PHO: Nexus' Union
Topic: Nexus Thread 2.0: The Nexusing
In: Boards Capes Brockton Bay General
Warrior123 (Shipper Slayer)
Posted on January 25, 2011:
So after the previous thread got locked, figured we might as well have another one on BB's newest fixture, the unmasked vigilante of dragon slaying, Nexus.
What we know so far:
Her power seems to be focused on summoning some sort of super-powered minion, complete with its own personality. These minions seem to last a fair bit before being replaced with another version after some time. It's unknown if she can 'reshuffle' these minions at will or not, or if she has any influence on what personality appears.
She herself also retains an immense amount of power, allowing her to face off against even someone like Purity in a one vs one battle.
The three summons known so far are:
1. Big Dude With Eyepatch, AKA Line Drive, That Fucking Asshole Who Made Me Late To Work After He Wrecked My Street, The Dude Who Drowned A Dragon.
2. Panda Man, AKA Joke Character, A Literal Talking Panda, Kung Fu Panda.
3. Pretty Lady, AKA Scary But Hawt, Miss Are We Sure She Isn't A Villain, and Lady Why The Fuck Are There So Many Eyes?!
Will update as more come up.
Few ground rules. First, no cape identity speculation here, even if you know exactly who she is. This is a PHO wide rule, so even outted capes get this protection unless they personally waive it. Second, and I cannot emphasize this enough.
NO FUCKING SHIPPING.
She's like fifteen guys, this really should be a no brainer. We've already lost one thread to that shit, and I swear to god, if you guys get this one closed as well, I will find a way to make y'all pay.
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AmazingGrace
Posted on January 25, 2011:
Alright, you guys know what to do.
Time to resume the shipping!
:V
Warrior123 (Shipper Slayer)
Posted on January 25, 2011:
Fucking try it Grace, and I will find a way to end your whole career.
I don't know how, and I don't know when, but I will do it.
Jekmur
Posted on January 25, 2011:
Alright, now that I don't have to worry about stupid shipping crap drowning out discussion, can I just point out that Nexus is, like, the classic case of hero who looks exactly like a villain?
Literally throws up a skull banner, apparently goes into what can charitably be called a blood knight state when she fights, and her projections, bar the freaking panda (what the fuck is up with BB at this point, jfc) are stereotypically evil looking/acting.
Like, I like watching those videos of her curb stomping Purity as much as the next guy, but fuck, she needs a PR rep, ASAP.
TiredTraveler
Posted on January 25, 2011:
She's just going through that edgy teen phase I'm sure. Give her a few years, I'm sure she'll be fine.
...probably.
KurbStomp
Posted on January 25, 2011:
In fairness to the minions, she's only had 3 of them, which is a poor sample size to base our opinions on. 2/3 sounds bad, but the 1/3 was a literal cartoon style talking panda.
For all we know, she'll pull out Winnie the Pooh: Kung Fu Master next time.
SaphireDestiny
Posted on January 25, 2011:
Well, it could be worse. She could be working out of what looks like a super villain's lair–
Oh. Yeah.
Fuck.
EnergyEngineer
Posted on January 25, 2011:
I don't think their headquarters are that bad looking. Gives it a bit of urban charm in all honesty.
SaphireDestiny
Posted on January 25, 2011:
It looks like someone built a house out of what they could find in a scrapyard.
Dragon_Azanoth
Posted on January 25, 2011:
...In fairness, they probably aren't exactly swimming in money, so that may be exactly what occurred.
Drakkar_Mor
Posted on January 25, 2011:
She may look like a villain, but I will point out that she basically turbo stomped her way through all the major villains in less than a month.
Tbh, Nexus and Predator seem to be the first in a new breed of heroes. PRT has been pretty discredited at this point in all honesty, so we may start to see the rise of more vigilante types like these two.
1, 2, 3, ... 32, 33, 34.
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Turbomaster
Posted on January 25, 2011:
I can't really say that is a positive development.
