I haven't waded through pages of theories to know one way or another, but are there new possibilities surrounding the silhouette in the Chairman's flip side?
Until now I thought they were minions, and have steadily said I hope they are minions.
I didn't say more than that becuse it wasn't out that they weren't minions, but characters. I don't care about The Broker, I don't want to play as him and it doesn't matter, because he isn't a character, he's a pawn. These are characters, they matter. I don't like that. Not a big fan of Pike either, but whatever, he's one character, but now 1/2 of the box are characters that to me aren't worth that kind of investment. Spite + Pike - the organization is rather meh to me storywise, and it is half of the box. So yeah, I'm disappointed.
As for mechanics I assume they have some cool ideas for them or they wouldn't be characters. I don't have a lot to say on that end, I will hope for the best. I look forward to the storyline progression as much as the gameplay, and these 6 characters I could care less about. As 1 character + goons I am fine with that, it's less than 10% of the box, so If I have no interest in them that's not a lot of investment for the return.
But yeah, half the box are people I wold readily refer to as "those bozos", it just makes me glad I'm super hyped for at least 4 of the characters.
I just logged in again after about a year of lurking to add my voice to phantaskippy's. I hope (but in all honesty don't beleive that) the Spites are either one set of 7 power cards that a "Spite Clone" player will interchange OR they are minion-status characters that the Exemplar can summon. Below is my reasoning (please don't take my criticism as disparaging of >G or Christopher or Adam, my ultimate goal is to be constructive):
1. The character design for a number of them is duplicative. What can a rotund-large Spite do within the game's framework that is interesting enough and won't overlap or be duplicative of muscle-large Spite when divvied among seven power cards x5? We already have a mind control character in Pinion, what other interesting things can Mindphyre do to fill a full moveset with the same theme and still be balanced?
2. The character design and story is lazy. The five Spites fill stereotype roles of leader, bruiser, fatso, mage, and lifesyphon. Frankly that's pretty boring and not all that related to the original Spite, who seemed to have about two modes. First he is stealthy serial killer, then when you push him he turns into a monstrosity ala Akira. As an aside, THAT would make a great tactics character - someone who transforms at 1-2 remaining HP to absolutely wreck house, so as an opponent you want to overkill him dead rather than plink with small hits when he is at mid health and leave him a chance to transform.
3. The "types" filled by the Spites would be better spent on existing SOTM characters that haven't been given Tactics treatment and use up precious design and balance time that could be devoted to them. I've mentioned the Mindphyre/Pinion analogy (if the character is just ranged-damage though, you could substitute any number of heroes or villians). A full set of power cards for Karnal would probably be spot-on for Fright Train or Haka. Demon Fist is "guy who punches" just as much as Fixer is OR if he has some ranged attacks, I think KNYFE would be a good candidate. Cyst is somewhat unique, but if we are getting another big character, I'd rather it be Sky-Scraper. Grudge seems to be dealing in infections/lifesap which used to be PlagueRat's role. You get the picture.
We still don't have a full understanding of what Pinion can or can't do, or exactly how her or Mindphyre's powers work. Furthermore, mind control is one of those powers who's possibilities expand hugely when you're not overburdened by ethics. Tactics can easily hold 2 (or 3 if you count Visionary) psychic characters without be duplicative.
- The character design and story is lazy.
We've seen, what, a single picture and about two sentences describing each character? Of course they feel a little flat. Wait until we see more of them in Rook City
The five Spites fill stereotype roles of leader, bruiser, fatso, mage, and lifesyphon. Frankly that's pretty boring and not all that related to the original Spite, who seemed to have about two modes. First he is stealthy serial killer, then when you push him he turns into a monstrosity ala Akira. As an aside, THAT would make a great tactics character - someone who transforms at 1-2 remaining HP to absolutely wreck house, so as an opponent you want to overkill him dead rather than plink with small hits when he is at mid health and leave him a chance to transform.
I think that a lot people are forgetting that the Spites are individuals with their own personality. I suspect that people expected them to be minions, and thus assumed that they would be flatter than main characters are, and are holding onto that assumption even with the reveal that they are fully fledged characters. The fact that each one was given such a small personal bio doesn't help. But these aren't mini-Spites - their powers have the same origin, but they have their own goals, tactics, and personalities. They're not meant to replace Spite.
