History Characters / MetaRunner

* NiceGuy: At least in the past. Dr. Sheridan used to be a fairly decent and overall pleasant man, and proved to one of the nicest people at TAS-Corp alongside Lucinia and Bo. Unfortunately, this didn't last for long...

* DropTheHammer: Is briefly seen wielding a pineapple-shaped one in the Season 1 trailer. It's shown properly in Episode 2. Uses it again in episode 20 when she faces off against Evelyn.

* NiceMeanAndInbetween: The nice to Belle's In-Between and Evelyn's Mean. She's easily the kindest of the "current" TAS Corp employees shortly preceding Sheridan setting his plans in motion]] and does her damndest to make the best out of her bad situation.

* UnwittingPawn: Her creator, Dr. Sheridan, made her as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death, allowing him to enact his ultimate scheme with no competition]].

* WetwareBody: She's really an AI merged with part of someone’s consciousness inside of a human-like body. How she got the body is still unknown]].

* PunchClockVillain: She is loyal towards [[MegaCorp TAS Corp]], and while she can be as menacing as [[BadBoss Lucks]], she is however not as malicious as he is, as she notably has a FriendlyRivalry dynamic with Tari, at least until she realizes the connection between her and Lucinia's demise]], and [[EveryoneHasStandards showed heavy concern for her when the TAS Corp scientists were causing her unbearable pain, to the point of objecting to Lucks.]]

* BenevolentBoss: He treats his workers fairly, and is horrified to find them affected (read: left paralyzed and basically dying) by Sheridan's cyberattack]].

** Shows up at the end of "Fatal Error" to help MD-5 escape the police, although it was only so that they would pay him back for Masa cheating at the game.]]

!Due to the nature of the series, there are '''Unmarked Spoilers''' for all of the cast. YouHaveBeenWarned.

!Due to the nature of the series, beware of '''Unmarked Spoilers''' for almost all of the cast.

!!Tari[[spoiler:/Turbo Artifcal Rapid Intelligence]]

* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. While Tari's sweetess and kindness had not been diminished in the slightest, as well as shyness, she lacks her optimism and confidence from ''Super Mario 64 Bloopers'', as well as her passion for gaming. She is also far more somber and mature, lacking any of her childishness and cowardice. She also displays a mild temper and will sass her enemies back when they give her shit. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in being that she is clearly older, is amnesiac and has [[DarkAndTroubledPast darker origins]] in this universe, and depending on how one interprets the vague hints of her backstory and strange abilities, she could very well be an highly advanced AI/android/clone who just came online, albeit with enough of a developed mind to possess a personality. However, she's slowly starting to become gradually more optimistic, and already has a love of ducks, so, it's possible she will eventually become more akin to her original self. Thanks to the TrainingFromHell she's gotten from being forced to work at TAS Corp, she's become quite a bit braver at handling situations.
* AmnesiacHero: Hinted at in the Season 1 trailer. In the first episode proper, she wakes up with no memory at all other than her name, and a few snippets as well. [[spoiler:This ends up being {{subverted}} with the reveal that she's actually an AI, and all of her "memories" came from recordings made before she became sentient, meaning she had no past life to begin with. ''DoubleSubverted'' with the upcoming ''Meta Runner: Source'' graphic novel where it's revealed that Tari was sentient even before becoming human]].

* ArtificialHuman: ''Fatal Error'' reveals that [[spoiler:her AI derived from Lucinia's fractured and digitized consciousness, essentially making them twins. This AI was later put inside a body to make Tari...]]
--> '''Theo''': Wait, Tari? [[spoiler:You're like...me?]]
* BewareTheNiceOnes: She's a real sweetheart willing to help out those she meets and even feeling bad when she unwittingly hurts someone's feelings. However, getting on her bad side is one of the worst mistakes you can make as [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Lucks]], [[spoiler:[[MadScientist Sheridan]]]] and [[PsychopathicWomanchild Evelyn]] learn the hard way.

* BroughtDownToNormal: [[spoiler:In Season 3, Evelyn damages her Meta Runner arm, disabling her ability to warp, trapping her in Sheridan's server, and later, after pieces of Lucinia's mind were removed from her, she loses her built in HUD as well]].

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:As shown in the Season 2 premiere, Tari has fallen into this ever since joining TAS Corp. Even putting aside the tragedy she experienced in the Season 1 finale, she’s been largely unhappy despite her six-month winning streak, between the coldness of her teammate Belle and the constant aggressive coaching from Lucks. Even when she’s allowed to see Theo, she knows that their situation is pretty hopeless even when she promises him that they’ll see MD-5 again one day.]]
* DropTheHammer: Is briefly seen wielding a pineapple-shaped one in the Season 1 trailer. It's shown properly in Episode 2. Uses it again in episode 20 [[spoiler: when she faces off against Evelyn]].

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: You may not think much about it at first, but her last flashbacks [[spoiler:[[OminousVisualGlitch had heavily glitched appearances]] right before the lab explosion, hinting that those first memories actually came from a camera recording rather than a human eye. This gets further proven when Belle finds footage of "Project Blue," and the footage visually matches Tari's memories]].

* FunWithAcronyms: [[spoiler: Turbo Artificial Rapid Intelligence.]][[labelnote:*]]May have been retconned to [[spoiler:Turbo Assisted Rapid Intelligence]][[/labelnote]]

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Subverted. Tari realizes she has to give herself up in order to fully revive Lucinia. However, thanks to the parting words of A.I. Lucks, she manages to find a way to live on even after Lucinia is revived, by managing to download her data alongside Theo’s into her own server made from whatever she could salvage from Sheridan’s server, and transferring it onto Theo’s old cartridge. But due to their instability, they can't leave without suffering from severe glitches, meaning that they won't have contact with the real world again for a long, long time, while their friends truly believe they’re dead.]]

