Choose your own Roster for Avengers Arena

[PantherX]

The Roster of Avengers Arena was Ok. But some of the chracters arent that well known, but if you could choose your own teen heroes to fight in AA what 16 would you choose?

1. Quentin Quire- He's the chracter everybody loves to hate!
2. Idie- She's killed before who knows if she could do it again!
3. Lyra- What's a fight without a Hulk
4. Kid Loki- Could you kill a god? Only one way to find out
5. Spider-Girl/Arana- She still has her powers from Spider-Island
6. X-23- You can't have a Hulk and not have a Wolverine
7. Patriot- The Suppose to be Black Captain America, how would his morals hold up in a place like this?
8. Wiccan-
9. Hulking- one of them has to die by the end of the story!
10. Mettle- A chance to not get blown to bits,
11. Hazmat- A chance to get blown to bits!
12. Reptil - Young Avengers
13. Kid Gladiator- If he was killed why'll under the protection of Wolverine, think of what the Shi'ar would do to Earth!
14. DarkHawk- Still a cool character
15. The Female Hawkeye - She's badass and the only one without powers
16. Hope- Enough Said

Granted this would never happen because some of these chracters are too popular, but if it did, it would be epic!Plus if only ONE of these chracters survived it would have reprucussions all across the Marvel U for Cap, Wolverine, Hulk, Cable, Hawkeye, the list would go on!

[Majin Gojira]

It's not the roster that's hampering it, IMO, but the setup and execution (pun intended). Change the cast however you like, but the problems behind it won't be solved by a victim change.

1) Focus characters have a 25% chance of dying. To make the reader care about the dying rather than have them be attach to the people reacting to the death. Because fridge deaths are stupid.
2) Arcade directly kills no one. Traps and forced situations are the word of the day. He doesn't even get near the kids at all. Voice on a screen/monitor/hologram is best.
3) Instead of random death to kick things off, he makes a game out of it. IE: Choose two, and they have to compete in a game. Loser dies. I'm picturng a spinning wheel with faces on it. I'd go with Mortal Kombat, but any game would do. With all sorts of new environments to exploit. A Deadman Wonderland style obstacle course, capture the flag - activate the bomb, hold onto item until time runs out or you die, etc.
4) He has rules in place to make the game more interesting and random (akin to BR's "Out of Bounds" rule among them, with a 30 second countdown warning until a PENALTY GAME occurs!). As an example: If someone isn't dead every 12 hours, a "game" his held and someone dies. A series of deaths will stack on the timer. Kill two in a row and get a 24 hour reprieve. I wouldn't have more than 3 such rules.
5) Shorter time limit for the event (a week and a day).
6) Environmental manipulations occur to increase stress reactions.
7) Limit resources greatly (IE: There's only enough given food/water/etc. for one week for 6 people. 10 if they are experts at wilderness survival). Kids start with a countdown timer wrist watch and a small bag of random supplies, as well as a list of who's there, which updates with each elimination.
8) Tell the kids there are three "Ringer" (IE: Traitors who brought them there and are there only to kill the others for fun). It's a lie, but claim it anyway. There's only one.
9) No Force Field needed. "Out of Bounds" takes care of that.
10) Possibly employ a 'team' structure early on a-la survivor, where harming others grants extra bonuses (be it murdering another team member, defecting, backstabbing, etc).
11) When a kill occurs, announce it to the others in the most negative way possible. (IE: If at all possible, blame someone, even if they just watched an accident occur).

I'm sure there's other tweaks I'm forgetting, but that's more than enough to start with.

But if I do use a different cast, I'd go all new/original ones. Why cull when I can cultivate and harvest?

[yanapryde]

For real? Its ...what? Issue 3 next week? And ALL of these criticisms? Yeesh.

Pour yo'self a bowl of fruity pebbles and take a breather, mmmokrrrr?

[Majin Gojira]

Not all complaints. Just things I'd do differently. Heck, some are a bit contradictory (hard to encourage betrayals when you announce the kills, though it would be a great evil trick for the first one). Only about a third fit the 'complaint' bill anyway.

Now, the actual list of complaints I have is MUCH longer!

Substantive ones, though, that one's shorter.

[Lady_Alternate]

It's not the roster that's hampering it, IMO, but the setup and execution (pun intended). Change the cast however you like, but the problems behind it won't be solved by a victim change.

1) Focus characters have a 25% chance of dying. To make the reader care about the dying rather than have them be attach to the people reacting to the death. Because fridge deaths are stupid.
2) Arcade directly kills no one. Traps and forced situations are the word of the day. He doesn't even get near the kids at all. Voice on a screen/monitor/hologram is best.
3) Instead of random death to kick things off, he makes a game out of it. IE: Choose two, and they have to compete in a game. Loser dies. I'm picturng a spinning wheel with faces on it. I'd go with Mortal Kombat, but any game would do. With all sorts of new environments to exploit. A Deadman Wonderland style obstacle course, capture the flag - activate the bomb, hold onto item until time runs out or you die, etc.
4) He has rules in place to make the game more interesting and random (akin to BR's "Out of Bounds" rule among them, with a 30 second countdown warning until a PENALTY GAME occurs!). As an example: If someone isn't dead every 12 hours, a "game" his held and someone dies. A series of deaths will stack on the timer. Kill two in a row and get a 24 hour reprieve. I wouldn't have more than 3 such rules.
5) Shorter time limit for the event (a week and a day).
6) Environmental manipulations occur to increase stress reactions.
7) Limit resources greatly (IE: There's only enough given food/water/etc. for one week for 6 people. 10 if they are experts at wilderness survival). Kids start with a countdown timer wrist watch and a small bag of random supplies, as well as a list of who's there, which updates with each elimination.
8) Tell the kids there are three "Ringer" (IE: Traitors who brought them there and are there only to kill the others for fun). It's a lie, but claim it anyway. There's only one.
9) No Force Field needed. "Out of Bounds" takes care of that.
10) Possibly employ a 'team' structure early on a-la survivor, where harming others grants extra bonuses (be it murdering another team member, defecting, backstabbing, etc).
11) When a kill occurs, announce it to the others in the most negative way possible. (IE: If at all possible, blame someone, even if they just watched an accident occur).

