ironhand wrote:
I really like the idea of it being space-pirates and criminals, personally. By space pirates, I mean they steal stuff - not have eye-patches etc. These guys set up a future villain and also open up the rest of the universe, without having to create a whole new alien race with a big past. Of course, these will have a past and motivation, but enough that could be covered well. These guys would be brutal and wouldn't care for life.
And, we'd also have an “in”to these guys, as we could put Ty from Heroes Unite in as one of the generals or something.

First of all, it's very plausible that these would exist in the HU… what with Ty's existence. And I've also been thinking about doing something with the loose threads from Nepath's new Energize, since I had written a loose script for two chapters. This would have been close to the space pirates idea, and it would have incorporated Ty.

Right now, I just think it might be tough to make them interesting without going into who they are as characters. The concept of them being after goods/weapons/power is simple enough, but there's the danger of it making them come across as just another bunch of brutes, bullies and intergalactic criminals. Brutes, bullies and gangsters are interesting when we get to know them and their individual characteristics. But that's not what this season finale could be about, I think. To have a race whose sheer appearance and way of life is interesting enough, but who we don't have to get into as individuals might pay off more handsomely for now.

Abt_Nihil wrote:
ironhand wrote:
I really like the idea of it being space-pirates and criminals, personally. By space pirates, I mean they steal stuff - not have eye-patches etc. These guys set up a future villain and also open up the rest of the universe, without having to create a whole new alien race with a big past. Of course, these will have a past and motivation, but enough that could be covered well. These guys would be brutal and wouldn't care for life.
And, we'd also have an “in”to these guys, as we could put Ty from Heroes Unite in as one of the generals or something.
First of all, it's very plausible that these would exist in the HU… what with Ty's existence. And I've also been thinking about doing something with the loose threads from Nepath's new Energize, since I had written a loose script for two chapters. This would have been close to the space pirates idea, and it would have incorporated Ty.

Right now, I just think it might be tough to make them interesting without going into who they are as characters. The concept of them being after goods/weapons/power is simple enough, but there's the danger of it making them come across as just another bunch of brutes, bullies and intergalactic criminals. Brutes, bullies and gangsters are interesting when we get to know them and their individual characteristics. But that's not what this season finale could be about, I think. To have a race whose sheer appearance and way of life is interesting enough, but who we don't have to get into as individuals might pay off more handsomely for now.

I think it might make them moreinteresting, by not going into the characters - but showing the brutality and the way they act. The hierarchy of how they operate, for example (one leader, a few generals - drones) and we begin showing seeds that these guys are the pirates of space. Perhaps they could reference another race, which then opens a can of worms in Season 2. I don't think they should be looking for energy just for power, I was thinking perhaps they're desperate. Hence why they literally arrive to Earth and tear it up, trying to find it desperately.
My only issue is with a complex alien race, such as the ones who originally inherited the Earth, you have to put their background and context into the finale, which would take it away from the HA, imo. There's more the big mystery of who these aliens are and what the history-line is, that we'll forget about HA. I'm all for it and these guys sound awesome, but possibly not for a finale. In my head, the space-pirate types seem to have something going for a finale. This would establish them as enemies to the HA, and then in Season 2 could bring in more aliens, as possibly the “space-police” go looking for them and arrive on Earth.

What Ironhand said. The brief was ‘focus on HA’ and if you introduce a complex, diverse and unique alien race odds are you either draw the focus away from HA or fail to do the race justice. For that reason I'm more inclined to go for a simpler ‘Space thugs/pirates’ angle for this story - especially since indications are that there's additional secret squirrel stuff that needs to be fit in there too.


I'd love to see the space gods used in such a way that by the end of the story they're established as an ongoing part of the HUniverse, like Marvel's Shi'ar or Kree (DC don't seem to have a real equivalent) rather than just as throwaway villains. I don't know whether that applies to this story or not.


Aliens are much more likely to be humanoid in visual mediums and it probably *is* necessary for relatability reasons. IMO, there's good reason the most alien aliens are in written media. Of course sometimes, you don't *want* them to be relatable - Yog-Sothoth looks completely inhuman for a reason. The beauty of making the returned gods a mix of races is that you can have a spectrum of alienness.


With the space pirates it's just fine if they're not relatable so we can go nuts. :)


I like Ironhand's idea about them being desperate too.


