The main hero of Advance Wars and Black Hole Rising. Often considered the mascot character of the series by fans, he is well known among the fanbase for his naivety and frequent lapses in intelligence. His units are well rounded, while his CO Powers, Hyper Repair and Hyper Upgrade, revolve around healing his units.Tropes exhibited by Andy:
Friendly Enemy: To Hawke. You would think that after hanging out with Lash for so long, he would be... reluctant to ally himself with the energetic and excitable Andy.
Verbal Tic: The fandom's Evil Andy, who says "I'm Andy!" at the end of every sentence.
White Magician Girl: A rare male example, due to his healing powers and general innocence.
Max
Orange Star's bruiser, notable for his brash spirit and ridiculous muscle growth throughout the games. He specializes in smashing things with his super powered tanks, and as a result, slept though Indirect Units 101. His CO Powers, Max Force, and Max Blast, further ramp up the firepower on his direct units.Tropes exhibited by Max:
Crippling Overspecialization: Not so bad in Advance Wars 1, when his direct units had 150/100 stats daily, but as his powers have gotten nerfed, his horrible indirects (-1 range to all of them, with reduced firepower) make him tougher and tougher to use.
His indirects actually have normal firepower in Dual Strike. Their reduced range still sucks, though.
Lightning Bruiser: At least until Dual Strike, where he lost his movement boost during his CO powers.
Love Triangle: He was hinted to be in one with Grit and Nell. Grit, not wanting to have it ruin his friendship with Max, left Orange Star.
Muscles Are Meaningless: In each AW game, his character design has gotten more and more muscular, while his units and CO Powers have gotten worse and worse. A popular fanon joke blames steroid use.
Linear Tanks, Quadratic Artillery: Max is better than Grit at low levels of play, but Grit is much better than Max in advanced play.
Odd Couple: Max used to be best friends with indirect specialist, and polar opposite, Grit, before the latter defected for Blue Moon. One of their Tag Victory quotes in Dual Strike lampshades this.
The head of Orange Star's Special Forces, Sami is an infantry specialist. Day-to-day, her Infantry and Mechs are tougher to kill and hit harder, at the expense of everything else all other direct-combat units. While this sounds pretty suckish, in conjunction with her CO Powers and the affected unit's low cost, Sami is considered to be high tier. Her Victory March has earned her the nickname "Lady of War" amongst the fans. Personality-wise, she's the most sensible and dependable of the three. Strangely, though it says she likes long hair, she wears instead an ear-length cleancut hairstyle. Constantly Ship Teases with Eagle of Green Earth.
Difficult, But Awesome: Her infantry boosts aren't as easy to exploit as others' (for one, steamrolling with tanks isn't an option) and capturing the enemy HQ with her SCOP is pretty damn difficult. If she pulls it off, however...
Fan Nickname: Lady of War. Anyone who knows the power of Victory March will know why.
Eagle: "I want you to promise me something, Sami. Promise that if we both return from this battle alive..."
Sami: "Oh no you don't! Stop it right there! If two people make a promise like that, one of them is going to end up dead! You may as well tell me that you're two days away from retirement! Save the promises for later, OK? We'll talk when we get back in one piece."
Instant-Win Condition: Sami's superior property-capturing skill make players of her particularly fond of this.
Her Super CO Power gives +2 movement for infantry and mechs, and allows them to capture any property that turn, regardless of health. An infantry on 1 HP can walk 5 spaces and capture a 20 HP HQ in one turn!
Only Sane Man: Sort of. Unlike Andy and Max (and many other COs), Sami is a career soldier who takes her work very seriously. We need a trope for the inverse of Military Maverick, a serious character in a Mildly Military game.
Super Soldier: Her infantry may as well all be super, thanks to their astonishing capture skills. A SINGLE GRUNT can capture a WHOLE CITY in a SINGLE DAY during her SCO Power. WOW.
Nell
Commander-In-Chief of Orange Star. She got the top job after Olaf left for Blue Moon, and the first game dropped some pretty heavy hints that they were father and daughter, but this was never resolved and subsequently dropped, mostly because that was nothing more than a joke started with a pun Andy made in the first mission of AW1. She's normally a super-secret unlockable with the ability to randomly do extra damage with ANY attack. Her powers only exacerbate this.
Big Good: In the first two games. At least for Orange Star.
In the comedy sketches, she's well renowned for never losing a coin toss. If that isn't luck, I don't know WHAT is.
Demoted to Extra: In Dual Strike, her sister Rachel is the leader of the Allied Nations. She has to stay back in Macro Land and clean up the mess Black Hole made in the last war. She does talk to Rachel briefly in the beginning and at the end of the campaign.
