History VideoGame / ChampionsOnline

As of January 2011 it is free to play, downloadable from [[http://www.champions-online.com/ its website]]; later in June it came to {{Steam}} along with a few other such games.

The intellectual property rights to the ''Champions'' setting are now held by Cryptic Studios, the original developers of the {{MMORPG}} ''CityOfHeroes''. They bought the setting outright rather than licensing it. The IP is licensed back to the original developers (who still own the underlying Hero System) for the Champions pen-and-paper game.

** There's also [[spoiler:Shadow Destroyer's gambit, which has allowed Therakiel to get ''this close'' to starting the Apocalypse...with the goal to intercept him at the last minute and claim rulership over this entire dimension...or at least the smoldering ruins thereof. Eep.

** And for even MoreDakka, pair that with Munitions Bots in turret mode (two more gatling guns).

* HurricaneofPuns - ''Champions Online'' is a category 5! (see Pun below)

* MirrorUniverse - [[spoiler:The Multifarian Earth, with everyone who's villian in our world being heroes (including "Dr. Defender") and everyone who's hero in our world being villians. Its version of Destroyer (aka Shadow Destroyer when he crossed over) is still the ultimate evil villain that destroyed Detroit, but he relies more on arcane sorcery than his power armor. Oh, and underneath that costume is James Harmon IV, who is Defender in the Champions' Earth!]]

* MostCommonSuperpower - The female character model in ''Champions Online'' can have the bustline tailored along with anything else. However, any attempt to create anything but a buxom female character once resulted in some ugly polygonal tearing, and pretty much every body type starts with the bust slider maxed. Since being ''partly'' fixed, there's plenty of flat-chested women running around.

* NoHeroDiscount - {{Averted}}: Currency isn't the traditional gold/silver/bronze fantasy coin, but instead Resources - [[WeirdCurrency which represent a character's influence on a global, national and local scale]]. [[FridgeBrilliance A player character literally never pays for anything they get, instead trading favours and contacts for the goods or materials they need]]. However, since costs incurred by military operations are described in dollars, it seems {{muggles}} have to deal with paying the old-fashioned way.

*** Gold and Iron may or may not be based on [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Karai and Hun]].

An adaptation of the [[TabletopGames Tabletop Game]] {{Champions}}, ''VideoGame/{{Champions Online}}'' is a 2009 SuperHero {{MMORPG}} offering a wide variety of power and costume customisation options. While the storylines and environments are usually an Homage to a SilverAge style, light-hearted and brightly-coloured, occasional BronzeAge consequences and morals are hinted at. Player characters display a range of styles, from TheCape through TheCowl to the NinetiesAntiHero.

*** The-Slapperfish - He is famous amongst the contest community for creating all kinds of crazy awesome costumes.

* AllegedlyFreeGame / BribingYourWayToVictory - Zig-zags a bit - You can now play the entire game, including adventure packs, for free! However you can only do so using one of 10 pre-defined Archetypes (i.e., classes), which just by virtue of being rigidly defined will never be close to the power of a high-end freeform build (free-form builds also get to pick more powers over the same number of levels and get access to Tier 4 powers). For a while, there was a daily quest where you could win a freeform character slot, even as a Silver player, for nothing more than a short investment of time! It's over now, though; the only way to get a freeform slot for Silver is to buy the item from the C-store. But you can earn questionite, which you can trade in the auction house for Zen! But there are other uses for questionite, too, and the exchange rate is dismal. On the other hand, most of your usual consumables that are practically required in other [=F2P=] games aren't really necessary in CO, and the death penalty is so light that you don't need to buy health restoration items, self-rezzes or 'star refills' (death penalty eliminators)! (For that matter, you can use in-game currency to buy back stars, though not on the fly!) But you can get an edge in crafting by buying "rank up catalysts" for exorbitant amounts. So, to sum up: you can play the entire game to the level cap for free without spending a dime (averting the trope); but to do anything beyond those basic archetypes and a (relative to the paid version) tame selection of costume pieces, you're going to need to pony up (playing it straight) or spend a ''lot'' of time grinding.

** Defender is [[IronMan Iron Man]], or at least Iron Man before he was an alcoholic JerkAss.

** There are also a number of ''Champions'' characters strongly resembling Non-Marvel characters:

*** As well, the Marksman class [[CaptainObvious fits the Archer class perfectly]]. Same with the Soldier class ("[[TheMatrix Guns. Lots of guns.]]"), though to a lesser extent.

* AndYourRewardIsClothes - Costume unlocks (account-wide now, for all costumes) are one of the main draws of the game. You can also get little 'action figure' (think [[WorldOfWarcraft WoW]]'s vanity pets) to follow you around (account wide).