While Nexus seems to be willing to avoid a body count, Predator seem to have go all in on punishing villains, no matter the cost. Killing is wrong, no matter who is doing it, and is something heroes avoid doing for very good reason.
Even Nexus tends to cause a fair bit of destruction when she fights. Admittedly, some of those fights included enemies that were going to cause destruction no matter who they fought, but still.
If the future of heroism is going to accept high kill counts and property damage as a 'necessary evil', is that really a good direction to be going?
Corporal Hunt
Posted on January 25, 2011:
For all the issues the PRT has, it's still been extremely effective on a macro scale. Europe wishes they had a group like the PRT, since the PRT makes everyone else look like stooges.
I think we've set some pretty unrealistic expectations on their shoulders in all honesty.
OnlySaneMan
Posted on January 25, 2011:
Unrealistic expectations on a group of literal superhumans though.
Yeah, we've done good compared to the rest of the world, but we were also in a much better position to handle this from the start. America lucked the fuck out in getting the Triumvirate right near the start of all this. And then the PRT was able to leverage that luck into setting up a stable system, one that formed the basis for what much of the rest of the world would later adopt.
But that's old news. A good initial push and some luck can fall apart if we stagnate. The PRT has done what it can, but there are clearly limits to this. We needed something new, something to shake things up.
And I think Nexus could be that new 'something'.
Not sure if anyone has been keeping up with the news on her group, but her idea is akin to setting up a sort of 'union' of parahumans. It's a well-known issue that Villains are able to freely scoop up any indies that don't join a large group or the Protectorate, and this gives them a major lead in terms of recruiting. The Protectorate could solve this by protecting indies, but that would cut into its own recruiting as well.
If Nexus can plausibly back up this union, and keep indies safe, it could free up a huge amount of resources for the PRT to tackle villains, while stripping said villains of one of their most important resources.
I think Nexus may be on to a new paradigm of heroism. Protecting rouges and indies from casual gang recruitment would be huge.
Dragonsrcool
Posted on January 25, 2011:
If is the key word there.
If she can do that, sure. But she can't be everywhere. Which means either she finds a way to solve that, either by somehow making more super minions, or increasing her travel speed/reaction time, or she needs to recruit other powerhouses that she can station in areas to hold down any threats until she can arrive and break them herself.
Both of those seem to be pretty tall orders.
PredatorNotPrey
Posted on January 25, 2011:
Nexus is too weak to do any of that. Predator crushed her when they got in a fight even!
UnionMan
Posted on January 25, 2011:
Predator's got a good thing going there, but they just don't have the raw firepower that Nexus has.
Like, don't get me wrong. If the rumors about Predator having a power canceler is true, they're a big power player in BB.
But can they guarantee that when a fight comes to them, they can win?
All it takes is a single armed man hitting the power canceler at just the wrong moment, and Predator will be in serious trouble.
Nexus, on the other hand, can tank massive attacks with ease.
It's the difference between Armsmaster and Alexandria. Nobody would say that Armsmaster is weak, but a comparison is just plainly unfair to him.
FireUponTheFoe
Posted on January 25, 2011:
Mhm, the idea of a union or large group of allied parahumans has been tried before I will note. It often fails, either due to the parahumans being too weak, or their enemies being able to just attack the group so constantly that there is no way to respond.
Unless she has some sort of way to counter a mass of enemies, this idea is unlikely to grow too far.
CultOfDawn
Posted on January 25, 2011:
The interesting part of this plan is that it is an outted parahuman doing this actually. She's one of the few who genuinely doesn't need to stick to the rules as much as most heroes. If the villains start to play some of the sketchier games with her that usually kills these sort of groups, she can hit back pretty hard, and with much less fear of tit for tat retaliation.
Slasher
Posted on January 25, 2011:
omg, I just saw the cutest pic of Nexus and Predator!
[A whole page without this is better than I was expecting honestly. Threadban, 2 weeks.]
PredatorNotPrey
Posted on January 25, 2011:
I think I threw up in my mouth a bit.
1, 2, 3, ... 32, 33, 34.
Note: Figured, eh, why not try my hand at this.