Hotter and Sexier: Compare her AW1 and 2 appearances with her Dual Strike look.
Love Triangle: With Max and Grit while the three were at military school together.
Former Orange Star Commander-In-Chief, now runs the Battle Maps game shop. Selling... people and maps. Another game-breaking secret unlock, he buys things cheaper than everyone but Colin, but with no decrease in effectiveness. His powers make everything EVEN CHEAPER and allow deployment from ANY CONTROLLED BUILDING. If he's facing someone that isn't himself, Nell, or Sturm, the battle's already decided.
Screw The Rules I Have Money: Ignoring the fact he's able to deploy units for a cheaper price (not as cheap as Colin's, but then again Hachi's units aren't weaker either), his Super CO Power allows him to deploy units directly from cities rather than just factories, something no other CO is capable of.
Shop Keeper: Having retired from active duty, Hachi runs Battle Maps, the in-game shop.
Shoplift and Die: Doesn't actually happen (you can't attempt to steal anything anyway). But given how powerful a CO he is, you probably don't want it to happen...
Leader of the OS forces in Omega Land, she's Nell's little sister and leads the Allied Nations in Dual Strike. Day to day, she can heal units by 3HP instead of 2. Her powers allow her to summon three missiles against her opponents and to become her sister for the day.
Awesome, but Impractical: Her standard CO skill gives one more HP for units to heal, but it still costs money.
Supporting Leader: It depends on whether or not you consider her or Jake the main character of Dual Strike. If not, she is this.
Jake
A recent CO graduate, Jake excels on the plains. He fights better on them, but this means the player has to choose between the attack bonus from this open terrain or the defense from places like cities and forests. He uses 'hip' lingo and is always listening to music through his headphones. He's (arguably) the real hero of Dual Strike out of him and Rachel.
He left the top job at Orange Star to take the one at Blue Moon. He's then stated in the next game to be a local to there though. He's a Papa Wolf to his men and takes his duties as head of BM seriously. In the first game, he seemed to be the villain, but this was later proven to be false. He's grown from his more cowardly persona into a Father Christmas look-alike. Seriously, one of his pallette swaps makes him look like Santa Claus! Strong in snow, but weak in rain.
An Ice Person: Olaf's units are unaffected by snow, which gives him a great advantage when he taps his snow-causing CO powers.
Especially in Dual Strike, where his CO power makes it last TWO turns, and it gives all his units a 20% firepower boost. But in the former two, rain devastates his movement range worse than anyone else, pretty much making him the reverse of Drake.
Canada, Eh?: "Ohhhhhhh Blue Moon!!! My home and native land!!!"
Demoted to Extra: Not present in the Dual Strike campaign. The game handwaves it by saying he is busy rebuilding his hometown which got destroyed in the previous game. However, a clone of him fights the Allied Nations later on.
Slouch of Villainy: Seemed this way at first in AW1, as he would always slouch in his chair, and he seemed to be the game's villain at first. However, this was subverted later, as he isn't actually a villain, and he doesn't have the chair in later games.
Stop Helping Me!: Olaf's snow powers can screw over allies as badly as they do enemies.
He also EXERTS this personality several times, notably the T-Minus 15 mission in AW2.
Took a Level in Badass: He was a pretty sucky CO in the first game. Then in Black Hole Rising, his mass damage SCO Power made him a lot more useful, and his powers improved again in Dual Strike, even overcoming his weakness in rain. He's also an example in story terms: he was a bumbling villain in the first game, but became a lot more competent in the sequels.
Grit
Another CO formerly of Orange Star that moved to Blue Moon. He was Max's best friend, despite there being a love triangle between the two of them and Nell. He's very laidback and takes no particular joy in fighting, though he's very good at it. His abilities are to hit better and further with indirects and suck with everything else (except for infantry). It's a surprisingly effective tactic, though, and he's often high tier.
Berserk Button: Doesn't care which territory belongs to which country, but when he hears that Adder has been destroying cities and abusing civilians... hoo boy. Still Tranquil Fury when he carries out his threats though.
Mighty Glacier: Grit's only real weakness is that he can't win things quickly: the fact that long-range units can't move and fire on the same turn means that he's slow to advance. This can be exploited if you play as a CO that can mobilize rapidly, such as Colin, Sami, or Sensei, as they have a chance to control the centre of the map before he can and gain an economic advantage (of course, Colin and Sensei are also broken...).