* {{A Wizard Did It}}/{{Ghostapo}} - The very reason why superpowers exist in the ''Champions Universe'': Durring WW2, Nazi mysticans tried to summon demons to help them win the war. But the ritual failed and caused reality-altering magical energy to leak into this dimension and blow all over the world like a supernatural wind. Needless to say their plan backfired, as the first American superheroes played a key role in defeating the Third Reich. This event is remembered as The Return of Magic. Not only can magic be controlled by gifted humans, it can also cause a human to survive exposure to usually lethal materials, energies and radiation, granting them related or sometimes unrelated powers. But since uncontrolled magic is unpredictable, it won't always save you, or may even transform you into an insane monstrosity in the process. All of this is [[AllThereInTheManual part of the Pen&Paper RPG's lore]] and never explained in detail in the MMORPG.

* BrainInAJar - Several.

* GlobalCurrency - Pretty much like in WorldOfWarcraft; but named Global, National and Local resources. One guess at the colors.

** A little piece of lore hints that Foxbat is doing all of this to "forge new heroes in fox-battle", either [[FridgeBrilliance to indirectly help fighting serious villains]] or...[[LaughablyEvil just to have someone to play hero and villan with]]. Either way, he is just [[BreakingTheFourthWall "playing his role"]].

* HighlyVisibleNinja - Lampshaded the hell out of with Black Mist. He wears a black suit in the ''white'' wilderness of Canada and keeps loudly "whispering" to his underlings to be "Silent! And stealthy... Like the ninja..." [[HypocriticalHumor while they don't say anything at all.]]

** Most of the voice acting lends itself to this, but a special note for Doctor and Shadow Destroyer, who are like this even in the source RPG.

* LawyerFriendlyCameo - Many. [[BigTroubleInLittleChina Burt Jackson]], [[AnchormanTheLegendOfRonBurgundy Rob Mahogany]] and his co-workers, [[NationalLampoonsVacation Clayton Griswald]] and [[{{LOST}} Oceanica Airlines]], just to name a few.

** [=NPCs=] tend to have powers that don't match their level or power set. For example: the DEMON Maleficias, dark magicans, have the Chest Beam power from the Power Armor set and the aquatic Lemurian Broodmother can shoot Fireballs.

* PettingZooPeople - The Manimals on Monster Island, plus many players. MANY, many players.
* PerpetuallyStatic - After all, {{StatusQuoIsGod}}

** Roleplaying is even a preset Super Group (read: guild) description.

** There is even a mission named ''Sharks with Frickin' Laser Beams'' involving shark men firing laser cannons at the [[DoomsdayDevice WORLD'S BIGGEST FRICKIN' LASER CANNON]]!

** {{LOST}}: Indeedy!

** {{Ghostbusters}}: Uh-uh.

** The Archetype "The Unleashed" is one massive shoutout to Star Wars, TheOldRepublic and TheForceUnleashed.

*** [[FamilyGuy Lackluster Video]]

** And one named [[MythBusters Buster]] in Teleios Tower. [[spoiler:He is actually a BonusBoss. Attack him long enough and he eventually begin to fight back with completely random powers. His HP are crazy high too. But if you manage to defeat him, he drops some phat loot. Teams will often enter Teleios Tower just for a 'Buster Run'.]]

* {{Voluntary Shapeshifting}} - The Roin'esh is an alien race with this power. There's also two human shapeshifters in the desert that uses it to hide among Qularr.

* KillSat - The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Orbital Cannon power.]] Can be further improved with the [[GearsOfWar Anvil of Dawn]] upgrade.

** Earth Flight rips a chunk out the ground, which you can happily levitate under you. Alternatively, attempting earth flight while in mid-air or jumping results in a storm cloud.

** For a purely magical variety, there is the MagicCarpet.

* EyeBeams

** EyeBeam

* AllegedlyFreeGame - Zig-zags a bit - You can now play the entire core game for free! However you can only do so using one of 10 pre-defined Archetypes (i.e., classes), which just by virtue of being rigidly defined will never be close to the power of a high end freeform build. For a while, there was a daily quest where you could win a freeform character slot, even as a Silver player, for nothing more than an investment of time! It's over now, though; the only way to get a freeform slot for Silver is to buy the item from the C-store. But now, you can earn questionite, which you can trade in the auction house for C-points! But there are other uses for questionite, too, and the exchange rate is dismal. On the other hand, most of your usual consumables that are practically required in other [=F2P=] games aren't really necessary in CO, and the death penalty is so light that you don't need to buy health restoration items, self-rezzes or 'star refills' (death penalty eliminators)! (For that matter, you can use in-game currency to buy back stars, though not on the fly!) And the Adventure Packs, once restricted to Gold players, are now free for Silver too, with the On Alert update! So, to sum up: You can play the entire game to the level cap for free without spending a dime (averting the trope); but to do anything beyond those 8 basic archetypes and a (relative to the paid version) tame selection of costume pieces, you're going to need to pony up (playing it straight) or spend a ''lot'' of time grinding.