* MeaningfulName: Doubles as a ShoutOut. Her name is derived from Creator/{{Atari}}, a video game company and former video game hardware manufacturer that had a major role in popularizing home video game consoles in the late [=70s=] and early [=80s=]. [[spoiler: In-universe, however, it is revealed to be [[FunWithAcronyms an acronym for]] Turbo Artificial Rapid Intelligence in ''Fatal Error''.]]

* NiceMeanAndInbetween: The nice to Belle's In-Between and Evelyn's Mean. She's easily the kindest of the "current" TAS Corp employees [[spoiler:shortly preceding Sheridan setting his plans in motion]] and does her damndest to make the best out of her bad situation.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: It seemed like she perished when she gave back Lucinia's conciousness, but it's later revealed that she and Theo are both in their own personal server. Unfortunately, since Tari had to give back Lucinia's conciousness, which helped her survive in the real world, she and Theo would suffer major glitches if they went back, and it seems like the rest of their friends may never know that they still live on.]]

* ReiAyanamiExpy: A ShyBlueHairedGirl [[spoiler: who also happens to be an ArtificialHuman.]]
* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler:How she, an A.I., got her body is never explained. However, this might possibly get explained in ''Meta Runner: Source'']].
* SeriesGoal: To find out more about her past. She eventually learns that she's [[spoiler:and advanced gaming A.I. merged with Lucinia's conciousness, but she's not sure how she got her body. After managing to save Lucinia and surviving by importing her data into a new server, she manages to find backups of her memory which are explored in the ''Meta Runner: Source'' comic]].

* SpeedBlitz: Beats the crap out of [[spoiler: Lucinia]] at high speed with the help of a pair of magic boots.
* SplitPersonalityTeam: [[spoiler: Not outright stated, but it's implied that Tari [[CurbStompBattle overpowering]] Evelyn in Hidden Heroes was thanks to assistance from the pieces of Lucinia that were in the TAS Corp servers and had leaked out during Sofia’s data transfer.]]

* TrappedInAnotherWorld: [[spoiler:This is the reason that Tari is in ''Skybreakers'' in Season 3, as she was forced to retreat Sofia's makeshift warp portal and her own warp ability was broken by Evelyn]].

* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:Her creator, Dr. Sheridan, made her as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death, allowing him to enact his ultimate scheme with no competition]].
* VolcanicVeins: Tampering with Tari’s arm while she’s warping causes glowing, circuit-like designs to start spreading from her eyes and arm until her [[ShockwaveStomp shockwave]] is triggered. [[spoiler: This foreshadows the fact that Tari is a hyper-intelligent AI in an artificial body.]]
* WeakButSkilled: Her abilities grant her incredible feats, but because she was practically born with those abilities, she has zero preparation for the case where she doesn't have her abilities [[spoiler:which is what happens to her early in Season 3]].
* WetwareBody: [[spoiler:She's really an AI merged with part of someone’s consciousness inside of a human-like body. How she got the body is still unknown]].
* WistfulSmile: Gives this look in the thumbnail of the final episode. [[spoiler:It was meant to foreshadow her sacrifice to bring back Lucinia.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:Having unintentionally achieved what Sheridan made her to do, Sheridan sought to have the mind fragments Tari absorbed from Lucinia forcefully carved out]].
* YoungerThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:As if the reveal that she's an A.I. in a human-like body that came online not long ago wasn't enough to convince you, a monitor in the second episode of the final season reveals that she's still ''one year old'']].
* YoureNotMyFather: [[spoiler:With the revelation of Dr. Sheridan being her creator, Tari is as far-removed from his psychosis as she can possibly be. Quickly disavowing her creator when he insists that he is ''"like her dad"''.]]

* DistressedDude: [[spoiler: Ends up being held hostage and imprisoned for most of Season 2 as collateral by Lucks to force Tari to work with TAS Corp and for [=MD-5=] to never interfere with his plans again.]]

* {{Intangibility}}: It requires very specific conditions, but he can phase through walls [[invoked]] [[GoodBadBugs as a result of his game's faulty collision detection.]] [[spoiler:This even works when he's held captive by TAS Corp outside of his own game]].

* LivingOnBorrowedTime: [[spoiler:In Episode 6 of the final season, it's revealed that ever since Theo was permanently separated from his game, he's been having several random glitches every now and then and has been hiding it from the others. It's also shown here that he has to concentrate hard to stop the glitching]].

* NoEnding: His video game merely ends with a flagpole in the middle of a volcano without any official FinalBoss. That's what it would've been like for Tari and Theo [[spoiler:if Evelyn didn't show up with a hacked enemy]].
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: It seemed like he perished when Evelyn crushed him in Skybreakers, but it's later revealed that he survived thanks to Tari managing to collect his data and putting them both into Tari's personal server. Unfortunately, since neither he or Tari after she returned Lucinia's conciousness aren't very stable in the real world and would suffer major glitches, it seems like the rest of their friends may never know that they still live on.]]

* SecretlyDying: As revealed in the sixth episode of Season 3, [[spoiler:it's revealed that Theo has continued to glitch after his data was extracted from his corruputed cartridge and it's heavily implied that it will result in his death, causing Theo to keep it a secret from his friends]].