Nerf : The increased speed of the game in Dual Strike hit him so hard, so much that he goes from considered as one of the Top 5 COs from the previous installments into the single worst CO in the game. (Holds true as a solo CO, but if you pair him with Max...)
Nice Guy: He will not tolerate those who ruin innocent people's lives, though.
Nice Hat: An odd, vaguely Russian-style cowboy hat, to be exact.
New boy and rich kid of the Blue Moon army. He's unsure of himself, but seems to have good business acumen. He buys units cheaper, but they're not as good as standard units. The cheapness of units means you can roll out the advanced ones quicker and more frequently, putting him firmly in the top ranks.
His standard CO power is to add 50% to his monetary reserves. This can either set his sister up nicely for draining the opponent's entire meter, or turn a bad fight around with his SCOP a few turns later.
We Have Reserves: While he doesn't think like this, his abilities, producing weaker units for less cost, sure do lead to this for someone controlling him.
Sasha
Older and more confident sister of Colin. Her powers are similarly money based, in that she takes cash from her trust fund to fuel her army. This contribution to the war efforts is worth 100G extra for every city. Doesn't sound like much, but it adds up. She may not be as innately powerful as her brother, but together they make an incredibly powerful tag team. It is in fact widely regarded as one of the deadliest in the game. They buy units cheaper and faster, you can never get your powers out and they always have more money...
In the first game, he was a slightly slimy and unlikeable generic emperor guy (mostly due to his quick judgements and third-person speeches), but in subsequent games he's become a strong and honorable Father to His Men. He insists on the best for his army, and has MUCH more powerful troops for a big cost boost. He's another Game Breaker on his own and makes an even better one with his young daughter, Sonja.
Demoted to Extra: Does not appear in the Dual Strike campaign. Perhaps he was looking for his sock. His clone however, does.
Also happens before "Fowl Play", where he insists on meeting with Adder even though Sonja points that it might be a trap.
He exemplifies this in Advance Wars (the first), where he goes to extreme lengths to defend his country... including trying to beat the crap out of a Power Trio that really meant it no harm.
Mighty Glacier: In a sense: his units have superior offense and defense, but they're more expensive to deploy, so he takes longer to build up his forces.
Overprotective Dad: Once he did get over panicked on Sonja getting a paper cut.
Papa Wolf: Do NOT endanger or threaten his daughter. Seriously, if you thought (apparently) threatening his country made him go berserk... look, if you value your life, for the love of God, don't mess with Sonja. Sturm had to learn this the hard way.
Power at a Price: Literally, in this case. His units have superior attack and defense, but cost more to make. The inverse of Colin, although both are effective COs.
Third-Person Person: in Advance Wars. Seems to come to his senses later, but still cannot find his socks.
Sonja
Daughter of Kanbei and head of his intelligence service. Her powers let her see further in Fog of War, making her dominate these maps. At other times, she's of little use, though.
Born Unlucky: Sonja is one of three COs who has negative luck, giving her units the chance to deal less damage than expected.
Counter Attack: Her SCO power. She also has better counterattacks as a day-to-day power in Black Hole Rising.
Defog of War: Sonja's main strength is that she has an increased vision range in the fog.
Geo Effects: In Dual Strike, Sonja reduces enemy terrain by 1 star. This makes her a perfect counter to Lash, and also a surprisingly good tag team partner.
Hinted to be the ultimate badass from the old series, he's Kanbei's increasingly senile mentor. He's a paratrooper master, meaning his copters and infantry are beastly. He's definitely a mid to Top (or even God) ranker tier wise, and a Cool Old Guy to boot.
Difficult, But Awesome: True of him generally, but especially with B-Copters. It's tricky specialism in a unit that can be so easily countered, but with enough of them, you will just take everything apart.
Glass Cannon : His ability boost a unit that is basically from this category Up to Eleven, especially in Black Hole Rising, slightly less in Dual Strike.
It's Raining Men: Copter Command paradrops 9HP infantry units on all the cities Sensei owns. Airborne Assault drops 9HP mechs.
Boring, but Practical: There are so many uses for a sudden wave of 9HP footsoldiers.
His entire premise as a CO really, depending on how you view it, might cross with Awesome Yet Practical, basically he take every boring strategy in the game and put it in one CO. This resulted in a CO with the boring part of an ability of several CO (notably, he has Sami's Infantry and Transport Buff without the Capture speed, money making ability like Colin, and Copter buff from Eagle who buffs every air unit)
Lethal Joke Character: In Black Hole Rising, all of his vehicles and ships take a 10% attack penalty and his strongest units, his battle copters, can still be taken down in one hit by any anti-air vehicle. But a combination of the aforementioned Goddamned Bats and the fact that his copters are truly deadly once he's on a roll can make him almost as bad as Grit.