* BribingYourWayToVictory - With the advent of the free to play this is both averted and played straighter than an arrow. It averts it by withholding very little in the way of game content; most costumes are unlocked, or unlockable by finding special items in the game, and since there aren't even restrictions on adventure packs for Silver players anymore, they can theoretically get any of them--and that's without Questionite, a resource that can be traded for Zen points that can be used in the game's real money store. It's played straight by forcing the player to choose an "archetype", the equivalent of a class. However these are far, ''far'' weaker than a well-made "Freeform" character (a character where you can pick any power you want...and which you have to either be a Gold player, i.e. a subscriber, or pay a lot of money per slot individually as a Silver player, or grind out fifty dollars' worth of Questionite, at the current rate of roughly 40 cents per character per day).

*** Considering this illogical flaws and the fact that you can't use it to escape from fights, because it takes to much time to burrow into the ground and you're defenseless while trying, it is not a surprise that Tunneling is the [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway 'Heart']] amongst the travel powers.

** Science allows you to craft the 'Storm Rider' aka. Electric Flight; a VideoGameFlight power with electricity arcing constantly over your hands and feet. NPC hero Celestar in Canada displays this power.
** Mysticism gives you the 'Etheric Flight'; another VideoGameFlight power that has you surrounded by magic circles and leaving a trail of runes behind.

* DifficultySpike - When soloing, it's not uncommon to mop the floor with minions (such that you'll begin to wonder if you've found some sort of ''exploit'') only to have the final boss ignore your most powerful attacks likeh they were made of butterflies and smiles and proceed to ''one-shot'' you at will.

** WestSideStory: Indeed.

** Dr. Silverback is [[XMen Beast]], complete with his speech patern.

** VIPER is Hydra, and while it does resemble [[GIJoe Cobra]], though VIPER predates Cobra. Champions table top started in 1981 and included VIPER. A year later Cobra was introduced. Marvel's Hydra is the actual influence for VIPER.
** Ripper, VIPER's [[TheBrute Brute]], is quite similar to Bane. [[DumbMuscle Except not as smart.]]

*** As well, the Marksman class [[CaptainObvious fits the Archer class perfectly]]. Same with the Soldier class ([TheMatrix Guns. Lots of guns.]]), though to a lesser extent.

** The relatively weak but overambitious supervillain Overbrain is a brain in a floating glass sphere. He and his mutant gorilla partner Ape Plus are obviously a homage to the DC villains The Brain and Mallah.

* BribingYourWayToVictory - With the advent of the free to play this is both averted and played straighter than an arrow. It averts it by withholding very little in the way of game content; most costumes are unlocked, or unlockable by finding special items in the game, and since there aren't even restrictions on adventure packs for Silver players anymore, they can theoretically get anyo fthem. It's played straight by forcing the player to choose an "archetype", the equivalent of a class. However these are far, ''far'' weaker than a well-made "Freeform" character (a character where you can pick any power you want...and which you have to be a Gold player, i.e. a subscriber, to get).

* ControllableHelplessness - At the end of Aftershock, [[spoiler:you get to briefly play as a King of Edom as they [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomp]] Defender and Witchcraft, though if there's only one or two of you it's more of a fair fight. Don't worry, they get better.]]

* DieChairDie - Lots and lots of destructible items, which can be [[CarFu picked up and used as weapons]] or thrown if you have a high enough 'Strength' statistic or the Telekinesis power and high enough 'Ego'.
* DifficultySpike - When soloing, it's not uncommon to mop the floor with minions (such that you'll begin to wonder if you've found some sort of ''exploit'') only to have the final boss ignore your most powerful attacks (as though they were made of butterflies and smiles) and ''one-shot'' you at will.
** Sometimes, the [[DifficultySpike spike]] will be delayed until roughly halfway through the fight with the aforementioned boss, at which point, they will declare IAmNotLeftHanded or go OneWingedAngel and proceed to hand you your rear in ''two'' pieces.

* EmoteAnimation - [=NPCs=] have some unavailable for player chars though.

* EvilIsSexy - In Multifaria, though her costume reveals about as much skin as her normalverse counterpart, in place of short shorts, Lapis Lazuli wears fishnets and a thong.

* FurryFandom - Wolf-heads are popular, and there are a variety of heads, skins, and tails for different creatures. Not to mention Monster Island where you have Manimals both good and evil.
** In-game, the not-quite-villainess Lynx only turned to crime to become a CatGirl, and [[LampshadeHanging complains about this while fighting you]].
* GatlingGood - Over-the-top Munitions characters can field a handheld gatling gun!