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Given how {{Sociopath}}ic he's been toward everyone, no one mourns his murder in the Season 2 finale. They're more worried about the effects it'll have on his "killer."]]
* BadBoss: While not outright violent, Lucks is quite callous in his treatment of his right-hand woman Belle, and makes no secret of his disappointment when she fails at competitions. He also sees no problem with threatening to decommission her and even angrily manhandles her when she mouths off to him. [[spoiler: He doesn't prove to be much better to Tari once he has her, as he's constantly pushing her to meet his sky-high expectations.]]
* TheBadGuyWins: At the end of Season 1, [[spoiler: Lucks backs MD-5 into a corner by blasting off Masa's bionic arm and threatening to kill him unless Sofia surrenders herself. She does so and Lucks orders her data deleted. He agrees to an offer from Tari to let the team go in exchange for her joining TAS Corp and promising that they'd no longer interfere in his business, but in order to ensure this, he crushes the ''Ultra Jump Mania'' cartridge, causing Theo to disappear from the real world and leaving him trapped in his microchip, therefore holding Theo hostage. He warns Tari and MD-5 that if they go back on their word, then he will effectively erase Theo. With that, Tari is now under his thumb as a Meta Runner, and Masa, Sofia, and Lamar's hands are tied in helping her. Ends up being subverted by the end of Season 2, where he gets his much deserved comeuppance in an incredibly KarmicDeath at the hands of Dr. Sheridan to MakeWayForTheNewVillains.]]

* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:How he is murdered, by Dr. Sheridan through Masa's hands, literally. It's pretty clear it's fatal]].
* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:The first character in the series to unambiguously die. This is turned on him in ''Fatal Error'', when Dr. Sheridan, his disgraced former employee, enables MD-5 to corner him after Sofia is finally able to leak his scuzziness to the public, and then hacks into Masa's new bionic arm and makes him shoot Lucks in the head.]]
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: His goal is to acquire Tari to further strengthen TAS Corp, no matter how many others get hurt in the process. [[spoiler:As of Season 2, he's succeeded in doing so.]] He's also done a lot of shady dealings, which MD-5 are determined to expose to the public and tarnish his reputation with.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:The original goal was to expose his company's illegal practices and put him in jail, but Sheridan has other ideas.]]
* DyingSmirk: [[spoiler:He sports one of these in final moments, legitimately impressed that Sheridan is not only alive, but has gotten one over on him before the latter forces Masa to blow out Lucks' brains.]]

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:When facing down the barrel of his own pistol from Masa by his own will, his eyes do widen when Masa reasons he could still worm his way out of jail and doesn't back down, but even after he stands down only for his arm to glitch out and act on it's own, he still doesn't beg for his life, only smirking ruefully and congratulating the one taking control of Masa's arm (referring to Sheridan) before he takes a point-blank shot to the head, as seen below.]]

* GoodScarsEvilScars: [[spoiler:Masa punching him in the eye not only gives him a black eye, but a scar as well. Keep in mind that it was Masa's Meta Runner arm--i.e. the one made of metal--he was hit with. This is followed by a gaping gunshot wound.]]
* GoryDiscretionShot: [[spoiler: The camera doesn't let you see Lucks' shot face, though some blood lands on Masa's face.]]
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Not only did his attempts to cover up the Project Blue incident ultimately lead to the demise of both his company and ''himself'', but his death was at the hands of his own gun.]]

** He ends up being this to [[spoiler:Tari once he has her under his thumb, as he's ''constantly'' pushing her to improve her skills, even with her six-month winning streak. In fact, in the Season 2 premiere during the car ride back to TAS Corp, he criticizes her last performance ''immediately'' after finishing a call where he talks about her joining his main line-up soon.]]
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: In the season one finale, he manages to thwart MD-5's plan of taking down [=TASCorp=]. But in the season two finale, he ends up getting exposed and labeled as a criminal in “Fatal Error”, although his death prevents him from actually facing the consequences.]]
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: His ignorance of Dr. Sheridan’s experiments and subsequent cover up of Lucinia’s fate comes back to bite him in the ass when Sheridan takes control of Masa’s Meta Runner arm and shoots him dead... with the same gun he used to shoot off Masa’s original arm, no less.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Gets shot in the head by Sheridan controlling Masa's arm in "Fatal Error".]]
* LargeAndInCharge: He's the BigBad for Seasons 1 and 2, the head of TAS Corp and is quite a bit taller than [[TheAce Belle]]. [[spoiler:It also helps him put up a decent fight with Masa in both of the season finales he appears in. It doesn't save him from getting his head blown off by his own gun.]]

** He has this reaction when he realizes that Belle [[spoiler:found out that he knew what happened to Lucinia]].
** His eyes widen noticeably in the Season 2 finale when [[spoiler:Masa, with a gun pointed at him, points out that even if he gets arrested, he could worm his way out of trouble.]]

* PragmaticVillainy: For all of his villainous traits and actions, he only seems to resort to extreme measures when someone refuses to cooperate with him. If someone is willing to cooperate with him, he'll be more than happy to negotiate instead. This is best shown in Episode 10 where, [[spoiler: despite having the MD-5 crew dead to rights, he still lets them go once he strikes a deal with Tari for her loyalty to TAS Corp.]]
** Another example in Episode 12. Lucks talks it up with Theo [[spoiler: in his cell, saying that, as much as Theo's been bored with it for six months, it was necessary for him to survive, otherwise he would still be glitching out or lifelessly floating in a void within his microchip.]]

* RankScalesWithAsskicking: Lucks is a capable fighter, proven when he [[spoiler: easily overpowers Masa in [=S01E10=] when the latter tries to attack the former.]]

* TheSociopath: Whatever good intentions he might have according to Belle, Lucks' willingness to experiment on a prone Tari's arm, even though it puts Tari in excruciating pain, and not even batting an eye at Tari's screams or Belle's disgust and pleas for him to stop does not at all imply "stern humanitarian". He just gets worse from there, culminating in Episode 10 by [[spoiler: putting a gun to Masa's head after blasting off his robotic arm to force Sofia to surrender with Tari and Lamar unable to help due to being held at gunpoint by the guards. Despite this, he is more than willing to back down when Tari offers to work for him, as he wanted from the start, and he agrees to let them go provided they not interfere. But to ensure this, he smashes the Ultra Jump Mania cartridge and thus traps a hapless Theo, with his life on the line if they go back on their word, reinforcing this.]]