Is Ty really a space pirate, per se? He was described as a Bounty Hunter. He seems like a a nasty piece of work, but whether he belongs with outright outlaws, I don't know. Bounty Hunters usually have at least semi-legitimate authority behind what they do.

Ty goes where the money is and always aims to come out on top.

I see you've all moved on from my absence, but that's okay the Psychosis Wave can just as easily fit into season 2.

I've PQ'd Abt about my ideas for this, but won't go into any details here unless he gives the okay. Let's just say I have an alien species in mind that would be awesome :D

Dave

ironhand
I think what we'll agree on is that the villains should be memorable. So my concern was that if we have more straightforward types of aliens, we would actually need to spend MORE of the script on making them memorable. Whereas with aliens whose mere presence is memorable, that would mean less character stuff for THEM and consequently, more for HA and RISE. I'm not suggesting that we have a hugely complicated species with a hugely complicated agenda which would take a lot of exposition.

That is, I'm not against space pirates because I don't like them :p I'd just like to have a bit more for the set-up than a physical threat. And I'd very much like to avoid having yet another brawl involving crowds of superpowered beings in urban areas. I'm under the impression that since HA#6, the stories have all been rather fight-centered. With an alien invasion, there's always the danger of having a more or less anonymous army as the adversary. That is, the first thing I'm always thinking of is huge spaceships releasing an armada of alien warriors on earth - that's exactly what I DON'T want this to be. I think it's better to put the emphasis on powerful/impressive imagery and memorable characters than brawls. Which is why I was thinking about more outlandish/colourful/mysterious races.

But maybe I'm jumping to conclusions - and maybe now that you know my worries, you also know how to alleviate them :)

(ironhand: I'm disregarding for a second the outline you already sent me, just to make this general point.)

SympleSymon:

Thanks for your suggestions! Maybe we should discuss them here in this thread…?

Abt:Cool - haven't got much time right now so I'll just copy and paste what I PQ'd you,plus a tiny admission at the end :P

Here's an idea for the new season 1 finale if you ever wanted to go with the overpowered aliens that attack Earth by pure chance

Introducing the Gamerians, a eon-long race that have elevated their way of life above the barbaric urge to war amongst themselves. But they still live in four individual castes, Red, Blue, Green and Yellow. How, then, do they compete for dominion amongst the other classes? Each century a grand contest is held - a war for control for the next 100 years. The battleground is randomly selected from a holo-projector filled with thousands of planets of sentient species.
There are always a few uncoloured Gamerians, pure grey ones called Grand Adjudicators; they alone are in control of the planet-selector, and when it comes to the Century Wars their word is law, superceding even that of the current caste emperor. When the battlefied is selected and war is looming, these Adjudicators visit the chosen planet and inform their armies and champions of the impending battle, as well as the point scheme. That's right, the Gamerians are so aloof and sure of their victory that they treat it like a game - various points for different kills, strategic points taken, etc - and at the end of the alotted time the caste with the most points wins and earns the right to rule for the next century.
I also had an idea for how things with them could end, more for leading into the character-conflict idea of season 2 than because he's my character, but near the end of the war-game, maybe Relik appears (we can write him as preoccupied in another dimension/plane/planet, etc) and the Grand Adjudicator recognises his Ranosian armour and royally freaks out, crying for mercy and swearing he had no idea this planet was under your dominion!, causing the Gamerians to end their games prematurely and leave, leaving our heroes with more questions than thanks when it comes to Relik's intervention?

We could even have a later point where Bombshell confronts him, getting all sanctimonious about trust, cooperation and whatnot, causing Relik to say Who are YOU to question my allegiances, let alone the matter of trust? and go on to reveal he's heard everything, etc.

Just a few ideas, feel free not to use any of them.
Dave

PS: I'm basing these guys off my Doctor Who fanfic that's currently on hold, so I already have their backstory, culture, history, characterisations already planned out. Not to step on anyone's toes, but I'd happily help writing them into the script to make them memorable like Abt wants.

What you're saying sounds great but I'm also pretty confused now. :/ “Huge spaceships releasing an armada of alien warriors” is pretty much the definition of “Alien Invasion”. Anything less numerous isn't an invasion.

'Invasion' also says lots and lots of fighting.

So I like the tack you want to take. It'd be good to give HA a problem they can't solve with their fists. But I'm not real clear on how that correlates to the target brief of “Alien invasion story”.