* ItGotWorse - [[spoiler:Vibora Bay Crisis - It starts with you helping to cause the Apocalypse. Yes, the "end of the world as we know it, final battle between Heaven and Hell" Apocalypse... And by the time it's over: all of the Champions are dead, Amphibian has been mutated into a bizarre homicidal fish-creature, and it's revealed that Shadow Destroyer helped engineer the whole thing to screw Therakiel out of EvilPlan. Yikes!]]

* MostCommonSuperpower - The female character model in ''Champions Online'' can have the bustline tailored along with anything else. However, any attempt to create anything but a buxom female character once resulted in some ugly polygonal tearing, and pretty much every body type starts with the bust slider maxed. Since being ''partly'' fixed, there's plenty of flat-chested young girls running around.

** [=NPCs=] tend to have powers that don't match their level or power set. For example; the DEMON Maleficias, dark magicans, have the Chest Beam power from the Power Armor set and the aquatic Lemurian Broodmother can shoot Fireballs.
** In some cases, a power works very different depending on if a player or a NPC uses it. For example, an NPC's Lightning Arc stuns the target, Mighty Leap becomes chargable and Hurl goes as far as having even a different animation, in addition to gaining a knock back effect. The DEMON version of lifedrain, [[CallingYourAttacks helpfully lead with the user yelling]] [[BigHam "Your soul will be MINE!"]], is a ''lot'' more powerful than the version players get; if unblocked, it can easily take out more than half of your health. ARGENT Cyborg chest beams restore their health if you don't block, the list goes on.
** A number of NPC-exclusive powers that would be "too useful" for players to have, like the MP draining Neutralizer Grenade or the Empyrean Constructs' simple yet greatly envied ability to walk on the sea floor in Lemuria.

* OnlySixFaces - While averted (for the most part) with the males, due to the highly versatile creator, all female faces unfortunately tend to all look alike. Barring the inhuman ones, of course. Though this is as much a result of BeautyIsNeverTarnished as anything else, as everyone will happily make ugly males and handsome males alike but everyone wants only beautiful females.

* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong - [[spoiler:The very end of the Vibora Bay Crisis has you go back in time to before you [[NiceJobBreakingItHero started it.]]]]

* ShoutOut - ''Champions Online'' [[ShoutOutVideoGames pretty much]] ''[[ShoutOutVideoGames runs]]'' [[ShoutOutVideoGames on these]] to an incredibly large degree:
** TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou
** MythBusters
** BigTroubleInLittleChina
** WestSideStory
** HalfLife
** Deadlands
** VideoGame/TeamFortress2

** AnimalCrossing gets a nod! In Monster Island, look for an NPC named Tim Nook who sells loan installments on a suspicious land (reminds you of a certain raccoon who forces players to buy a lot in a certain land?). Oh, and buying one loan (which is cheap) results in a perk/achievement aptly named "Manimal Crossing".
** NationalLampoonsVacation
** {{LOST}}
** AnchormanTheLegendOfRonBurgundy
** TheyLive
** {{Freaks}}
** {{Equilibrium}}
** SnowCrash
** Literature/{{Twilight}}
** {{Ghostbusters}}
** OfficeSpace
** Film/AClockworkOrange
** Warhammer40000 in reference to Ork using their teeth as money and referring to it as "Teef".

* ItGotWorse - [[spoiler:Vibora Bay Crisis - It starts with you helping to cause the Apocalypse. Yes, the "end of the world as we know it, final battle between Heaven and Hell" Apocalypse... And by the time it's over: all of the Champions are dead, Amphibian has been mutated into a bizarre homicidal fish-creature, and it's revealed that Shadow Destroyer helped engineer the whole thing to screw Therakiel out of his XanatosGambit. Yikes!]]

* UnwittingPawn - [[spoiler:See XanatosGambit, sucker.]]

* XanatosGambit - [[spoiler:Valerian Scarlet, herald of Therakiel, tricks you into bringing her the items she needs to start the Apocalypse, beating up the one person who might have been able to stop it and puts her in a position to steal his Flame Gem. NiceJobBreakingItHero indeed!]]
** There's also [[spoiler:Shadow Destroyer's gambit, which has allowed Therakiel to get ''thisclose'' to starting the Apocalypse...with the goal to intercept him at the last minute and claim rulership over this entire dimension...or at least the smoldering ruins thereof. Eep.

*** Roxstar, who hosts the championBuilder and has been lobbying for an earth powerset for the longest time, will get his likeness and name as the Earth framework Archetype costume, and the innate talent, respectively.