Nerf: Copped a huge one in Dual Strike. His vehicles got stronger, but his infantry lost 30% of their attack power.
On the other hand, the faster CO power charge make him capable of spamming his absurdly useful CO power, making him a far more annoying CO to play against. Theres a good reason hes considered broken.
Older and Wiser: Sensei is implied to have been the CO Mr. Yamamoto from Super Famicom Wars.
Glass Cannon: His boosted offense is offset by a loss to defense. His CO abilities further emphasize his "hit them fast and hard before they hit you" approach to war, altering each of those stats accordingly.
Fragile Speedster: in Advance Wars, Lightning Strike lets Eagle move his units twice in one turn, but the second time around they have nerfed attack and defense. It also takes a while to charge. Black Hole Rising tweaks it a bit so that he doesn't have the nerfs, but the power takes even longer to charge. Dual Strikebreaks it completely by rejigging Lightning Drive into a minor version of Lightning Strike (nerfed attack, normal defence) - but with a short charge time (same charge time as Hyper Repair, for example).
A nice, laid back guy who often mediates between Eagle and Jess. He's a naval buff, meaning his abilities in that area are boosted. He's also immune to the effects of rain, which he can cause too.
Awesome, but Impractical: Tag team Drake with Olaf. The ensuing dual strike will put all enemy units down 4 HP, halve their fuel, and double their fuel usage for the next three turns while you get a +20% attack boost. Practical? Heck no. Fun? Heck yes.
Bad Powers, Good People: Drake's energy-draining CO powers contrast with a relaxed, gentle nature.
Easy Logistics: Easier than the other characters anyway, as her CO Powers resupply all units with fuel and ammo. Ironically makes her pretty useful in air and naval battles, even though her planes, copters, and ships take an attack penalty.
Fiery Redhead: Usually averted, as she is quite level-headed. But she can be very passionate at times.
Improbable Weapon User: Her portrait in Black Hole Rising shows her hoisting a tank shell over her shoulder. Cue fan jokes about Jess and her comically oversized crayon.
Odd Couple: She is pretty much the complete opposite of Javier, but they work well together.
Tank Goodness: Her specialty is tanks, and all of her land-based vehicles have superior firepower.
Tsundere: Type B. Eagle brings out her Tsuntsun side.
Javier
A CO styled on a Knight. He uses antiquated language and gets bonuses from Comm Towers.
Verbal Ticked: "Ho, Sir Clone of Sir Kanbei! I challenge your honor on the... er... field of honor!"
Crippling Overspecialization: Easily a Game Breaker if he's captured enough communications towers, but without them, he's just The Mario with added defense against indirect attacks and ridiculously situational CO powers.
Stone Wall: Defense is already a specialty of his, but after capturing only a few control towers, any of his units are Nigh Invulnerable. His Super CO power compounds this intensely.
Big Bad. Evil. Looks like Darth Vader. Gamebreakingly powerful opponent. Banned from tournament usage in Black Hole Rising since he improves all in his units movement, power, defense (though not to Kanbei's level), with no draw backs. His only weakness is that he has no regular CO-power and his Super CO-power has the longest wait in the game before he gets enough charge to use it, but given its damage and that it buffs his units caught in it, that's not an issue.
Stone Wall: in AW1 VS, where he has 80/120 stats. The offense loss is likely to prevent him from dealing heavy damage with his lack of movement penalties.
Imagine Max without his few restraints or glimpses of intelligence. You get Flak, but instead of a permanent power boost, he can hit stronger or weaker than usual, with his powers exacerbating this tendency and its effect.
Incredibly Lame Pun: The european release renames him as "Helmut". Welp, he wears a helmet.
Adder
Very thin, pale and gaunt. Obsessed with himself. He's quite the Smug Snake, and revels in his paper thin evilness. His meter fills up faster (according to the game) and lets him move faster when it does. In actuality, his meter charges up no faster than anybody else's, but his powers have a reduced cost considering their effectiveness.
Fragile Speedster: Adder's CO Powers give him movement boosts. The "fragile" part comes from the fact that while his units are average, average tends to lose out to specialized in Advance Wars.
Hannibal Lecture: Delivers one to Grit in Black Hole Rising, observing that Grit (who originally defected from Orange Star to Blue Moon) never really cared much about loyalty to a cause, and invites him to join Black Hole. Grit notes that he has a point, but the deal-breaker is Black Hole's barbaric treatment of civilians.