Abt_Nihil wrote:
That is, I'm not against space pirates because I don't like them :p I'd just like to have a bit more for the set-up than a physical threat. And I'd very much like to avoid having yet another brawl involving crowds of superpowered beings in urban areas. I'm under the impression that since HA#6, the stories have all been rather fight-centered. With an alien invasion, there's always the danger of having a more or less anonymous army as the adversary. That is, the first thing I'm always thinking of is huge spaceships releasing an armada of alien warriors on earth - that's exactly what I DON'T want this to be. I think it's better to put the emphasis on powerful/impressive imagery and memorable characters than brawls. Which is why I was thinking about more outlandish/colourful/mysterious races.

But maybe I'm jumping to conclusions - and maybe now that you know my worries, you also know how to alleviate them :)

I think you misread his reply, Irrev. He said that's what he doesnt want it to be. And I agree. The problem is it's harder to keep everyone involved but im ure there has to be a solution.

Something we have to remember is the aliens are not the only story within this two-parter. There's more things going on during this, which we will connect throughout the overall story. Because of this, I'd probably say the aliens canbe something the HA can fight. Of course, I wouldn't want it to be completely all fighting, but we can work on characters during the fight…as HA are essential for this–I want it to be all about them and how they react. What better than spreading the team thin across the globe and stopping aliens? Within this plot, we've got others - that are calmer/more intense…so the story in itself won't be a slug-fest.
I get that we don't want an overload of fighting, and we'll definitely try to stray from that during certain moments - but aliens attacking and HA defending would be really great if we pulled it off well enough, so that it isn't just constant blows. As I said to abt through an email, the main focus and memorable part of them (if we go ahead with the space-pirates) would be the leader and the generals - not the army as a whole.

irrevenant wrote:
What you're saying sounds great but I'm also pretty confused now. :/ “Huge spaceships releasing an armada of alien warriors” is pretty much the definition of “Alien Invasion”. Anything less numerous isn't an invasion.

I think that IS in fact the most straightforward reading of “invasion”, but not the only option. It really depends on who the aliens are and if they want to risk open warfare. Many science fiction stories about alien invasions are more about either the threat of an invasion (and hindering the aliens from following through) or about how the aliens undermine human civilization without actually leading open war. Even “War of the Worlds” isn't so much about fighting armies but rather about the systematic decimation of the human population.

The smarter thing than open war would always be to strike at strategically important points first, i.e. destroying military installations, power sources, government agencies, disrupting information flows. None of this actually requires having armies on the planet.

What I think is important is to make the threat relatable and meaningful to the characters. For example, I'd been thinking about how Vora could be at the hospital, taking care of her mother while the aliens disrupt the power lines (or use an EMP). She would desperately try to re-establish power and deal with the alien threat. It gives her a motivation that would strike close to home - literally. And at best, we'd have something like this for several of the characters. Currently, I have Bombshell, Relik, Vora, Bleeder, Cobalt, Archangel & Fury accounted for in terms of motivations and/or appearances. Ironhand has suggested some cool things for Amalgam, Relik, Bombshell and the alien leader. And I'd like to integrate some of the other important season 1 characters, especially Comet Kid, since the last time I remember seeing him was in #5.

Ah okay, that's clearer, thanks. It sounds almost like it integrates some elements of the “Downtime” idea.

I did think of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ briefly, but I didn't think that was what we were after either.

If we did use the Quetzalcoatl it's not implausible that they would've left some ‘control codes’ in human DNA to respond to them with awe and worship. This would only have been applied to people of South-American descent but if you didn't want to deal with racial sensitivity issues you could always say it was administered as a virus which spread throughout humanity as a whole. Alternately, if you think you can handle the issue tastefully, you could play it as just affecting people of South-American descent (which I'm assuming includes Comet Kid). And some people could easily have South-American ancestry without even knowing it. Using just the QUtzalcoatl would lay the seeds for the rest of the Anu and Toatl later. This is seeming more like a separate story now though. It's hard coming up with an idea that's not too big or not too small for this slot. xO

Alright then, how about this: Rather than going to all the effort of exploring the galaxy themselves for unknown civilisations, an unknown alien race uses automated probes to investigate and interact with other worlds. (Depending on how you want to play this the motives can be anything from Xenophobic need to eradicate all other species to a misguided attempt to communicate). When their probe reaches our system, it identifies Earth as civilisation-bearing from the radio transmissions. As it approaches earth it splits into hundreds of smaller vessels, each of which fall to Earth across the planet (presumably some will end up in the ocean which could be fun. The probes will draw vast amounts of power, causing huge blackouts and will also tap into the internet, learning about our world and insinuating their hooks into our systems. Probably though, that idea lacks the personality you're after. Again, maybe an idea for later? Hmm.