- The "types" filled by the Spites would be better spent on existing SOTM characters that haven't been given Tactics treatment and use up precious design and balance time that could be devoted to them. I've mentioned the Mindphyre/Pinion analogy (if the character is just ranged-damage though, you could substitute any number of heroes or villians). A full set of power cards for Karnal would probably be spot-on for Fright Train or Haka. Demon Fist is "guy who punches" just as much as Fixer is OR if he has some ranged attacks, I think KNYFE would be a good candidate. Cyst is somewhat unique, but if we are getting another big character, I'd rather it be Sky-Scraper. Grudge seems to be dealing in infections/lifesap which used to be PlagueRat's role. You get the picture.
We currently have no projected endpoint of Tactics that I'm aware of. As such, design and balance time are effectively infinite. Design space is limited, but I think there's more of it than you realise. Certainly enough for every character that >G intends to include. And remember, >G are trying to tell a story. Sure, Haka could fill the position of "big bruiser" mechanically, but he doesn't belong in Broken City. Neither does Sky-Scraper. Their time will come. Just not yet.
I'm torn about the five Spites as well. However if you compare Broken City to Flame of Freedom we are getting three extra characters this time. Even if you want to count the Spites all as one we are still getting 8 characters, just one short of Flame of Freedom's 9. For now I'm going to trust that these Spites exist for significant gameplay and narrative reasons that will become apparent in their mechanics, scenario books, bios, and future story lines.
So... Getting to a more fun topic. Karnal has the appearance of a very buff Spite. Is there an appearance of a buff Spite in SotM? Yes actually, there is. Take a gander at Freedom Six The Wraith. It makes me wonder when Legacy becomes Iron Legacy, could it be after Deadline? So In the Iron Legacy timeline The Chairman awakens with his 5 Spites to a world ruled by Iron Legacy?
Too bad I am low on money : this update is selling the whole Tactics line to me. I think I will buy everything as soon as I find a way to get richer. If I find such a way. Damn you Christopher, you keep making me poorer even when I have good reasons to keep my money.
I like the way Pike is handled, even if it makes me sad. He was an super-human with a "positive" goal and evil methods. His arrogance ( belief his plans are fool-proof) caused him to devolve in his now deranged and limited self. What a fall.
The Spites remind me of Full Metal Alchemist... Contrary to many commenters here, I can see them make a good villain team and very interesting fight. At least they deserve their name : they get a lot of spite from commenters :D
I'd like to see a fight between Exemplar+Spites and Operative+For Profit. Poor Op, her Mentor fell very low...
I wonder if the bad reactions to them are more a reaction to the fact that they are not "draco in leather pants" (see TVTropes) but ugly, insane, gross, barely human villains. Everybody wants to play charismatic characters - people who look cool, even if they are on the wrong side of the fence. It reminds me of the bad initial reactions to the Scholar because he didn't look like a hero with his belly and bathrobe.
Speaking of the Scholar - did he "seal" the cosmic menace in himself to become the Infinite version ? Or, as the promo card is revealed now rather than latter in the timeline, did he seal Progeny ?
I'm well aware many of my initial impressions of the Spites might be premature. But at the same time I felt I needed to voice them because voicing them now is the only way they might gather support and affect the actual game before it releases. Maybe >G will take a hard look at these characters and change things up (if I'm correct in my assumptions about how stereotyped and redundant they are). They could even make changes without telling us at this point.
As to how much story is left to develop for the Spites: The way some of >Gs characters are handled, this update and the resulting text might be all we ever know about the Spites. Usually they have one biography update and maybe a promo that shows us progression. I think a lot of fans that are deep into SOTM don't remember that the vast majority of the canon is invented in their heads by drawing rough lines between a few solid images and a three paragraph story.
As for having infinite time for more Tactics, I'd argue that if this expansion falls flat enough, the tactics line could be winding down. The current preorder campaign is at roughly 1/4 the popularity of the first box's kickstarter (I was among those). I really want this product to be super cool, and I'm sorry expressing concerns isn't more of a fun topic! ;)
One thing I will add, I'm not too keen on how the artwork has gone lately, ironically after just praising it in a previous post.
One thing I loved about Sentinels was how it was often how comics *should* look, sure there were some sexy women about but the cheesecake was kept real low despite some slightly revealing costumes, but just look at Aminia's new look (hello boobs) and MindPhyre looks utterly ridiculously awful. Being all variations on one character the designs of the different Spites show up horribly the typical treatment of women compared to men in comics art, you've got various malformed beasts and bruisers and some kick ass looking guy... and a woman barely wearing anything. Colour me very disappointed.
