Detective stories and police procedurals are very popular in RL despite real police existing after all. This is also why I tend to shy away from Magic origin characters, unless they're some dope that got their hands on some artifact they don't understand. Science and technology at least has some actual, real life foundation to draw and build on. You can go read up on neat physics and use that as an excuse as to how your character is firing lasers. How magic works, even in game, seems to be fairly poorly defined, which keeps it open sure, but also means there's a chance for conflicting headcanon for magician characters.
Remember, this was when MMO’s were still trying to grow into a fully fledged genera and good game design for MMO’s wasn’t fully understood yet. World of Warcraft wasn’t due to be released for several months until CoH was first coming out and at launch it had something of the same struggle. How do you populate a zone with enough enemies to keep people occupied without making them look like they’re just standing around waiting to get shot up? This actually becomes very apparent when you view how mobs are placed about the city in City of Villains which came out some time later and even in Atlas Park which was revamped before sunset. Enemy groups that are milling about up to no good are used sparingly or are with groups that likely would just be milling about while everyone else is set up to be actively doing something within the environment.
AI can analyze trends, preferences, and successful character archetypes to suggest improvements and variations. This means that in 2024 and beyond, these generators will become even more intelligent and intuitive, offering creators an unprecedented level of support and innovation in character creation. Wow, yeah, I know this one is really out there, and hey, I don’t even like Fifty Shades of Grey. I hate it from the depths of my miserable soul. To make an incredibly long story short, Anastasia Steele’s relationship with Christian Grey is centered on abuse and coercion. Numerous times throughout the series he rapes and victim-blames her, and I plan to talk about how harmful that is in significantly more detail at a later date.
Say, you play Zach from Final Fantasy having met Cloud by saving him from bullies. The Crisis Core comes along and goes HA HA in a Simpson’s like voice, and you’re sitting there stunned and hurt. Do you change your character, or do you change the story? If you’re persnickety about storyline and don’t have it intertwined with another RPer or close to your heart, you should change your character. Swap out your history, fix a few things, alter how you play, everything’s fine now. Or you can alter the story, call yourself an AU where that is where your Zach met him, thank you, and that finding out it’s not true for others is weird to him!
Some frequent examples of headcanon include relationships between characters, abilities, events following the conclusion of the work, etc. which the author or creator has not explained or included. For example, a consumer may "read between the lines" and assume that there was a previous romantic relationship between two characters where no conclusive evidence actually exists of one. Some fans who come up with particularly interesting or convincing headcanons may decide to share them with others in hopes that their idea spreads. Faith and belief are or should be flexible in at least some respects, and there are gaps that need filling, particularly in the case of traditions whose historical practices are missing or have been destroyed. Which, when you think about it, are all kinda the same thing.
-everlovin’ ed.] Point is, eventually the characters trapped in this pocket dimension escaped—to find they’d been declared dead for some time in the "mainstream" universe. Which isn’t such a problem for, say, the Incredible Hulk (HULK SMASH PROBATE COURT)—but is a Big Biden Deal for an international mogul like Stark comma Anthony. In Tony’s absence Stark Industries has been acquired by the Fujikawa Corporation, an enormous zaibatsu; Tony’s all but penniless.
Now obviously, in canon, this gets more complicated as time goes on and she takes on a more feminine appearance. However, having an alternate universe setting or a canon divergence setting where Haruhi actually comes to terms with her gender in a non-cis way is certainly a viable choice even without other trans characters for balance. I can certainly also see this going wrong if not well-considered, such as if someone goes the route of Haruhi being closeted. Often, when it comes to stories about closeted trans people, the story only revolves around them struggling with their transness or taking the leap to come out as trans. This goes back to the struggle narrative/trauma porn. It’s definitely a way for a trans writer to work through their own feelings about it, but I generally urge cis writers to stay away from anything approaching that.