Ah. What if the aliens disrupt our heroes' powers?
Hmm, let me think some more. You're after a small group of relatable core aliens (maybe just the one?) with widespread effects, right?
Ooh, okay, so we take alien probe idea but turn it into an entity. An artificial sentience that's taken on personality after its interaction with so many different worlds. You can smash it, but it lives in the information stream so it'll just pop up somewhere else if you do. Meanwhile it hacks into our computer systems, learns all our secrets and uses its power to do fun and whimsical things like plunge cities into darkness and make airplanes fall from the sky.

We can give it one of those fun ‘logical’ malevolent AI motivations. People inevitably die, life is mostly suffering, therefore the kindest thing to do is put them out of their misery. Kind of contradicts toying with them like playthings but hey - does humanity have sole-dibs on being self-contradictory?

Ooh! What if there's multiple personalities in there? That would be interesting and it would be quite close to home for our friend Amalgam.

Okay, that should do from me for now. xD Thoughts?

EDIT: Actually, one more thing: Riffing off Abt_Nihil's comment about thwarting an invasion before it starts, what if the goal of the Artificial entity is to construct a teleport gate on earth so that its creators can visit in person…?

So, I'm guessing the Gamerian idea is not the right fit for what you're going for after all. That's okay, was just throwing it out there. Might use them myself somehow in the Relikverse.


Hmmmm, I had this idea for a while now, but what if the aliens that attacked did so so swiftly and with such military precision that the HA were wiped out in the process? Or would have been, had not a time-manipulator - I'm thinking Bushido, but can't remember if I ever shared him with you guys - scooped them out of the present where they would've been annihlated, and skipped them forward a bit. But, of course, they're not in a world they never had a chance to defend, a world alien to them - both figuratively and literally, as the invaders plans had succeeded. It would be an alien invasion without the conflict (well, none we'd see on page, anyway), and could focus more on the alien leader now reigning over humanity. Maybe all ‘Supers’ are now outlawed, hunted and killed or imprisoned, forcing the HA to go underground with a resistance, to hide their powers until the right moment, or risk losing everything? It would give us plenty of time to explore facets of the HA beyond general roughousing… with their powers hidden for their own survival, here are the powerful beings we've known and loved for 10+stories forced to think on their feet, as regular people.

Maybe tensions arise when they can't rely on their powers or strength to see them through a situation? Maybe Bombshell can see a possible side of herself in the despotic alien leader, a side she didn't want to consider with her grand plans of making the world a better place, no matter what? Relik could have a terrible sense of guilt he dare not share, knowing that this must be how many sentient worlds must now be living, under the tyrannical boot of the Ranosian ‘peacekeepers’? Maybe Shell is inconsolable, as he feels that he was denied the chance to do what he always set out to do, defend the helpless, and now it may be too late? Maybe Mr Imp or Azumorph, the most noticeably different members of the HA, are captured by enemy forces, and brought before the leader as 'guests, as the leader is curious how they escaped his cleansing, that way offering the reader a glimpse into his mind and life without cutting to him for no apparent reason? Maybe, our heroes don't get to use their powers at all, as doing so would activate a sensor ‘radar’ net over the world, alerting the enemy to their presence instantly, so they must work with the resistance with just their courage, physical abilities and brains, and try and stage a seemingly hopeless coup against insurmountable odds?

It's late, I'm tired and probably not making much sense. I'm just saying, if you want something different, there's my new idea, lol. Use it, don't, take bits from it, whaever you want :)

Dave

Thanks everyone for the input! I think we have some great suggestions on the table, and even if only one of them is going to be used, we can always think about expanding the HUniverse into space in the next season and have some of these races appear, or at least have their influence felt.

Now, the most straightforward suggestion we had were ironhand's space pirates, I think. However, I'm not yet convinced that they should just appear and tear stuff up, because that will always end in having to write around fights.. and perpetual action can be somewhat tiring to follow, especially when we're dealing with a two-parter. I'm fonder of a slower, atmospheric set-up, and for concentrating on how it affects our main characters, at least in the first part.

