Back in the early eighties much of our gaming was done by snail mail as Muskateer was off to college in New Mexico and here I was up in Pennsylvania. This was back in the days before anyone had even heard of E-mail, so it was always a very exciting time when either of us got a package in the mail. The early days of Spectrum were done this way. Typically there was a little hand written file that would advance the plot a bit further and require my input on what to do next. Most often there was art of some kind in Muskateer's mails depicting some new character that had just appeared.

And then there were things that came as a complete surprise. The picture below is very much one of those surprises. Check the picture out and I'll talk about it some more down below.

The original is a complete 8" x 11" piece of paper, so yes it is huge! I shrunk it down as far as I could and still be able to make things out clearly on it. You can even make out where it was folded so that it could fit into an envelope. This is one of my very favorite things that Muskateer has drawn for me. It must have taken a week for Muskateer to draw this, if not longer. I was very touched by it.

Time wise, this took place in the early days of the old X-Factor game. Most of the characters in the picture long time Champions players and regulars to our site should be able to recognize in spite of many minor costume change. There are a few that you won't as they are original characters. Here's who these other people are.

Seated on the ground between Icicle and Morning Star is a woman in green and black. She is Revenant, a character that has yet to appear in the online campaign. Right behind Revenant and waving is Tremor. Tremor was a mutant who could manipulate the earth. However, he's pretty much been written out of the new stuff, so you'll never see him anywhere else but here.

The armored figure directly behind Morning Star is Photon. That's his original armor, before Muskateer changed it for the web site. Over Morning Star's other shoulder is an early version of the Shockwave armor.

Standing directly behind Icicle is Radioactive, another hero who has not put an appearance in yet.

The woman in Blizzard's arms is Shadow Queen in a slightly different costume.

Standing to the right of the picture, behind the Fox and next to Captain USA is Star Knight. He's the leader of the Titanic Trio.

As a public service to those folks who frequent the site but are not familiar with Champions, here's a complete run down of all the people in the pic. Some of the costumes were changed and updated when the 4th Edition of Champions hit. The older versions are what's on the pic.

Starting in the lower left hand corner, we have Dr. Destroyer in his old armor. Behind him is Slug (the guy in the helmet), Ripper, and Arrowhead, with Spinnerette over their heads. Peaking out from the right side of Dr. D is Foxbat and to his right is Ankylosaur. Behind those two working left to right is Half-Jack in a Muskateer modified costume, Stinger (red costume with antenna), Black Paladin, Void (all in black with party hat), and Hexmaster (purple guy with weird yellow stuff around his shoulders). Behind Half-Jack and Stinger is King Cobra, then Professor Muerte, and that's Death Command holding the glass. Behind DC is Grond and that's Plague flying over the birthday banner to Spin's left.

Moving to the middle of the picture we have Icicle and Morning Star holding the cake with Revenant and Tremor under the cake. Behind the cake is Armadillo. Over Armadillo's right shoulder is a hero that hasn't appeared yet named Radioactive, and that's Shockwave over the left shoulder in an older costume. Behind them is Giganto with Shrinker standing on his right shoulder. Holding up the banner above them is Dragonfly with a Minuteman Robot in the background.

Standing behind Morning Star is Photon in his old armor. Behind Photon is Mechanon and the Annihilator. Working left to right, the bottom of the picture has Captain USA, the Monster, Star Knight of the Titanic Trio, and the Fox armed with a dangerous looking pie. Overhead we have Blizzard on an ice slide carrying Shadow Queen in a modified costume in his arms. That's Blue Jay in the upper right hand corner.

That's who they all are!