*** The Unleashed = Believe it or not, a [[StarWars Jedi Knight]] (or perhaps [[TheForceUnleashed Sith Lord]].

* DifficultySpike - When soloing, it's not uncommon to mop the floor with minions (such that you'll begin to wonder if you've found some sort of ''exploit'') only to have the final boss ignore your most powerful attacks and ''one-shot'' you at will.

** And one named [[MythBusters Buster]] in Teleios Tower. [[Spoiler: He is actually a BonusBoss. Attack him long enough and he eventually begin to fight back with completely random powers. His HP are crazy high too. But if you manage to defeat him, he drops some phat loot. Teams will often enter Teleios Tower just for a 'Buster Run'.]]

** And one named [[MythBusters Buster]] in Teleios Tower. [[Spoiler:He is actually a BonusBoss. Attack him long enough and he eventually begin to fight back with completely random powers. His HP are crazy high too. But if you manage to defeat him, he drops some phat loot. Teams will often enter Teleios Tower just for a 'Buster Run'.]]

* AbsurdlySpaciousSubmarine - Averted with the Cherenkov and the Nautilus, which are suitably cramped and claustrophobic. Played so straight it hurts with the Aegir.
* AllegedlyFreeGame - Zig-zags a bit - You can play the entire core game for free! However you can only do so using one of 8 pre-defined Archetypes (ie: Classes), which just by virtue of being rigidly defined will never be close to the power of a high end freeform build. On the other hand, most of your usual consumables that are practically required in other [=F2P=] games aren't really necessary in CO. The death penalty is so light that you don't need to buy health restoration items, self-rezzes or 'star refills' (death penalty eliminators). On the other other hand, if you want to play the various Adventure Packs which have neat costume unlocks and some of the more interesting content, you need to pay up. However, nothing from said adventure packs is really 'needed' (there is no real such thing as 'needed' loot in Champions Online). So, to sum up: You can play almost the entire game to the level cap for free without spending a dime (averting the trope); but to do anything beyond those 8 basic archetypes and a (relative to the paid version) tame selection of costume pieces, you're going to need to pony up (playing it straight).

* The hero archtypes which a player must choose from make several, less-than-subtle parallels to other heroes, for instance:

*** The Unleashed = Believe it or not, a [[StarWars Jedi Knight.]]
*** The Cursed is actually just a color swap ot The Scourge, what [[SarcasmMode coincidentally]] makes him look more like GhostRider.
* There are also a number of ''Champions'' characters strongly resembling Non-Marvel characters:
** Kinetik is {{Flash}}, freak lab-accident and lightning-themed costume and all.

** Background-wise, Doctor Ka is pretty much Doctor Fate. For the costume, Shadow Destroyer looks like an EvilTwin of Doctor Fate.
** Amphibian is Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}.
*** And he is just about as useless. The only heroic action you will presumably ever see from him is to [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman keep a giant mutant shark from attacking you]] during the Lemuria Crisis. Mostly, he will only lament about his PsychoEx-Girlfriend Stingray.
** The Rocket Hawks strongly resemble ComicBook/TheRocketeer.
** Night Hawk, a former member of the Champions super team who rarely appears in-game, might be based on DC's Nightwing. He also shares a name with Marvel's Nighthawk, but the resemblance more or less ends there.
** Bluejay shares some character and background traits with CatWoman: She was betrayed by her former boss and became a super-thief, but is even less evil than Foxbat and willing to team up with the player to fight a more serious threat.
** Kinda subverted with Psimon, who has the same name and similar powers as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psimon DC villain]], but his appearance and background are [[http://www.champions-online-wiki.com/wiki/Psimon notably different]]. The fact that there is no copyright on the name Psimon certainly helped.
** Crimson Serpent's backstory and powers curiously resemble [[TheLastAirbender Fire Princess Azula's]].
** Gold and Iron may or may not be based on [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Karai and Hun]].
** Taffy Winters, the Vampire Killer should be an [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer obvious one]]

** ''The [=DPSer=]''/''The Nuker'' - About any character with any power set can be this, but those with ranged energy builders and many ranged attacks are notably better in this field; actually capable of dealing continious streams of damage while not taking any themselves. The Inferno (Fire set), the Tempest (Electricity set) and the Disciple (melee Telekinesis) are predestined to play this role, being downright [[GlassCannon Glass Cannons]]. The Scourge (Infernal Supernatural set) however, avoids being outright Glass thanks to Constitution being one of its super stats, while still being able to dish out a deadly amount of damage.
*** More specifically, the Marksman class [[CaptainObvious fits the Archer class perfectly]]. Same with the Soldier class, though to a lesser extent.
*** Combine some of the basics of a DPS build with a mix of heals and defense buffs, or even [[GameBreaker use unorthodox methods]] such as Aura of Primal Majesty + Strength + Enrage, and you get a flat out LightningBruiser.