Also, plausibly these space pirates are on a quest for power, energy, ressources - but is there anything more substantial we can say about these characters? Is their strength mainly a physical strength? Technological strength? Weird powers?

I'd appreciate your thoughts on these issues.

Space pirates would have no real incentive to just tear stuff up (unless they're looting, I guess, but I'd have to wonder what a planet as primitive as ours has that's worth their time). Likelier they've come to Earth precisely because it isa backwater - a great place to hide out from the authorities. When the authorities show up, HA (and Earth) have a major diplomatic issue on their hands. Especially since the Space pirates probably haven't presented themselves as pirates, but rather as persecuted refugees fleeing unjust oppression.

Incidentally, from what we've seen of the HUniverse so far I suspect that unlike the DCU, it does nothave a galactic police force. Instead it's probably made up of numerous empires, federations, etc. (as well as individual worlds) each with their own laws and methods of enforcement. Not only is that more interesting for storytelling purposes, it also allows individual creators more freedom - both Energize and Relik have been pursued by space authorities and the two don't have to be consistent with each other.

EDIT: Yeah, I realise the Graxis are bounty hunters/mercenaries, but I figure they were pursuing a bounty set by some sort of official authority (The Ranosian Peacekeepers?).

Abt_Nihil wrote:
Thanks everyone for the input! I think we have some great suggestions on the table, and even if only one of them is going to be used, we can always think about expanding the HUniverse into space in the next season and have some of these races appear, or at least have their influence felt.

Now, the most straightforward suggestion we had were ironhand's space pirates, I think. However, I'm not yet convinced that they should just appear and tear stuff up, because that will always end in having to write around fights.. and perpetual action can be somewhat tiring to follow, especially when we're dealing with a two-parter. I'm fonder of a slower, atmospheric set-up, and for concentrating on how it affects our main characters, at least in the first part.

Also, plausibly these space pirates are on a quest for power, energy, ressources - but is there anything more substantial we can say about these characters? Is their strength mainly a physical strength? Technological strength? Weird powers?

I'd appreciate your thoughts on these issues.

Well, I'm sure a bit of Google-Fu would bring up an element that's abundant on Earth, yet rare throughout the rest of the known universe. Maybe the pirates could come looking for that? That would they wouldn't even be strictly ‘pirates from space’, but illegal mining operatives, invading worlds of early civilisations to mine them of all valuable resources…

And by Relik being pursued by alien authorities, I'm assuming you meant the Graxis from Retake? They're mercenaries/bounty hunters, not a law enforcement group in general. There are the Ranosian Peacekeepers, who are actually a space-nazi army, crushing all other species beneath their heel, believing that subjugation is proof that only the strongest have the right to rule. But no one's supposed to know that ;)

I think if aliens want minerals, they should just mine an asteroid or something, unless they want to get beat up by the natives of the planet they're invading.

If the aliens want something totally unique to Earth, then their target could be humans themselves!

Mybe they want our organs (not sure why), maybe they want our blood (which brings us back to Aztec aliens and their blood magic), or maybe they just some new slaves (and maybe instead of the pirates being one species, they could several different species, with some individuals being former slaves)

Another idea I had was using sux's “Pod Aliens” idea that was submitted a while ago (over three years ago in fact)

http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/176009/

The story could be that these strange pods appeared underground and are discovered by someone (namely, Men In Black agents) only for pods to open up and attach themselves to their faces, assimlating them into their collective.

I've sent abt an idea on what these pirates could be after (again, sorry to keep all these secrets but it interweves several plot points) - but it's the howthey go about obtaining it. I think we should have one leader then 4/5 generals. Perhaps a small fleet and the generals come down first, and then the entire fleet will come in later?

It's a weird military that sends down its leaders ahead first (Starfleet? xD) but hey - alien minds. Could even be some fun in working out the psychology behind why they do that.

ironhand wrote:
I've sent abt an idea on what these pirates could be after (again, sorry to keep all these secrets but it interweves several plot points) - but it's the howthey go about obtaining it. I think we should have one leader then 4/5 generals. Perhaps a small fleet and the generals come down first, and then the entire fleet will come in later?

irrevenant wrote:
It's a weird military that sends down its leaders ahead first (Starfleet? xD) but hey - alien minds. Could even be some fun in working out the psychology behind why they do that.
ironhand wrote:
I've sent abt an idea on what these pirates could be after (again, sorry to keep all these secrets but it interweves several plot points) - but it's the howthey go about obtaining it. I think we should have one leader then 4/5 generals. Perhaps a small fleet and the generals come down first, and then the entire fleet will come in later?