I understand you, BrotherDusk. But I think that, if the Spites are "lacking", it will change during the play tests - "our" playtesters are very exigeant, as far as I know. I'd also point that, with Tactics, the scenarios you are given to play are more background story - they show you the actual adventures, goals and actions of the characters involved.
It happened a lot of times before - we read the Bios, maybe we see a base power and a few illustrations, and we feel something is lacking. I remember ChronoRanger being seen as "redundant" by some because he was a gun hero, as Expatriette, because nothing about his gameplay was revealed at the time. We tend to assume a lot about how a character will play / feel from what is only a preview, only scratching the surface, and sometimes written to deliberately mislead the reader.
I am not saying you should keep your concerns to yourself, I am just trying to assure you that it isn't a catastrophe in the making :D I am sorry if I may sound patronizing - it is not my intent, what I mean is that I trust the "GtG + their playtesters" combo a lot about good gameplay and good stories.
This said, Rook/Broken City, in both incarnations, is a more gritty take on superheroics, and it is less appealing to the audience, in my opinion. The dark themes conflict a lot with what most expect from superheroes nowaday. Especially if you find yourself playing vile characters rather than heroes.
As for the popularity of Tactics, the main reason I resolved not to invest in them is that my fellow gamers are not as interested with super-hero antics as I am (and less fluent in English), so I mostly play SotM solo, something that is less interesting adn easy to do with Tactics. It's in fact the only thing that keeps me from jumping in the boat, as I have no sense of money (and I am counting my beans, right now, because I have a hard time resisting).
Actually, in Tactics, the back of each character's panel has a pretty detailed bio, so we'll definitely get more information.
I absolutely don't think you sound patronizing. Thanks for engaging with me. :D You're right that the scenario books give us another level of storytelling. I'm sure there's something more to be discovered about these characters - I'm just not completely sold that so much of the box should be devoted them - and I'm feeling burned (excuse my pun) after new Ra didn't amount to much storywise in The Flame of Freedom box set. I see what Christopher must be struggling with in storytelling. So many possible game outcomes make it hard to tell a story; even though the scenario books can set up the motivations for an encounter very well, they can never say anything conclusive at the end of an encounter about how characters have grown. He's kind of limited to new releases for that.
Well, I understand what people are saying. Each Spite seems a bit too unidimensional - for now ! - to warrant a full-fledged Tactics deck of powers, when you compare them to Sentinels Comics staples like, for example, Haka and Mainstay (who seem to warrant a more imaginative big guy design than Karnal), or when you compare all of them to the classic Spite. Like has been said, it would be quite strange to see each new Spite get a complete character treatment in Tactics, while the Citizens - even the most known and powerful ones - "only" appeared as minions.
But as far as we know, all of them could form some "one-character team", quite like Dawn and her citizens (she can have one citizen at a time out with her with "Return with the dawn"), Unity and her bots, or Proletariat and his clones. In fact, it is hinted that Demon Fist is their leader, which could make him the core character of the team (the one with a panel), while each other would be a "Companion" power, with the remaining power cards allowing for some wicked synergies between them (quite like the Proletariat clones or Unity's bots).
Yet, once again, Adam's awesome art and Christopher's backstory sold them to me. I'm completely willing to see how they will appear in Broken City, and am confident in the Sentinel Tactics development team !! Be they a single "multiple" character of five different full-fledged one, I'm sure they will be a lot of fun, and they look awesome.
Now for the remaining heroes and villains !! We want moaaaaaar !!
I just want to take a moment to make a mostly unrelated comment.
This community is pretty awesome. I recently went and looked something up on another forum and it was mostly vicious screamfests of who could insult who's ideas the most. Here we actually discuss things and value each others opinions.
Go >G Forums 
Does it mean there are more than one character to be revealed from EACH box ?
We know the mini box for both supplements will have 21 minis. Until now, we have material for 14 sculpts (4 for The DW, Exemplar, 5 for the Spites, 4 for For Profit). The box could include minis for the new Ambuscade and Operative, but since they're promos, it's highly unlikely. Some characters could have multiple minis, like Glamour for her reflections or mirrored image… Yet, we could be left with more unannounced character than we thought.