* TheStoic: He's no-nonsense and all business in contrast with [[spoiler:Sheridan's deranged and childish behavior]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler: Lucks stealing the credit for the Meta Runner arm from Sheridan was the main instigator for Sheridan going insane and plotting the downfall of TAS Corp and the rise of [=SHERCorp=] using Tari and Remote Warping Technology. In other words, Lucks is responsible for the events of the entire series.]]
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: While Lucks generally managed to keep his dirty little secrets hidden from the public and media [[spoiler:up until his final moments]], as Sofia points out in “Friendly Fire”, that hasn’t stopped some people from suspecting that some things were amiss, as she shows him a collection of news and social media posts speculating on various things he was involved with, from the sudden “early retirements” of Masa and Lucinia, to people claiming to have seen him at Gamma Tech Stadium during the events of “Shutdown”. [[spoiler:As of the Season 2 finale, all bets are off as with Belle's help, Sofia plasters all incriminating evididence for Silcia City and all the world to see, and a police sqaud's telltale sirens indicate he'll finally face jailtime for it all. Up until Masa is forced to murder him by Dr. Sheridan]].

* WouldHitAGirl: Incites agonizing pain on Tari when his scientists were experimenting on her robotic arm. He also roughly manhandles Belle very early on. [[spoiler:The Season 1 finale also gives the implication that Lucks would be willing to shoot her if he felt justified in doing so.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: In order to ensure [[spoiler: Tari's cooperation and MD-5 staying out of his business, Lucks crushes the ''Ultra Jump Mania'' cartridge, forcing Theo out of the real world and trapping him within his microchip, threatening to erase him for good if Tari or MD-5 step out of line.]]

** Not to mention her traumatized reaction when she found out about Lucinia's possible death. It's made clear that there's SOME history behind the two of them, albeit without specifics. [[spoiler:Made unambiguous with the two sharing a kiss in the finale.]]

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: [[spoiler:She's in a relationship with Lucinia, and just the thought of something bad happening to her is enough to rile her up]].

* AxCrazy: While a bit subtle than [[spoiler: Dr. Sheridan]], it's very clear the girl is obviously not right in the head. She's willing to commit all sorts of heinous crimes just so she could kill Tari and doesn't care about the consequences of her actions.

* DaddysGirl: Seems to be close with her "daddy", as shown in TheStinger for "Fatal Error" when she gets a phone call from [[spoiler:Dr. Sheridan]].
* TheDragon: With Belle's morals (and ultimate HeelFaceTurn) causing her to fail in the role, Evelyn effectively serves as this to Lucks in Season 2, serving as Tari's main foe in video game environments. [[spoiler:She has since become one to Dr. Sheridan in Season 3 following Lucks' death, this time around being tasked to kill Tari and take whatever data is left of her back.]]
* {{Expy}}: With her pompous, spoiled, attention-whoring disposition, pink hair, and immense jealousy issues, all that's missing is the homicidal bloodthirst and you have ''Meta Runner'''s equivelent of [[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers Saiko Bichitaru]] as she was before her reformation. [[spoiler:Said homicidal bloodthirst would later come into play anyway, thanks to Dr. Sheridan.]]

* GodMode: [[spoiler:Sheridan grants her this when he gives her the warping ability, allowing her to disable Tari's warping ability, [[PunchedAcrossTheRoom punch her across the room]], and summon weapons from whatever game she wishes. This extends to games outside of the server where she is immune to banning and can break some of the rules]].

* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:She causes Theo to disperse into data fragments after fighting him in episode 7, though she herself is unsure of exactly what extent Theo is gone, but decides to gloat to Tari that she killed Theo anyway]].

* IShallTauntYou: [[spoiler: In Overload, she causes Theo to disappear. Later while she has Tari cornered, before she decides to kill her she decides to tell her what she did to him. Unfortunately for Evelyn, this was a very bad decision, as Tari's breakdown ends up causing Masa to break free of Sheridan's mind control and attack her in the game and knock out Sheridan in the real world, freeing Belle in the process and allowing Tari to fight back.]]
* Main/{{Irony}}: After all her "effort" to get recognized by the world, [[InsufferableImbecile Evelyn]] ends up being locked in her gaming pod (because [[StupidEvil of her]] [[TooDumbToLive own faults]]) after being hoodwinked by Tari, Sofia and Lamar in the "Soft Lock" episode, away from being seen. [[spoiler:Eventually, she does get recognized in some way… [[LaserGuidedKarma as a prison inmate for working with Sheridan]], sure to draw attention to herself with her perpetual sobbing and the ugly, now-useless device grafted to her head.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:After everything she has done throughout the entire series, she finally faces her comeuppance in the form of jail time for working with Sheridan in the final episode.]]

* MoreDespicableMinion: [[spoiler:Somehow manages to be this to ''both'' evil parties she worked for. Lucks and Sheridan both defend their actions by claiming they want to help people and change the world for the better, but Evelyn makes no such justifications. She doesn’t even seem to care about Sheridan’s horrific endgame, just so long as she gets to prove her superiority to Tari.]]
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:She has Tari dead to rights en route to Sheridan's server, but instead of killing her enemy then and there, she decides to torture her by saying that Theo disappeared in his fight with her, knowing full well of the bond they forged and how Tari would react. Said reaction is what ended up breaking Masa (and eventually Belle) from Sheridan's mind control, leading to her undoing.]]