I'm sure there's other tweaks I'm forgetting, but that's more than enough to start with.

But if I do use a different cast, I'd go all new/original ones. Why cull when I can cultivate and harvest?

This, honestly, sounds utterly awful.

[Majin Gojira]

This, honestly, sounds utterly awful.

Lemme guess: Too cluttered?

Yeah, I'm just dart boardin' to be honest.

Or are there specific things about it that suck? Can you elaborate?

[yanapryde]

How about we stick to the proposed intent of the thread's creator?
Kthnxbai

That being said, I want Billy and Teddy as far away from this Arena as possible.

[mugiwara]

All Old X-Men proved that teen versions of established characters do more sales than new teen characters.

So let's use the All Old X-Men and let's bring some other characters from when they where teenage super heroes/villains: Spidey, Torch, Shadowcat, Colossus, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Rachel Summers, Rogue and also pre-Onslaught Teen Tony Stark and, let's say, young Thor.

[Majin Gojira]

How about we stick to the proposed intent of the thread's creator?

I was with it in spirit if not specifics! Ah, alright

That being said, I want Billy and Teddy as far away from this Arena as possible.

Yeah, it's hard to think of characters that I like to put into such a thing (and a few already are), and on principle, I dislike shoving other characters under a bus despite my dislike of them because someone likes them.

But there is one guy who I'd think would be better served in this:

Alpha.

I really can't think of anyone else beyond that. Just, Alpha. Seeing his entitled nature/lack of responsibility in this would be quite fun. Since he was made to be antagonistic and disliked (too well), it seems a fitting place to take him. Might even get people to sympathize with him before the end.

[mugiwara]

The only established teen characters (besides those from the past) I'd like to see in Arena are Speed and Wiccan.
Because if they get killed, Wanda may try to destroy the Avengers again and hopefully, she will do a better job this time.

[Lady_Alternate]

Lemme guess: Too cluttered?

Yeah, I'm just dart boardin' to be honest.

Or are there specific things about it that suck? Can you elaborate?

Your obsession with rules. Its forcing the narrative, which is missing the whole point of the book; it would take it from being a piece on the personal moral quandaries and internal horrors these kids face and turn it in to a dull step-by-step lifeless narration interspersed with all-too-obvious 'shock' moments.

What Dennis is writing is far better than anything you seem to want.

[Majin Gojira]

Your obsession with rules. Its forcing the narrative, which is missing the whole point of the book; it would take it from being a piece on the personal moral quandaries and internal horrors these kids face and turn it in to a dull step-by-step lifeless narration interspersed with all-too-obvious 'shock' moments.

Fair point, I do take it a little to far, but a balance needs to be reached between the extremes. Since it's the "Rules" that they are chafing under (classic teen rebellion thing) having at least 3 basic rules would improve things. Or two.

I thought it was over complication and an obsession with games that did those parts in. I can easily drop #2, 3,4, 9 and 10 as they are the only "Rules" there are. That still leaves 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 11.

What Dennis is writing is far better than anything you seem to want.

So Joss Whedon, Quentin Tarantino and Hiromu Arakawa level/style kills/deaths are bad now? That's what #1 is.

Take #5. A shorter time frame. We jump 4 days in the upcoming issue, skipping over Christmas and the irony talk that could have been had. Shorter time frame, tighter focus. Isn't that what the story is supposed to be about? A tight character focused piece?

6 through 8 are just things to get the ball rolling on fear and doubt amongst the group. Only need one, maybe two, to work. That sort o ties into the rules, basically wanting some sort of impetus to get the kids to distrust each other a little faster.

11 is just cheese. I like cheese. Ain't married to it, which is why it's so low.

But I see where you're coming from: I want a reason for the violence, you want it to grow organically from the basic situation. I think it needs more of a push, you don't. I'll concede that it's very much an opinion thing in for a lot of those things. Even #5, as you need more time for the violence to fester and grow, is optional.

Not so much #1.

Darn, OT.

Well, another possibility: Quinten Quire. I dislike the manner of his current push, but he wouldn't fit in such a thing as Arena. Too powerful a Telepath to be interesting as a combatant.

[PantherX]

The Thing about it is I couldn't care less about a good majority of these characters currently in AA, other than x-23 maybe. Of these characters died who on the MU would truly give af, now you kill Wolverines students after he started the school so they wouldn't be subjected to something like that, and it twists and happens anyway, that makes for a good future story line post AA.

[Captain M]

1- X-23
2- Stryker
3- Lucy in the Sky
4- Xavin
5- Lightspeed
6- Apex
7- Cammi
8- Anachronism
9- Speed
10- Iron Lad
11- Reptil
12- Juston
13- Victor
14- Finesse
15- Kid Loki
16- Noh-varr

[Monty_Cristo]

Boulder
Mr. Immortal
Beast
Dead Girl
Ghost Rider