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I am about to begin a game with my group (DOANE). Going to run the same scenario for the MA program at the local library and game store hopefully.

My question is what types of characters, powers, and gizmos should the players have? Have you guys noticed any particular styles that players like to play?

So far thinking of the following...

PC 1: Mutant - Wingless Flight, Superhuman Strength
PC 2: Super Soldier - Super Regeneration, Claws
PC 3: Alien (human appearance) - APS Stone
PC 4: Hardware -
PC 5: Experiment - Cybernetics
PC 6: Magic -
PC 7: Psionics -
PC 8: Super Invention - Power Suit
PC 9: Ancient Weapon Master -
PC 10: A Rifts Character (Came thru a Rift)-

Then letting the players pick which character they want.

Well, in my demo I went with:

Firefly: An alien who is literally living fire.

Hecate: A spellcaster in the vein of Dr. Fate from DC.

Kensai: Hot girl with a katana.

Pinball: Kind of a strange amalgamation of Bouncing Boy and Mr. Fantastic (and some players throw the Joker in there too).

Quiver: An archer character in the same vein as Hawkeye or Arsenal.

Sensei: Another archer, but more in the vein of Green Arrow (Conner Hawke).

Sentry: A straight up pastiche of the 6 Million Dollar Man.

Shaman: A character meant to call upon the elemental forces of nature.

Valor: Flying Brick, like so many superheroes.

Zippy: Speedster.

I really like the bolded ones. Do players really enjoy all of these characters? I am assuming so.

Heck, I like the group! I would drop the Rifts character for demos- crossing book lines is sometimes controversial at cons.

not to mention unnecessarily complicated

Yeah, you are probably right. Maybe a robot instead.

I played Sentry and had a blast. Most of the players also had a blast, especially the Quiver, Sensei, and Kensai relationship.

Of course, I have played in several of the Demo's Novastar has ran. And one of thing he didn't expect was for Sentry to blow off the enemy speedster's kneecap!

That mutha was brutal and fast. When I took him down, I wanted him to stay down!

From my experience...
Firefly: Female players love this character.
(aside: I've also been thanked several times for putting female superheroes as stock characters in my games. Apparently, it's not a common occurrence at Convention games... )
Hecate: One of the less popular initial choices, due to the added complexity of Magic use. A shame, since when she does get play, a lot of people have questions about Palladium's use of a "Mana Pool" mechanic for spellcasting, rather than D&D's default "Vancian" system, which I consider a major selling point for Palladium games.
Kensai: Always popular, and the "girl character" most likely to be picked by a male role-player.
Pinball: Moderately popular. Typically picked by those who enjoy "off the wall" superheroics (think Plastic Man or The Tick).
Quiver: Always used. People love this character.
But you either have to come prepared with "trick" arrows, or be willing to make off-the-cuff rulings (I favor the later, but to each his own). The one rule I have is "you only have ONE of each trick arrow", to forestall a non-stop use of "icing arrows"...
Sensei: Popular choice (if a parent is gaming with their child, there's a strong chance the parent will play Sensei, and the child either Kensai or Quiver).
Sentry: Another of the less popular choices, due to the complexity of Bionics. Sometimes smoothed over when I say "Think 6-Million Dollar Man". (though it horribly dates me )
Shaman: Probably the least popular choice, due to the complexity of Psionics. Humorous to me, as he's probably the most powerful character out of the group.
Valor: Always used. People love this character.
Zippy: Always used. People love this character.
(fun fact: I initially considered using Speedmetal from Century Station, but decided against it to keep all the characters original...and Speedy's power level would be hard to match! )

Great game all around I still cant believe you allowed us to lull the Sn strength brute to sleep by actually doing karaoke of the Bohemian rhapsody

Yes, that was hilarious. One thing I like about Novastar's game's. It's more about fun, than it is about the rules. He's willing to bend the rules for convention games to make it fast and smooth as possible.

That and when he least expects it, I do something completely off the wall, and he doesn't know how to handle it

<Terminator's final response to the question "You got a dead cat in there, or something?">

I still like my suicide attack in the Clone Wars game!

Did you speak with each new player and find the pro's and con's of their experience? I know that we are working on a few things as fast as we can so anything would help.

Those that didn't have to immediately run to their next game, so about half the table, on the average.
I also write notes during play (don't use Trickshot's "Death Blow" on Kensai, on the off chance he crits her on the first shot; literally first attack in one game), and afterward. Tiree is often my "ringer" at Conventions, and we talk and trade notes afterward as well.

"ringer" i am not sure about, but I definitely try and help out the others when I can. Go over the rules, and how to effectively use their characters if need be. I also try and let everyone else figure things out, while I stand back and provide support. But even then Novastar still changes the games up enough to throw a curveball at me every once in a while.