* NotHyperbole: In Season 3, [[spoiler:the A.I.s who brag to Tari that Evelyn is much better than Tari aren't exaggerations at that point, as unlike Tari, she actually had gaming skills before gaining her new abilities from Sheridan]].
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Prior to Season 3, Evelyn was a nuisance at best and at worst a roadblock to MD-5, with Lucks only giving her the Glitchemoth as a last resort. [[spoiler: Once Sheridan upgrades her, she becomes a credible threat that gives a massive CurbStompBattle to Tari. As lampshaded by her, she's an example of what Tari would be like if she had actual skill behind her abilities]].

** And that’s before getting into the fact that [[spoiler:she helped Dr. Sheridan in his plot to kill untold amounts of people and trap their souls in his simulation of it meant being able to be dominant over Tari. And not once does she seem to show any remorse over any of the people she’s leading to their doom.]]

* TheSociopath: A low-functioning one as while her nastiness is made obvious, she has a massive superiority complex, and she even supports [[spoiler:Sheridan, despite him being a psychotic maniac who wants to warp everyone into his server to abuse them]] all over her hatred towards Tari, showing she doesn't care who gets hurt as long as she gets her way.

* StrongAndSkilled: [[spoiler:Part of the reason why she's almost unstoppable with the new abilities Sheridan gave her is because she already had gaming experience beforehand, something which Tari never got to genuinely develop]].

** She then has another one as [[spoiler: Tari gets the high ground after regaining her Meta Runner abilities.]]
** And finally, [[spoiler:when she loses everything and goes to jail, she sobs hysterically.]]

** In Episode 11, Masa is forced to use a one-hand controller after [[spoiler:Lucks shot his Meta Runner arm off]], and still cleans house in a ''War Tech Fighters'' match.

* BodyAndHost: [[spoiler: A downplayed, technological example: Dr. Sheridan hijacks Masa’s arm at the ending of season 2, using it to kill Lucks while throwing off the matter of blame for the murder. Arguably, Masa himself did this to Marco earlier in the season, as while he didn’t explicitly take control of Marco’s extra arms, both he and Sheridan used the same strategy of sneaking a “Meta Bug” onto their victim’s mechanical implant.]]
* BrokenPedestal: Subverted. As implied in episode 10, then revealed in Episode 12, [[spoiler: what kindness he had towards Tari and Theo went out the window upon learning about Tari’s involvement with the Project Blue incident, and in turn, Lucinia’s apparent death (despite Tari stating she had no idea about it), and Theo being (unwillingly) used by Lucks to spy on MD-5 and expose Operation Silent Demon to him, which adds to his initial reluctance to rejoin Lamar and Sofia when they find him.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Lamar:''' “What about them?” They’re stuck at TAS Corp being used by Lucks as human shields! They’re our friends, and they’re in danger!\\
'''Masa:''' They are ''not'' our friends! Theo was a spy, and Tari was involved with that... Project Blue and Dr. Sheridan!]]
* CombatPragmatist: Is willing to fight dirty when the need arises. [[spoiler: During his match against Marco, he activates a device to disable the latter's extra arms to buy enough time to land a killing blow.]]
* DefectorFromDecadence: [[spoiler:He used to work at TAS Corp as a team captain, but later turned against the company after suspecting Lucks of murdering the recently missing Lucinia. His attempt to hack into Lucks' private servers for evidence against him led to him being decommissioned, leading to him forming MD-5.]]
* FakeArmDisarm: [[spoiler:Ends up losing the lower half of his Meta Runner arm after Lucks shot it off in Episode 10.]] [[spoiler:He also loses his new arm after it after attacking Sheridan and overloaded his mind control chip but it got taken by Marco and put in storage in the finale]].

** [[spoiler:As revealed in the Season 2 premiere, he took MD-5's defeat at the hands of Lucks ''hard''; he quickly abandoned Lamar and Sofia, and six months later, is now dueling low-tier gamers for money with a one handed controller.]]
** [[spoiler: And he goes through this once again at the end of the same season when he loses control of his arm and ends up unintentionally killing Lucks... right after MD-5 talked him out of shooting him.]]
* {{Irony}}: He ends up [[spoiler: having to cheat by using a device to cripple Marco in order to win a new Meta Runner arm. Dr. Sheridan ends up using a similar device to take control of his new arm and frame him for Lucks’ murder.]]

* MadeOfIron: The finale shows that he survived [[spoiler:a screwdriver through the neck followed by the mind-control device in his skull exploding with enough force to knock out Sheridan from a fair distance away]].

* RedEyesTakeWarning: [[spoiler:His eyes completely glow red when warped]].
* RockBottom: Is very clearly here in the beginning of Season 2, to the point that he runs away and makes a living off of dueling low-level gamers, and [[spoiler: resorts to cheating to get a new Meta Runner arm in episode 3]].

* TrappedInAnotherWorld: [[spoiler:Has his brain surgically modified by Sheridan to trap his mind in his simulation]].
* TraumaCongaLine: He's put through the wringer in all three seasons. In the show's backstory alone, he's decommisioned to cover up Lucks' involvement in what happened to Lucinia. Then, in Season 1, [[spoiler:he gets his arm shot off when MD-5's plan to expose TAS Corp is found out. In Season 2, he's forced to kill Lucks by Dr. Sheridan, putting him at a real risk of going to jail for murder. In Season 3, he and Belle are kidnapped by Dr. Sheridan (aka the same guy that made him kill a man) and mind-controlled into fighting their friends. And even though both Lucks and Sheridan are defeated and Belle and Lucinia are together again by the end, he still loses his arm ''again''.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Ends up suffering from this in Episode 10 upon learning about [[spoiler:her sister, Lucinia's, death.]] This is rather viciously notable, as aside from a brief moment in Episode 5, we never see Sofia emotionally down.

