2.2 The Attitude

Hello young HTBs! Man it's been a while hasn't it? Hopefully your winter holidays (summer if you're Australian) have been good, and I hope Christmas was nice for those of you who celebrate it. We are back with a new section of this chapter! The Attitude.

Attitude? Why is that important, you may ask. Well, it is incredibly important. Nobody likes a bitter, mean spirited hero. Those are the kinds people would call, ahem, anti-heroes. They do good, but nobody actually likes them. That's sad, isn't it? Sure if you're a lone ranger, do what you want, but I know a lot of heroes who only joined in order to receive an applause from the crowd. To be honest, getting the crowd's cheer and applause is a nice thing, it makes you feel good and makes you feel appreciated rather than just forgotten despite all your hard work.

So, what type of attitude should you have as a hero?

1. Friendly, Easily Approachable, Relatable.
• Let's face it, if you're cold hard and mean, nobody's going to want to talk to you. If you put yourself out as a nice guy/gal who's friendly and easy to approach, loads of people are going to want to talk to you. Superman was a nice guy, wasn't he? So can you.
2. Kind, Warm-Hearted, Polite.
• People like nice people They want to be treated well by others, and you have to treat all the citizens of the city you protect well, or else they will not reciprocate any of those feelings. 
3. Charitable, Generous.
• People like seeing heroes do good deeds outside of just saving people from burning buildings. Using their fortune to help sick children? Come on, that's something they love. It's like being a celebrity, once you're up there and you do one charitable thing, the world thinks you're the loveliest person alive.
4. Understanding.
• People like it if others understand their problems. It's nice. Sure, it's hard to think that maybe normal people have problems too, but at least you can pretend you understand or learn to understand it. 
5. Learn from your mistakes
• Can this really count as an attitude? Yes it can. If you're a hero that repeats the same mistakes over and over and over again, people will think you're stubborn and rock-headed and refuse to learn. If you do learn, people like to see improvement and people will see the greatness in you or something

Those are the 5 basic things, but of course there is more to it. Attitude is important. Sass is good to an extent, it's funny and people like a sassy hero, but too much and people will think you're a bit of an ass. Confidence, also good, but too much leads to arrogance. It's all about a balance between the personalities. Too much of anything can cause a problem, and you wouldn't want that.

Although Attitude may not seem like the most important trait in a hero, it is something that you should keep in mind if you want to be one of those heroes that everyone looks up to. Parents want good role models for their children, and children like cool heroes. So you have to balance the cool and the good, lest you want children to grow up like Batman.

Anyway, see you! 

-TM.

2.1 Aliases and Hero Names

Hello again, young HTBs!

Welcome to this first part on Aliases and Hero Names. This is probably something you all will find interesting. Picking out a superhero name is a tough process, but it's fun nonetheless. You must be thinking, I already have a superhero name picked out let's get on with it! Well, if you do, think it over. Does it roll off the tongue? Is it something you'd like the whole world to know you by? Is it appropriate for what you want to do? Do you know if there is any other hero with a similar name?

These are questions you must ask yourself. Sometimes, getting a name is easy, it's bestowed upon you by some other person. For example, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz got his name because they called him 'Wonderful' so he was like yeah, I'm wonderful, and took on that title. I never made my original superhero name. It was given to me by a friend, a colleague, a partner. They were a lovely person, teaching me all I needed to know about heroing, as I am trying to pass on to you.

In my time, people kept names simple an accessible. Times have changed, though, you can't go around calling yourself Iron Man or Matter Boy anymore, it's just weird. Think out of the box, think modern and sophisticated. Something interesting, nice, easy to remember. You want people to remember who you are. Something like Dr Johnson-Smith-Marcus-Lida-Ron-Simon is probably not going to be remembered at all. Keep it short, keep it snappy, be smart with your names.

Sometimes, simple is the best way to go. Say you have superspeed, what would you call yourself? Quicksilver is a hero from the Marvel Comics, so that's a no. What about Speedster? Doesn't seem right. Feather feet? What a strange name. I had a friend who called himself Axel, based on the word 'accelerate'. Made almost no sense, but hey it worked. Then there was one of my old trainees, called himself Quik. Sure it worked, and it was simple. Sometimes it's best to just go with your gut instead of trying to make things too elaborate.

I knew this guy who could absorb kinetic energy and return that energy with the same strength. What does that mean? It means that if he gets punched in the face, sure he flinches a little, but his body absorbs most of the shock and he returns that punch with the same amount of force. Of course, it probably hurt more for the other guy since they can't absorb kinetic energy. He called himself Momentum. Simple, but effective.

If you want to be clever with your name, by all means go ahead. Just know that not everyone will get it. There was another young man under my mentorship for a short while, back when I was quite a lot younger. He had the power of, what he'd call, moral persuasion. I called it mind control. If he were to use his powers and ask for a request, the recipient will agree and respond to that request, no questions asked. For example, he asked a colleague to run down to buy him fried rice from a specific store 15 minutes away for free (just to test how much he could get a person to do, though this is only the beginning) and his colleague did it. Why would he do that? Well, his powers implanted some sort of control over the victim's mind with a request they feel compelled to complete no matter what. He could walk to a bank robber/bomber with 13 hostages to disarm the bomb, release the hostages, and hand himself over to the police, and the robber won't even think twice about doing it.

He called himself Lon. What does that mean? Well, nobody really knew except him. When he finally told us while he called himself Lon, it made sense. It stood for the League of Nations, which he chose due to their power of 'Moral Persuasion' of offending countries. I thought it was funny, but the name stuck though the meaning was lost along the way.

The hero name is probably, in my opinion, the hardest part of creating your superhero image. After that, everything comes naturally. The costume may be on par in difficulty, unless you decide to go casual without an actual costume (not a good idea). So, keep at it and you'll find the perfect name, don't worry!

Take care you wideworlders!
-TM

2.0 The Image

Hello young HTBs!

This is a short introduction to the next chapter. I probably should have done this with the first chapter, but hey I'm not a perfect person, you know! Well, this chapter will probably be very interesting for you guys. It's The Image. What does that entail? Well, it's your image as a superhero. It's very important, because people want to know what they're putting their trust into.

See you soon!
-TM