then a skin tight suit might work. If it's involves weaponry (like guns,blasters,etc), i think an ironman type armor would be more appropriate. If you want him to give him powers like enhanced senses like what bearded suggested, or if  you just want to protect his eyes/face, you can use either a face plate or a visor. But if you intend to give him eye beam attacks, i think using a visor would look better. Though going back to his name being Battleclad, i think a face plate would be much better suited to give him complete cover or protection.

About the Kama (skirt) thing, i don't think he really needs it, if he already has a power suit giving him powers and protection. Unless of course, it just gives him offensive powers and little or no protection whatsoever. But if the Kama will be used for some protection like what an internet website suggested (from jetpacks and that sort of stuff), i think its ok. If his attacks are more melee based or if he has a melee weapon, the Kama might also work. I dunno. 

[UnkoMan]

Agreed. With a name like Battleclad, I see you being more... well, battleclad.

That being said, how about a cross between futuristic and traditional? (Star Wars armors are sorta like this.) This way the kama part can be there purely for design aesthetics.

But, uh... what exactly does the suit let him do? Once we know that, it will be much easier to design something.

Your current design, though, looks too much like Iron Spider-Man. You don't want those connotations.

[Battleclad]

Well like I said it was more the design elements then the textures, I planned to add textures to the skin of it once I had the colours and such in place (of which I'm messing around with on basic_noface_effects at the moment). Although amusingly I've been using the gold and red for a few of my heroes (the last being Crimson Blade) since well before I ever learnt of the Iron Spiderman outfit and perhaps before it's creation.

Anyway here's the Champions Demo outfit I roughed up, i's limited given the small range of stuff at creation in the demo. However that said I like the alternate colour scheme and I had planned to use it as an alternate, however I could probably combine the two schemes somehow.

Clicky to see the Champions Demo Battleclad

As for powers well that's a tricky one, it's easy to get carried away with a character. However that said... I have made choices about him (and yep like you guys said I should have mentioned them).

Battleclad does not use rifles, pistols, etc. However on reflection if I am going to go down the route of an unpowered I'd have to go with beam weaponry of some kind. Although nothing too Iron Man-esque. I'd say more along the lines of War Machine in general terms. However as I mentioned I am more then open to melee weapons, the kama standing out as it could be stored as a removable segment of armour (although that'll be 'fun' to try and achieve in game).

As for optic beams, yeah I'm not going there. Enhanced vision however I would totally go there. Otherwise it's just for protecting his face and identity. Could be a faceplate, visor or lenses just so long as it covers his entire face/head.

And well it goes without saying that the suit will enhance his strength in general, although less so on the already replaced left arm. Also while flight is tempting he isn't going to be a flier, I'd imagine him to be able to move his suit around at Minute Man speeds, nothing too fancy. I'm not however opposed to him using grapples to haul his backside up and down buildings so as long as he doesn't fly I'd be open to suggestions for mounted gadgets to enable him to be more mobile.

[Figure Fan]

Hey Battleclad,

I was going through your post and decided to randomly (and quickly) whip up something that you could use to help with your character design:

Spoiler

I based it on the stuff you mentioned, and used your current design and tweaked it some. Hope you like it

[Battleclad]

-fetches his jaw from the floor- I'd say like it is an understatement, I love it. It makes me think of him being interrupted while gearing up and going out to fight in his underarmour, with only the basics of his armour actually on already. Plus I love the armour elements you included, I was debating a power fist on his organic arm and that clinched it for me. I have a feeling most, if not all, of that will be making the jump to at least one outfit for him.

[Figure Fan]

Haha..cool.

I just got the forum to work properly for me so now I can see that you added another post and a new concept. Still, I'm glad you like it. I was kind of thinking along the lines of Colossus + Iron Man + melee weapons when I did it. I figured that his suit could provide the energy to make weapons for him (or just power up his fists for hand to hand combat). I think it might be better for him to be fully armored, though I went with a classic Iron Man "spandex metal" look in the drawing.

Here's to happy creating! 

[Outcast]

That's a pretty nice drawing and design Figure Fan.

The champion online costume looks bad a$$ as well Battleclad.

If Battleclad came from the future or something, i agree with Unkoman about the Kama working. Deciding on a background story can really help you/other people imagine how that character would look like.

[Battleclad]

Okay so in the time since you all commented I've sat down, researched and pondered Battleclad in depth, so here's my thoughts on him now.

He is no longer without superpowers, his blood on exposure to air activates within his body due to being permeated with a unique isotape. Which affected his body's makeup making him immune to the effects of the isotape. Once activated his body radiates at heat at around 900°C, which he utilises to power his suit.

So while I don't have too much backstory at the moment I do have a better idea of the needs of his suit.

1) Extraction vents (see the champions armour for where those should be).
2) Right arm utilises a 'power fist' to bring it's hitting power to par with his cybernetic arm. This arm should also include a wrist mounted magnetic repulsor (AKA invisible shield) and an offensive weapon, at the moment I'm torn between either a sonic weapon, a beam weapon (oh cliché!) or something unique (ideas are welcome). Also a small vent (probably not visible) that uses his heat as a blowtorch.
3) Some manner of scaling buildings (no jets or etc).
4) Chestplate mounted emergency heat vent, essentially a heat blast.
5) Cybernetic arm can contain other weapons (ala Iron Man or any other armoured hero), they have to be concealed within the arm however, although they can extend out in some manner.
6)The armour is a heat sink/thermal converter and designed to resist both extreme heat and cold (given it's power source is heat that's a given).

Other then that nothing has changed from the other things posted here, for visual ideas use Figure Fan's sketch and the Champions online version. As they both contain elements I like, the only history thing set in stone is that the suit is based off a design intended for firefighting and military use.

[Battleclad]

It has been more then a year however...

I give you the Fenerel Battlesuit, as worn by the Battleclad of Concord Reality.