These are pirates, don't forget, so I assume they won't have a big routine plan, - and we haven't properly worked out the motivations for this energy signature yet. Sending down the generals is probably all they think they need to do. Of course, when HA strikes back, the leader himself will realise he needs to get his hands dirty, too, perhaps.

irrevenant wrote:
Incidentally, from what we've seen of the HUniverse so far I suspect that unlike the DCU, it does nothave a galactic police force. Instead it's probably made up of numerous empires, federations, etc. (as well as individual worlds) each with their own laws and methods of enforcement. Not only is that more interesting for storytelling purposes, it also allows individual creators more freedom - both Energize and Relik have been pursued by space authorities and the two don't have to be consistent with each other.

I very much endorse this concept! :)

AzuJOD wrote:
Mybe they want our organs (not sure why), maybe they want our blood (which brings us back to Aztec aliens and their blood magic), or maybe they just some new slaves (and maybe instead of the pirates being one species, they could several different species, with some individuals being former slaves)
Another idea I had was using sux's “Pod Aliens” idea that was submitted a while ago (over three years ago in fact)

http://www.theduckwebcomics.com/forum/topic/176009/

The story could be that these strange pods appeared underground and are discovered by someone (namely, Men In Black agents) only for pods to open up and attach themselves to their faces, assimlating them into their collective.

The “pod aliens” story seems like a nice one to do in season 2.
And I'm partial to the idea that the “Aztec aliens” could be after our blood… okay, now I have to think of Lifeforce's space vampires… :D

And yes, sorry for not making clearer that it's not really about what the pirates are after, but more about who they are. You can just assume that there's something on earth they want and which only earth has.

ironhand wrote:
Sending down the generals is probably all they think they need to do. Of course, when HA strikes back, the leader himself will realise he needs to get his hands dirty, too, perhaps.

If they don't know what's down there they should send reconnaissance (that's a sort of universal military law ;) ). Scouts. Which I think is what the 1st part should be about.

When I think of leader-type aliens in superhero comics, I always think of big brutes. Mongul, Thanos, Darkseid. And they're typically one-note characters: They have a “thing” (Mongul: war world, Thanos: infinity gems, Darkseid: anti-life equation) which is just as one-note, and then they are a physical threat, which also gets old quickly. They are typically imposing and impressive, but don't make for psychologically interesting characters. They're just despots, and their appeal mainly comes from mythological elements. This is also why their coming is always more interesting than their presence, and why they're more suited for the end of a story than for continued presence during a story. They're usually played as a looming threat for a while, and when they're finally there, there's some huge brutal fight.

So, the question is: Would these pirates be big one-note brutes with a “thing” they're after? Or are they more layered, complex characters? Because that's what shapes the narrative.

Could the scouts in a way not be the generals? These are the villains of space, so I'd imagine they'd send down some pretty strong contenders down there, who can either do the job themselves, or hold their own and call for back-up if they needed. Having 4 or so generals would be enough to have some HA occupied with them, and more character stuff/other plotlines happening.
As for the leader, I had him down as a Thanos kind of guy, but with more of a level head about him. He's big, powerful, so that's the part that's in your face. But I think the bit I want to sort of play with is how level-headed he is, and how he doesn't really get involved unless he absolutely needs to (he would probably rather make threats eg give me what I want or I burn your world than actually go ahead with his threats) If you've got something you can give to him, he'll be your best friend and would help out. Cross him, and that's another story. Perhaps in future issues, the HA might be able to help him out, so he'd join them (and NOT try to kill them after.) I really want to highlight that this guy understands to sort of rule by fear, but only actually making examples if necessary (or provoked)
So to answer your question, half about their brutality, half about character. The generals, for example, will all have different reasons for being where they are (nowhere else TO go/natural born killer etc.) and will be the character side. But with them comes the army, which is the brutality side of things. I'd say they're after this thing, but the leader is more than willing to go down different routes than just tearing through the planet. If you read Invincible, think Thragg (he's an animal at fighting, but at times makes deals and truces to think of the bigger picture which will help out in the longer term)

Just gonna throw a few ideas into the wind.
A more demonic invasion. Savage primitive aliens but extremely deadly. perhaps they could have over run a more advanced race and used their ships which were already on course for earth, when they crash on earth the savage beast run riot. they plus side is they can be memorable but not too deep or interesting.

an interdimensional invasion where an alternate reality with a facist regime with superhuman soldiers (versions of HU characteras etc) invades the HU reality. This kind of negates the alien concept, perhaps another story?
An invasion that is ultimately brought on by a heroes action actions.