* HellYesMoment: Her reaction to [[spoiler:Marco coming to the rest of MD-5's rescue]] in the S2 finale, in noticeable contrast to everyone else's... less certain faces.

* YourMakeupIsRunning: When she finds out [[spoiler:the truth behind her sister's death]].

** He saves Tari again in the sixth episode of the final season [[spoiler:after escaping Sheridan's server lobby while forcefully warped, no less]].

* TrappedInAnotherWorld: [[spoiler:He briefly gets warped into Sheridan’s server by Evelyn. Thankfully, he manages to escape and sneak onto Evelyn’s ship in to help Tari.]].

* AceCustom: Unlike the other Meta Runners who all sacrificed one of their arms to get an artificial one designed to make Gaming more efficient, Marco carries around a bulky backpack designed and built by himself that comes with a second set of robotic arms to help give him an advantage in gaming by serving as a Player Two, stating that he doesn't trust mass-produced corporate technology. [[spoiler:This allows him to be the only other Gamer to be immune to Sheridan's cyberattack that caused all other Meta Runners to have their minds sealed away inside of his private server.]]

* BenevolentBoss: He treats his workers fairly, [[spoiler:and is horrified to find them affected (read: left paralyzed and basically dying) by Sheridan's cyberattack]].

** [[spoiler:Shows up at the end of "Fatal Error" to help MD-5 escape the police, although it was only so that they would pay him back for Masa cheating at the game.]]
** [[spoiler:He, with the help of Sofia, ends up tracking down Sheridan’s location, provides Sheridan a CurbStompBattle and finally ends up being the one to actually kill the bastard.]]

* TheImmune: Because Marco's arms weren't created using [[spoiler:Sheridan]]'s technology, he can't be [[spoiler:forcibly warped into Sheridan's server]].

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's portrayed as an unpleasant man right from the start being very antagonistic towards MD-5, but when [[spoiler:Sheridan]] strikes, he warms up to the gang and it's even shown that he cares about his co-workers.

* MultiArmedMultitasking: Playing co-op games without a partner doesn't slow him down, his robotic arms act as his Player 2. [[spoiler: Masa exploits this by disabling the arms at a critical moment, leaving Marco's car unable to move as Masa drops a boulder on it]].
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Downplayed given how Marco is more of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold {{Anti Hero}}, but it still counts. [[spoiler:In the finale, he ends up outright frying Sheridan alive with some of Sheridan’s own meta bugs before pushing him into his own server to both guaranteed Sheridan’s death and destroy the server itself.]]
* ProperlyParanoid: He made his robotic arms from scratch because of his distrust of corporate technology. This ends up protecting him from [[spoiler:being warped into Sheridan's server]].

* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: He’s ultimately the one who helps Tari find a way to live on even after reviving Lucinia in the finale.]]

* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:After Sheridan dies and the server begins the collapse, A.I. Lucks uses what little time he has left in life to help Tari continue the process to revive Lucinia and give her a hint to save herself and Theo.]]
* DyingAsYourself: As [[spoiler:Sheridan's server is collapsing, the A.I. Lucks was freed from Sheridan's control and his personality changes into a slightly friendlier version of the real Lucks. After giving Tari hints, he wishes her good luck before walking into the void and getting deleted]].

* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Originally designed to basically be a punching bag for Sheridan to take out all his frustration on, this Lucks does seem to be developing feelings, as evidenced when he feels bad for Belle and Masa when they are in Sheridan's captivity while Sheridan himself isn't looking. [[spoiler:That's not even getting into his words of encouragement to Tari at the end.]]

* IronicEcho: [[spoiler:Repeats the actual Lucks’ line about TAS Corp nurturing the gifted to Tari to showcase his HeelFaceTurn.]]
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: [[spoiler:Downplayed, since Sheridan was already killed by Marco at that point, but he hints at a possible way for Tari to survive after reviving Lucinia, something Sheridan would never have allowed, after gleefully admitting how degrading it was being the crazed scientist's punching bag.]]

* BackForTheFinale: She returns in the series finale to [[spoiler:help Tari fight the brainwashed Lucinia]].

[[folder:Dr. James Sheridan ('''SPOILERS ARE UNMARKED''')]]

[[folder:Lucinia ('''SPOILERS ARE UNMARKED''')]]

[[folder:Sheridan's A.I. assistant '''(SEASON 3 SPOILERS)''']]

* BigBadDuumvirate: Derek Lucks and Dr. James Sheridan are the two main antagonists of Meta Runner because Derek Lucks drove the series' plot (He's a Big Bad through and through.), he's the director of conflict (Lucks stealing the credit for the Meta Runner arm from Dr. Sheridan was the main instigator for Sheridan going insane and plotting the downfall of TAS Corp and the rise of SHER Corp using Tari and Remote Warping Technology. Him motivating Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made Masa a murder, being Tari's archenemy, being the biggest threat to the MD-5, being the series' final target and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict in the first place. He's indirectly responsible for Tari's existence because Dr. Sheridan made Tari as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death. In other words, Lucks is responsible for the events of the entire series.), he has more screen time than any other villain (If you ignore Belle.), he's the main focus for MD-5 to take down, he's the MD-5's Big Bad, Dr. Sheridan was not revealed at all until the end credits of Fatal Error, he threatened to fire Dr. Sheridan, his goal is to acquire Tari to further strengthen TAS Corp, no matter how many others get hurt in the process, as of Season 2, he's succeed in doing so, he's done a lot of shady dealings, which MD-5 are determined to expose to the public and tarnish his reputation with, Dr. Sheridan was never responsible for his villainy because him stealing Dr. Sheridan's credit for inventing the Meta Runner is what motivated Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness in the first place, he didn't listen to anyone, he was the one with the bigger plans before Dr. Sheridan revealed his true role in the Fatal Error episode, him getting shot by Dr. Sheridan was his karma for being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan and him being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made him look like child's play in comparison in the first place and Dr. James Sheridan plays a more active role once his true colors are revealed, he's the director of conflict (As it turns out, he was the true creator of the Meta Runner arm, Lucks just stole all the credit from him. Aside from that, as the mastermind behind Project Blue, he is the indirect perpetrator of Lucinia's near-death, which would end up being the reason Masa started butting heads with Lucks and formed MD-5 in the first place. Project Blue was also the cause of Tari's creation, and indirectly Theo entering the real world. In other words, Dr. Sheridan is responsible for literally everything that happens in the series.), he makes Lucks look like child's play in comparison, he's the one with the bigger plans (He wants to change the world and on the other hand Lucks just wants to hide his identity.), he's Tari's archenemy, he made Tari a unwitting pawn (Her creator, Dr. Sheridan, made her as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death, allowing him to enact his ultimate scheme with no competition.), he's the MD-5's biggest threat, he's the series' final target, he wants to get his revenge on Lucks for stealing his credit and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict.