*** Unfortunately, bosses are generally immune to any kind of hold or knock, making these [[UselessUsefulSpell Useless Useful Spells]] against them.

** ''The Jack'' - The Specialist was intended to be this, but fails terribly, ending up as more of a SpoonyBard. The Unleashed, however, does a much better job at this. And Freefoms, of course, which require the player to chose their powers and stats focus carefully to make the most of their potential.

* AndYourRewardIsClothes - Costume unlocks (account-wide now, for all costumes) or a little 'action figure' to follow you around (account wide).

* BadassNormal - Depending on the player's vision for the character; other examples may include many of the security forces see throughout the game.

** And the Dog Pound in Vibora Bay. It's a {{Werewolf}} bar.

* BigBad - Dr. Destroyer is behind quite a lot of things, or at least making them worse. [[spoiler:Later on, however, it's revealed that the "Destroyer" who's making the world panic is actually ''Shadow'' Destroyer, a sorcerer from the local MirrorUniverse.]]

* BrainInAJar - Serval.

* BribingYourWayToVictory - With the advent of the free to play this is both averted and played straighter than an arrow. It averts it by withholding very little in the way of game content; most costumes are unlocked, unlockable by finding special items in the game. It's played straight by forcing the player to choose an "archtype", the equivalent of a normal class from another MMO. However these are far, FAR weaker than a well-made "Freeform" character (a character where you can pick any power you want...and which you have to pay to get).

* ControllableHelplessness - At the end of Aftershock, [[spoiler:you get to briefly play as a King of Edom as they [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomp]] Defender and Witchcraft. Don't worry, they get better.]]

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist - The loss of one of five 'stars', which can, at most, give about a 7% boost to abilities.
** Which means that a character with 0 stars is 35% weaker than a character with 5 stars. That's certainly not just a slap on the wrist. Repeatedly dying in lairs (i.e. dungeons) can easily make the boss fight unwinnable this way.
*** What he means is that all five stars are worth a 7% boost together, not 7% individually. Also, because math is weird: if you assume a 35% boost is the default, then losing it means you only lose 26% of your strength. Likewise, since 7% is the actual amount you're getting, assuming that is your max means that losing all five stars is only a 6.5% loss in power.
* DeathRay - Nemesis mission arcs ALWAYS end with your arch-enemy building a DoomsdayDevice called a Death Ray - and you having to trash it.

** 'Death Ray' is the fitting name of an advantage (i.e. upgrade) for the 'Experimental Blaster' power, giving it a 1% chance to one-shot enemies not labeled 'supervillain', 'legendary' or 'cosmic' (i.e. bosses) and even other players in PvP.

* EpisodicGame - The Aftershock Comic Series, which released one installment each week over the month of June, is free to play for all.

** Kinda subverted with the Zilla-expy Teleiosaurus. She is a BonusBoss that drops vaulable items. But unfortunately, she is also one of the toughest bosses and her [[BreathWeapon Atomic Breath attack]] is the single most powerful attack in the game, strong enogh to one-hit level 40 characters and hitting an area big enough to possibly kill a dozen of them at once! Oh, and she heals herself with every kill and summoned pets are like pickup heals for her. Good luck. You'll need it.

* FakeDifficulty - A rather ridiculous case: All [=NPCs=], even civilians and mooks which are supposed to utterly lack superpowers, were given the Super Jump travel power, so players can't escape a battle by knocking them over the edge of a building or taking refuge on higher ground. Fortunately, Cryptic realized that this was a mistake and removed the Super Jump shortly after.
** False. Wolves will still jump several storeys vertically to attack a flying character.
*** Wolves (and a few other enemies) always did that. In their case, it's an attack, not a travel power.

** The BigBad / TheEvilGenius - Citizen Harmon [[spoiler:aka. Shadow Destroyer]]

** It's hard to tell which role Oubliette plays. She is a ''[[GenderBender female]]'' version of Kinetik and appearantly mute. Might be something in between a Brute and a Dark Chick.

* And the bad guys of Vibora Bay:
** The BigBad - Therakiel
** TheDragon - Vladic Dracul
** TheBrute - Black Fang
** TheEvilGenius - Baron Cementiere
** TheDarkChick - [[spoiler:Valerian Scarlet]]
* The Red Winter team might also be worth mentioning.
** The BigBad - Soviet Guard
** CoDragons - Hammer and Sickle
** TheBrute - Red Dawn
** TheEvilGenius - Drago
** TheDarkChick - Hammer
** The TeamPet - White Wolf
* While the Westside Gang Leaders aren't exactly... friends, they fit the team dynamic of this trope.
** The BigBad - Hi Pan
** TheDragon - Frank Zaretti
** TheBrute - Ludwig
** TheEvilGenius - Kevin Poe
** TheDarkChick - Zoe Loft

** No one seems to know what UNITY actually stands for...

* GatlingGood - Over-the-top munitions characters can field a handheld gatling gun!

