Masquerade aka Lewis Frey

handofkain

I have a character called Masquerade. he is actually my very first and my favorite. I was always confused when people would get really excited about my character's name and then express disappointment (subtly, usually) when they saw my costume. I have now realized why. There is a character named Masquerade already in Champions lore. A bad guy turned Club owner. While I am not an RPer, I would love to make a modernized version of the original Masquerade's costume to solidify my character's place in the Champions lore. It's either that or change his name and I don't feel like wasting the money.

The problem is, however, that I cannot, for the life of me, find a picture of the original Masquerade! Do any of you all know where I can find one?

flyingfinn

Try Conquers, Killers and Crooks book.
Picture in the book is just a figure without any particilar features. Totally blank face, no nose or mouth.
Because he/she doesn't have a suit or "default look", since he/she can appear who ever she/he feels like.

bulgarex

handofkain and flyingfinn are both correct. While Lewis Frey was the first Masquerade, a world-class thief and disguise master during the 1950s and '60s (and for whom no extant illustration exists AFAIK), there's a current official mercenary spy/assassin called Masquerade, who's some sort of mutant shape-shifter with no set appearance or even gender. His/her main schtick is that he/she can look like any humanoid, and can even imitate a specific person down to fingerprints, retina patterns, and DNA.

handofkain

That is a shame that there is no depiction of Lewis Frey as Masquerade. I will have to make something up instead.

bulgarex

Given the era in which Frey operated, I would suggest something Silver Age in style. Think patterned spandex like early Barry Allen Flash, Hal Jordan Green Lantern, or the Fantastic Four, in dark colors. Probably with a half-face or domino mask, for when Frey wasn't in disguise.

guyhumual

My main character is called Masquerade, but she takes her name from the the root Masque and Edger Allen Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death" which she believes to be about her as she is a sentient plague once called the Red Death.

canadascott

guyhumual said:

My main character is called Masquerade, but she takes her name from the the root Masque and Edger Allen Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death" which she believes to be about her as she is a sentient plague once called the Red Death.

Frey is known as Masquerade I. There actually is a Masquerade II in the PnP, but I wouldn't worry about it; Champs has at least one name shared by two living, active characters (Thunderbird).

bulgarex

There are also two active Eclipses, two Warmongers, two Proteuses (Protei?)... If the writers of the game don't sweat over the occasional name duplication, I see no reason the players should either.

markhawkman

guyhumual said:

My main character is called Masquerade, but she takes her name from the the root Masque and Edger Allen Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death" which she believes to be about her as she is a sentient plague once called the Red Death.

I wonder if Candra(Marvel comics) read that too? After her death and (temporary) rebirth she started calling herself Red Death.

guyhumual

canadascott said:

guyhumual said:

My main character is called Masquerade, but she takes her name from the the root Masque and Edger Allen Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death" which she believes to be about her as she is a sentient plague once called the Red Death.

Frey is known as Masquerade I. There actually is a Masquerade II in the PnP, but I wouldn't worry about it; Champs has at least one name shared by two living, active characters (Thunderbird).

Now I wasn't super schooled in Champions Lore when I made Masquerade, in fact I only really started reading up about that shortly after I'd made Masq and started researching the lore for my morally ambiguous former VIPER agent named Serpent Supreme (who's run across Thundrax in game, always at Caprice) and she's only a bit older then Masq. I don't usually RP with toons until I hit level 40 and I'd managed to level Masq well before Serpent Supreme. Anyways, I doubt anyone would mistake Masq for Frey, and Masq (despite what she thinks) is horrible at disguises (unless that disguise is pretending to be a normal human woman, in which case she's unwittingly pulled that one off rather well).

bulgarex

The official villains in the Champions Villains trilogy alone number nearly three hundred; although I haven't done an actual count, every named villain and hero in the Champions Universe together would easily double that number. So the odds of accidentally matching the name of someone in the lore are pretty high.

Unknown

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bulgarex

PnP lore knowledge wouldn't have helped you there at all, 'Beast. Champions Online's Drifter's Cowboy look was a Cryptic Studios alteration. It was probably intended to evoke Clint Eastwood's character from the movie, High Planes Drifter -- Drifter's PnP write-up in Champions Universe: News Of The World notes that some people on Champions Earth have come to believe his code-name is short for, "Astral Planes Drifter," but he was an active superhero decades before that movie came out.

Drifter was originally from New York City, and his PnP incarnation wears rather worn-looking overcoat, shirt, and work pants, circa late 1930s. The shirt is permanently stained with blood over the heart; his clothes always resemble what he was wearing the night he was killed.

But that change is the height of logic compared to turning a Pulp-era-origin occult hero into a cyborg.