* BigBadDuumvirate: Dr. James Sheridan and Derek Lucks are the two main antagonists of Meta Runner because Dr. James Sheridan plays a more active role once his true colors are revealed, he's the director of conflict (As it turns out, he was the true creator of the Meta Runner arm, Lucks just stole all the credit from him. Aside from that, as the mastermind behind Project Blue, he is the indirect perpetrator of Lucinia's near-death, which would end up being the reason Masa started butting heads with Lucks and formed MD-5 in the first place. Project Blue was also the cause of Tari's creation, and indirectly Theo entering the real world. In other words, Sheridan is responsible for literally everything that happens in the series), he makes Lucks look like child's play in comparison, he's the one with the bigger plans (He wants to change the world and on the other hand Lucks just wants to hide his identity.), he's Tari's archenemy, he made Tari a unwitting pawn (Her creator, Dr. Sheridan, made her as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death, allowing him to enact his ultimate scheme with no competition.), he's the MD-5' biggest threat, he's the final target, he wants to get his revenge on Lucks for stealing his credit and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict and Derek Lucks drove the series' plot (He's a Big Bad through and through.), he's the director of conflict (Lucks stealing the credit for the Meta Runner arm from Sheridan was the main instigator for Sheridan going insane and plotting the downfall of TAS Corp and the rise of SHER Corp using Tari and Remote Warping Technology. Him motivating Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made Masa a murder, being Tari's archenemy, being the biggest threat to the MD-5, being the series' final target and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict in the first place. He's indirectly responsible for Tari's existence because Dr. Sheridan made Tari as a means of causing Luck's downfall and death. He cause Lucinia's near death. In other words, Lucks is responsible for the events of the entire series.), he has more screen time than any other villain (If you ignore Belle.), he's the main focus for MD-5 to take down, he's the MD-5's Big Bad, Dr. Sheridan was not revealed at all until the end credits of Fatal Error, he threatened to fire Dr. Sheridan, his goal is to acquire Tari to further strengthen TAS Corp, no matter how many others get hurt in the process, as of Season 2, he's succeed in doing so, he's done a lot of shady dealings, which MD-5 are determined to expose to the public and tarnish his reputation with, Dr. James Sheridan was never responsible for his villainy because him stealing Sheridan's credit for inventing the Meta Runner arm is what motivated Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness in the first place, he didn't listen to anyone, he was the one with the bigger plans before Dr. Sheridan revealed his true role in the Fatal Error episode, him getting shot by Dr. Sheridan was his karma for being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan and him being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made him look like child's play in comparison in the first place.

* BigBadEnsemble: Dr. James Sheridan and Derek Lucks are the two main antagonists of Meta Runner because Dr. James Sheridan plays a more active role once his true colors are revealed, he's the director of conflict (As it turns out, he was the true creator of the Meta Runner arm, Lucks just stole all the credit from him. Aside from that, as the mastermind behind Project Blue, he is the indirect perpetrator of Lucinia's near-death, which would end up being the reason Masa started butting heads with Lucks and formed MD-5 in the first place. Project Blue was also the cause of Tari's creation, and indirectly Theo entering the real world. In other words, Sheridan is responsible for literally everything that happens in the series), he makes Lucks look like child's play in comparison, he's the one with the bigger plans (He wants to change the world and on the other hand Lucks just wants to hide his identity.), he's Tari's archenemy, he made Tari a unwitting pawn (Her creator, Dr. Sheridan, made her as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death, allowing him to enact his ultimate scheme with no competition.), he's the MD-5' biggest threat, he's the final target, he wants to get his revenge on Lucks for stealing his credit and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict and Derek Lucks drove the series' plot (He's a Big Bad through and through.), he's the director of conflict (Lucks stealing the credit for the Meta Runner arm from Sheridan was the main instigator for Sheridan going insane and plotting the downfall of TAS Corp and the rise of SHER Corp using Tari and Remote Warping Technology. Him motivating Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made Masa a murder, being Tari's archenemy, being the biggest threat to the MD-5, being the series' final target and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict in the first place. He's indirectly responsible for Tari's existence because Dr. Sheridan made Tari as a means of causing Luck's downfall and death. He cause Lucinia's near death. In other words, Lucks is responsible for the events of the entire series.), he has more screen time than any other villain (If you ignore Belle.), he's the main focus for MD-5 to take down, he's the MD-5's Big Bad, Dr. Sheridan was not revealed at all until the end credits of Fatal Error, he threatened to fire Dr. Sheridan, his goal is to acquire Tari to further strengthen TAS Corp, no matter how many others get hurt in the process, as of Season 2, he's succeed in doing so, he's done a lot of shady dealings, which MD-5 are determined to expose to the public and tarnish his reputation with, Dr. James Sheridan was never responsible for his villainy because him stealing Sheridan's credit for inventing the Meta Runner arm is what motivated Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness in the first place, he didn't listen to anyone, he was the one with the bigger plans before Dr. Sheridan revealed his true role in the Fatal Error episode, him getting shot by Dr. Sheridan was his karma for being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan and him being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made him look like child's play in comparison in the first place.