Heck, if we consider the Spites are the equivalent of a single character like Dawn&the Citizens, that would mean that we've only 6 characters for Broken City yet, while Flame of Freedom had 9. And we only have 4 characters in For Profit for now, while there were 6 in Uprising.
So, 3 left for Broken City, 2 in For Profit… To fit the 5 minis gap…
Yeah, I know, wishful thinking…
You voiced exactly what was also on my mind. Adam’s art has definitely improved from the early days but at the same time he has started to drift disappointingly into boobs and beefcake territory.
There are 18 promo cards, one for each new character. We know Broken City will have 12 characters, leaving 6 in For Profit. We know of 10 characters in Broken City (Dark Watch make 4, Exemplar, and 5 Spites), that leaves 2 characters in that. For Profit we know of 4 characters, leaving 2 left. So a total of 4 characters we don't really know much about.
I agree too. As much as I love Unity I was disappointed to see how much she'd "grown" by Tactics.
It seems that all the females recently have big boobs. I'd prefer to see more variety myself. And it's not just boobs, the variation in body types is far less than with the male characters, and with the exception of the fat character depicted as grotesque (hardly inclusive) the males are already pretty much all the same shape in the first place.
My only real gripe with Tatics is that I can't paint miniatures fast enough. 
I don't think Tactics will wind down as fast, its still in its growing pains. its getting one fan base to adopt a new style of game and play that the originating game captured.
Sentinels of the Multiverse will probably looked at as the game that caught the feel of being a super hero in league with other heroes who are all special and different in their own way. Because it blends so many of our favorite comicbook characters, its why we all keep coming back to it, its also why we get excited when a new hero comes out in a box set because we try to find an analoge of a hero we all love (or loathe.)
Tactics is trying to do the same thing, but I wonder if part of the problem is the simplicty of how it does it. Is there something that could be done that makes or improve on Tactics? Was it too rushed out the door and it could use something else? Is it simply the fact that we really can only enjoy it with at least one other person, where as with SotM we can enjoy solo? What magic is Tactics missing that SotM captured and kept us going back?
But back to the point I wanted to make. Should >G still continue with the tactics line, I think it will follow the same pattern as SotM. Which was Base Game >Rook City (Enhanced Humans)>Infernal Relics (Magic Set)>Shattered Timelines>(Time Travelers)>Vengeance(Villian!)>Wrath of the Cosmos (Cosmic Set)>Villians of the Multiverse (More Villains!)>Final Exapansion (Biggest bads of all)
The one thing I DO like most about tactics is also what related to what I don't like about tactics. While it seems we get a Base set, we also get an expansion. So while (so far) it follows the same "timeline" above, the expansion gives us more characters in the multiverse. However...Do we need a base set every time? - Sadly yes, since each base set really is more modualr terrain in a different environment, plus what we would get in each expansion (that we're looking forward to) - More heroes, more villains and more story.
So Technically after Broken City, I'm expecting to see Argent Adept and almost all of the Prime Wardens except Captain Cosmic. If we DO see Captain Cosmic, then I expect we'll see an alternative panel much later. Gloomweaver, Apostate and an Oversized Villain Akash'bhuta, we'll have The Realm of Discord on one side and maybe a giant pyramid interior for the other - The expansion will be The NEW Ennead and Anubis. As a twist they may introduce a new "god" character.
As far as Nightmist goes...I don't know the full extent of how much she is a >G character versus a >G and Richard Launius character. which could be why she is currently "lost in time and space" We know she is at least communicating with Pinion - but I'm sure one of the >G guys can confirm how much use they can getout of her.
As far as Broken City and For Profit, I really like the direction it has taken, Exemplar and the five spites are interesting enough - Because something that was hinted at was that For Profit would change how we look at teams (I think that was the quote) and considering there is an alternate Operative and Ambuscade, it makes me wonder if there will be a new "Team Synergy" ability or dynamic. Something that effects gameplay just because you're using a certain group of individuals together. In some small way I hope so, because Five characters all feeling they are a better part of Spite probably breaks down as a team from time to time (or so I would imagine.) How many times have the comics shown us that when you have a group (especially with villains) working together...doesn't always work that well together? Imagine there's what you want to do, but somehow there is a bickering mechanic that slows things down. (Ok slowing things down not always the best thing...but its thematic! and could make for some interesting stories)
nuff said, I gotta get to work!