*** And even better, [[GoodBadBugs if you can get the timing down right]], you can fire the Power Armor Minigun while ''also'' firing off the munitions gatling gun!

* GeniusBruiser - It is entirely possible to make your Nemesis this by giving him/her any physical powersets (Especially any of the Brick powersets), a tough/bulky looking appearance and the Mastermind personality.

* GlobalCurrency - Pretty much like in WorldOfWarcraft; but named Global, National and Local resources. One guess at the colors.]]
* GlobalCurrencyException - In addition to Resources, players can earn Snakebucks (for the Snake Gulch amusement park), Acclaim (gained in PvP, used to buy items and rewards), UNITY and Nemesis Tokens (gained by completing UNITY and Nemesis missions, respectively, used for very high level, exorbitantly priced rewards) and a few others.

* HighlyVisibleNinja - Lampshaded the hell out of with Black Mist. He wears a black suit in the ''white'' wilderness of Canada and keeps loudly "wispering" to his underlings to be "Silent! And stealthy... Like the ninja..." [[HypocriticalHumor while they don't say anything at all.]]

* HulkSpeak - {{Hulk}}[[{{expy}} -expy]] Grond, many of the evil Manimals and the Irradiates speak like this. The later even [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] it in-game: "Grrr... Why radioactive mutants talk with poor syntax?"
* HundredPercentHeroismRating - Civilians will approach and mention your exploits. Sadly, this means thanking you for finishing the tutorial until the very end of your days. Over. And over. Again.
* HurricaneofPuns - ''Champions Online'' is a big one! (see Pun below)

* InterfaceScrew - Some effects add a creepy border around your field of vision. Suitably atmospheric.

* InvulnerableCivilians - Usually played straight but rarely averted.
** Antagonistic [=NPCs=] can hurt civilians, but usually only do it as part of an EscortMission or if certain civilians attacked them first!
* ItGotWorse - [[spoiler:Vibora Bay Crisis - It starts with you helping to cause the Apocalypse. Yes, the "end of the world as we know it, final battle between Heaven and Hell" Apocalypse... And by the time it's over: All of the Champions are dead, Amphibian has been mutated into a bizarre homicidal fish-creature, and it's revealed that Shadow Destroyer helped engineer the whole thing to screw Therakiel out of his XanatosGambit. Yikes!]]

** Even Monster Island and Lemuria Crisis are considered dark compared to the typical arcs in the game. [=NPCs=] you have met die, implications of cannibalism, and large betrayals exist in those two areas.

** Add a pair of rank 2 Munition Bots to [[NoKillLikeOverkill tripple the fun!]]

* MoneySink - Costume changes, extra bank or equipment slots and a variety of consumable devices.
** And, of course, the retcon system.

* MostCommonSuperpower - The female character model in ''Champions Online'' can have the bustline tailored along with anything else. However, any attempt to create anything but a buxom female character results in some ugly polygonal tearing, and pretty much every body type starts with the bust slider maxed. Since being ''partly'' fixed, there's plenty of flat-chested young girls running around.

** A number of NPC-exclusive powers, that would be "too useful" for players to have, like the MP draining Neutralizer Grenade and the Empyrean Constructs' simple yet greatly envied ability to walk on the sea floor in Lemuria.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero - The player might feel this way after [[spoiler:releasing Dr Destroyer]] in Resistance. Granted, it's the lesser of two evils, but this guy is basically Hitler.
** More like Osama Bin Laden, but you get the idea.

* NightmareSequence - The player must save two [=NPCs=] from one in [[EpisodicGame Aftershock #4]]. Unlike a lot of missions directly linked to a main quest in the game, [[spoiler:you can fail and condemn them to a fate worse than death...and the main quest will continue]]. Also, the players are thrown into one in Demonflame.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot - RuleOfCool applies; Radioactive Communist Zombies, Radioactive Sharks, Robot Sharks, Robot Pirates, Ghostly Pirates, Lizard-man Wizards, Demonic fish-men... and that's all in one map!

** Except for when you first enter a new zone: There are the "Crisis" mission arcs you need to complete to unlock the regular version of the zones. The tutorial is actually a "Millenium City Crisis". The base you start in is pretty much in shambles until you manage to defeat the first main boss of the respective area. Once you do this, the most pressing problems the locals are having are dealt with, the base is repaired, and the rest of the areas open up.