* BigBadEnsemble: Derek Lucks and Dr. James Sheridan are the two main antagonists of Meta Runner because Derek Lucks drove the series' plot (He's a Big Bad through and through.), he's the director of conflict (Lucks stealing the credit for the Meta Runner arm from Dr. Sheridan was the main instigator for Sheridan going insane and plotting the downfall of TAS Corp and the rise of SHER Corp using Tari and Remote Warping Technology. Him motivating Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made Masa a murder, being Tari's archenemy, being the biggest threat to the MD-5, being the series' final target and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict in the first place. He's indirectly responsible for Tari's existence because Dr. Sheridan made Tari as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death. In other words, Lucks is responsible for the events of the entire series.), he has more screen time than any other villain (If you ignore Belle.), he's the main focus for MD-5 to take down, he's the MD-5's Big Bad, Dr. Sheridan was not revealed at all until the end credits of Fatal Error, he threatened to fire Dr. Sheridan, his goal is to acquire Tari to further strengthen TAS Corp, no matter how many others get hurt in the process, as of Season 2, he's succeed in doing so, he's done a lot of shady dealings, which MD-5 are determined to expose to the public and tarnish his reputation with, Dr. Sheridan was never responsible for his villainy because him stealing Dr. Sheridan's credit for inventing the Meta Runner is what motivated Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness in the first place, he didn't listen to anyone, he was the one with the bigger plans before Dr. Sheridan revealed his true role in the Fatal Error episode, him getting shot by Dr. Sheridan was his karma for being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan and him being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made him look like child's play in comparison in the first place and Dr. James Sheridan plays a more active role once his true colors are revealed, he's the director of conflict (As it turns out, he was the true creator of the Meta Runner arm, Lucks just stole all the credit from him. Aside from that, as the mastermind behind Project Blue, he is the indirect perpetrator of Lucinia's near-death, which would end up being the reason Masa started butting heads with Lucks and formed MD-5 in the first place. Project Blue was also the cause of Tari's creation, and indirectly Theo entering the real world. In other words, Dr. Sheridan is responsible for literally everything that happens in the series.), he makes Lucks look like child's play in comparison, he's the one with the bigger plans (He wants to change the world and on the other hand Lucks just wants to hide his identity.), he's Tari's archenemy, he made Tari a unwitting pawn (Her creator, Dr. Sheridan, made her as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death, allowing him to enact his ultimate scheme with no competition.), he's the MD-5's biggest threat, he's the series' final target, he wants to get his revenge on Lucks for stealing his credit and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict.

* BigBadEsemble: Derek Lucks and Dr. James Sheridan are the two main antagonists of Meta Runner because Derek Lucks drove the series' plot (He's a Big Bad through and through.), he's the director of conflict (Lucks stealing the credit for the Meta Runner arm from Dr. Sheridan was the main instigator for Sheridan going insane and plotting the downfall of TAS Corp and the rise of SHER Corp using Tari and Remote Warping Technology. Him motivating Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made Masa a murder, being Tari's archenemy, being the biggest threat to the MD-5, being the series' final target and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict in the first place. He's indirectly responsible for Tari's existence because Dr. Sheridan made Tari as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death. In other words, Lucks is responsible for the events of the entire series.), he has more screen time than any other villain (If you ignore Belle.), he's the main focus for MD-5 to take down, he's the MD-5's Big Bad, Dr. Sheridan was not revealed at all until the end credits of Fatal Error, he threatened to fire Dr. Sheridan, his goal is to acquire Tari to further strengthen TAS Corp, no matter how many others get hurt in the process, as of Season 2, he's succeed in doing so, he's done a lot of shady dealings, which MD-5 are determined to expose to the public and tarnish his reputation with, Dr. Sheridan was never responsible for his villainy because him stealing Dr. Sheridan's credit for inventing the Meta Runner is what motivated Dr. Sheridan's path to darkness in the first place, he didn't listen to anyone, he was the one with the bigger plans before Dr. Sheridan revealed his true role in the Fatal Error episode, him getting shot by Dr. Sheridan was his karma for being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan and him being a terrible boss to Dr. Sheridan is the reason why Dr. Sheridan made him look like child's play in comparison in the first place and Dr. James Sheridan plays a more active role once his true colors are revealed, he's the director of conflict (As it turns out, he was the true creator of the Meta Runner arm, Lucks just stole all the credit from him. Aside from that, as the mastermind behind Project Blue, he is the indirect perpetrator of Lucinia's near-death, which would end up being the reason Masa started butting heads with Lucks and formed MD-5 in the first place. Project Blue was also the cause of Tari's creation, and indirectly Theo entering the real world. In other words, Dr. Sheridan is responsible for literally everything that happens in the series.), he makes Lucks look like child's play in comparison, he's the one with the bigger plans (He wants to change the world and on the other hand Lucks just wants to hide his identity.), he's Tari's archenemy, he made Tari a unwitting pawn (Her creator, Dr. Sheridan, made her as a means of causing Lucks' downfall and death, allowing him to enact his ultimate scheme with no competition.), he's the MD-5's biggest threat, he's the series' final target, he wants to get his revenge on Lucks for stealing his credit and he's death and defeat ended the series' main conflict.