Okay, I've been brainstorming again and got another idea. This is almost similar to the idea we had with the Bounty Hunters (they're looking for an energy of sorts) but this time with an alien race: The J'Saari. These are aliens that don't actually come down and fight the fight themselves - but send down drones (think huge alien-mechanical behemoths and soldiers etc) - thus we have a similar story but a different aspect for the aliens. The J'Saari themselves are a very intellectual race with a sort-of hive-mind. I'll draw up a sketch for them soon, but the idea is they're a pretty scary bunch.
The idea I have with the bounty hunter could perhaps come next season. I was thinking maybe next season could be dealing with more outer-world stuff now we've stepped into that territory. Perhaps the bounty-hunters could turn up then by attemtping to steal the teams ship or something?
As for this idea with the J'Saari, I'll send it you right away via email, abt.

I know I'm not part of the creative process but I was talking irreverent a few weeks back in another forum here about using “Shard” as the reason to collectively get his pieces together again. I love the idea that he is an inter-dimensional character that slips into existence via shards. He I think would be the perfect hidden secret as to why the aliens would come to earth for invasion. We would just drop hints by showing different pieces of Shards in the main villains characters at the end of each story. Maybe at the very end a Silhouette of shard in the shadow smiling. He is about to invade our dimension after planned invasion you guys discussed above.

I was going to use Shard as a partial first villain in Solarcell at a hint for the invasion in HA.

I rather like the idea of a aliens who don't really fight themselves but send drones and soldiers (perhaps even conscripted soldiers taken from captive planets) a very interesting thing.
I don't know why but I kind of see them as like the Ottoman empire for some reason. XD

ironhand wrote:
Okay, I've been brainstorming again and got another idea. This is almost similar to the idea we had with the Bounty Hunters (they're looking for an energy of sorts) but this time with an alien race: The J'Saari. These are aliens that don't actually come down and fight the fight themselves - but send down drones (think huge alien-mechanical behemoths and soldiers etc) - thus we have a similar story but a different aspect for the aliens. The J'Saari themselves are a very intellectual race with a sort-of hive-mind. I'll draw up a sketch for them soon, but the idea is they're a pretty scary bunch.
The idea I have with the bounty hunter could perhaps come next season. I was thinking maybe next season could be dealing with more outer-world stuff now we've stepped into that territory. Perhaps the bounty-hunters could turn up then by attemtping to steal the teams ship or something?
As for this idea with the J'Saari, I'll send it you right away via email, abt.

I still need to sketch up the J'Saari I keep forgetting. But yes, as I said, they will send down more drones and robotics to fight for them while they sit more comfortable inside.

Oh, hey. Y'all are talking about including Comet Kid more, I should probably weigh in on this discussion.

I should note that Comet Kid does take place in the Arizona and if you're talking about like Aztec style alien invaders, Arizona isn't where any Aztec civilizations were likely located, but is close enough to Mexico, where they were in places, that it might be the first places in the US to notice them if they come back to their own stompin' grounds. Also, yeah, Comet Kid is Mexican so it's not inconcievable that he might possess some Aztec heritage.


Also, part of my scrapped ideas for Crime Warp's chapter had Crime Warp stealing his teleporting belt buckle from an ancient Aztecan temple that turned into a giant floating seige engine, so I dunno if y'all wanna fit that in anywhere, but it's a thought. Not like that specific plotline, but like aliens having reserve weapons and technology burried on earth for easy access if they've already been here before.


In addition to also, I'm very tired of the “Aliens are responisble for all ancient minority advancement” thing, so if we do make them Aztecan in design, let's please not say thatAztecs cribbed all their notes from Aliens. Like, maybe they've met and fought or even perhaps traded style notes, but not like everything advanced Aztecs did was because of Aliens.


Plus, in addition to also, I really like the concept of serpentine aliens or feathered serpents. Like, that would necessetate technology and vehicle designs that would be unique and interesting in comparison to bipedal stuff.

PS. If we do use serpentine aliens, it could be interesting if like Azumorph, Imp or even one of Comet Kid's constructs are needed to physically operate any of the alien technology.