* {{Pun}} - The names of several characters and roughly 90% of the missions you're asked to undertake.

*** And then retconned back in, with helpful little hints on the loading screens.
* SendInTheClones - Aside from the MadScientist Teleios, whose {{Mooks}} are mostly clones of himself, ''Champions Online'' also suffers from another kind of clone invasion: Players making their characters blatant ripoffs of comic book or movie characters, even naming thier clones after the original if possible. There are countless ripoffs of the {{Hulk}}, {{Superman}},{{Batman}}, {{Deadpool}}, {{Spawn}} and others around; usually rather bad ripoffs. Other typical featurs are their players having a FreeToPlay account (what adds to the "Silvers" generally bad reputation) and being not higher than level 20, for they usually don't get very high before getting reported and banned, since cloning is a case of copyright violation and therefore against the rules.
** While clone ''characters'' and stolen names are forbidden and also widely shunned by the player community, secondary [[{{Cosplay}} clone ''costumes'', made as a gag and rarely worn,]] as well as homages, parodies and shout-outs, which the game itself contains en mass, are usually tolerated.

* RunDontWalk - Can be bypassed by using a slash command or setting a key for walking, but players do run by default.

* StandardStatusEffects - And, at launch, mainly only half-documented.

* TrainingDummy - Found in the powerhouse.

* UnblockableAttack - You can block all kinds of attacks to lower the damage and prevent side effects like Knockback - except grenades! Their knockback is unblockable! It is unknown if this is a case of FakeDifficulty or just a glitch, but it makes fighting ARGENT {{Mooks}} horribly tedious.

*** As of November, ARGENT and Viper grenades now only cause pushback.

*** Also, all your [[RuleOfCool cool Travel Powers]] are useless while underwater, since to move you're relegated to either swim or swim a little faster.
*** Not all of them. Running powers retain their high speed, even while swimming instead of running. Dark Speed and Light Speed even retain their aura. The best example, however, would be teleport, which works exactly like it does above-land.

* WeBuyAnything - arcane, three-eyed crafting vendors will happily buy any science and arms items that you wish to get rid of.

** There's also [[spoiler:Shadow Destroyer's gambit, which has allowed Therakiel to get this close to starting the Apocalypse...with the goal to intercept him at the last minute and claim rulership over this entire dimension...or at least the smoldering ruins thereof. Eep.

* GlobalCurrency - Pretty much like in WorldOfWarcraft; but named Global, National and Local resources. One guess at the colors.

** There's also [[spoiler:Shadow Destroyer's gambit, which has allowed Therakiel to get this close to starting the Apocalypse...with the goal to intercept him at the last minute and claim rulership over this entire dimension...or at least the smoldering ruins thereof. Eep.]]
* YourMoneyIsNoGoodHere - In addition to Resources, players can earn Snakebucks (for the Snake Gulch amusement park), Acclaim (gained in PvP, used to buy items and rewards), UNITY and Nemesis Tokens (gained by completing UNITY and Nemesis missions, respectively, used for very high level, exorbitantly priced rewards) and a few others.

* ChurchOfHappyology - Mind Inc. is a self-help organisation which tests every new member with an electronic reader. This is so that they can pick up on any latent PsychicPowers to exploit.
** Them being actually [[spoiler:just a front for the psychic villain organization PSI, which is ([[StreetFighterTheMovie of]] [[ThatGuyWithTheGlasses course]]) planning to TakeOverTheWorld]] certainly doesn't make it better.

*** The-Slapperfish - He is famous amongst the contest community for creating all kinds of crazy awesome costumes. Not only this troper considers him a true artist.

* {{Badass}} - Any anthropomorphic animal player character qualifies.

An adaptation of the [[TabletopGames Tabletop Game]] {{Champions}}, ''{{Champions Online}}'' is a 2009 SuperHero {{MMORPG}} offering a wide variety of power and costume customisation options. While the storylines and environments are usually an Homage to a SilverAge style, light-hearted and brightly-coloured, occasional BronzeAge consequences and morals are hinted at. Player characters display a range of styles, from TheCape through TheCowl to the NinetiesAntiHero.

** ''The Tank'' - The Behemoth archetype and the "Brick" sets (Might and Heavy Weapons) are mostly made for this. The Darkness set with its life draining block and the Bestial set with its passive defense ''[[HealingFactor Regeneration]]'' allow them to become 'Reg Tanks', healing faster than enemies can damage them (doesn't always work, though, especially not in PvP). The Master and the Martial Arts sets, especially Unarmed, have the passive power ''Lightning Reflexes'', which can make them 'Dodge Tanks'. And asside from absorbing large amounts of damage, they all can dish out a lot too.

* BadassFurry - Any anthropomorphic animal player character qualifies.