The Mario: Like Andy, his units are completely average day to day.
Evil genius who thinks nothing of maiming, murdering, experimenting, and building new death toys. Her powers are terrain-based. She's somewhat of a Shadow Archetype of Sonja. And a gamebreaker.
Heel Face Turn: Against her will, and she is somewhat reluctant to help out the good guys at first, but by the end, she has turned all the way. One picture shows her standing up eating popcorn in the back of Jess' car!
Meaningful Name: And in case you were wondering, it's "Kat" in Japanese and German.
Which makes her referring to herself as a "kitty" in Advance Wars Dual Strike make quite a bit more sense.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Von Bolt doesn't hesitate to have her murdered when Hawke discovers him. Luckily for her, the heroes just happen to find her and thwart the execution.
Hawke
A man of few words. He leads his men very competently and nearly destroys Green Earth in the process. All his units are naturally more powerful than everyone else's for no cost (though not as much as Sturm's), but his high-powered Powers fill up slowly are extremely expensive, even considering how strong they are.
Dangerously Genre Savvy: Well aware that Eagle's air force is superior to his own (he is his Evil Counterpart after all) so he only engages Drake and Jess with significant air power to keep the advantage. In Eagle's missions he defends a giant fortress with Black Cannons and many, many anti-air units in one and counts on the Dulcinea Effect to lure Eagle into a meatgrinder to save Sami in another.
The Dragon: He fills the storyline role, but is statistically inferior to Sturm.
Papa Wolf / A Father to His Men: Solely towards Lash. His first priority when Kindle betrays them is to save her, even though the delay gets them surrounded by Oozium.
Old man trying to live forever by sucking Omega Land dry. Seen as a poor man's Sturm. His Powers aren't as impressive as Sturm, and he fails to make the same impact.
Called Zak in the EU version. A short, arrogant man painted like a kabuki actor and using very flowery language, his special power gains him attack bonuses on roads and makes him a mixture of Adder and Jake. Also has the notably lowest Tag Break in the game: A whopping 35% attack penalty to team-ups with Rachel due to having called her ugly.
Expy: of Adder. Gets a bonus on roads, but his CO meter is redistributed to make his standard CO power more expensive (preventing back-to-back CO power use.)
Flanderization: Regarding his low tag power with Rachel. Yes, he called her ugly... and sucked the life out of her beloved homeland, dictated exactly how, and openly said he doesn't give a rat's ass about the moral ramifications.
Wake Up Call Boss: The second time you fight him in turn survival takes a lot of turns, until you realize various ways to beat him in just 1 - 2 turns.
Kindle
Candy in the EU, she's an upper class socialite. Her powers revolve around controlling territory to gain boosts and inflict nasty wounds.
Worthy Opponent: Finally considers the Allied Nations to be such in the end.
An approximate character tier list for the Wars World series (please note that these games are the kind of games that force people to reconsider what "overpowered" is, since most COs are stronger than average):
Powerful, but not quite game-breaking: Jess, Hawke, Grit, Nell, Eagle, Sonja (in Fog of War), Kanbei, Grimm, Kindle, Von Bolt, Lash, Sasha, Javier (when controlling just one communications tower)
Balanced: Andy, Max, Sami, Olaf, Adder, Sonja (out of Fog of War), Koal, Rachel, Jake
Underpowered: Drake, Javier (without a communications tower)
He also mentioned this to Greyfield at the end of chapter 12.
Decoy Protagonist: He's the first character introduced, but Brenner recieves considerably more face time up until his death. Will then properly fills the void.
Expy: His CO abilities and power work best on the plains, similar to Jake.
Hell, his theme, while not the same song, does sound rather similar to Jake's.
Heroic BSOD: After Brenner's death. Temporary, though.
Lightning Bruiser: +2 movement to all land units during his CO Power (on top of the attack boosts from his CO Zone) is very, very good at breaking a stalemate and usually leaves quite a mark.
Good Is Not Nice: Compared to the other idealist heroes, Lin is a lot more cynically pragmatic.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: She's actually the one who comes up with the army's tactics, not Brenner. Played with in the tactics session for Fear Experiment.
Kick the Son of a Bitch: Had she done it to almost anyone else, Lin's Vigilante Execution of the unarmed Greyfield would have been morally questionable at the very best. However, as it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy...
The Lancer: to Brenner and Will once he inherits the mantle.
Situational Sword: Not to the extent that Sonja was, since her CO Power gives her Zone attack boosts to all her units, but on the whole she's still outclassed by the other C Os without fog present.
Shoot the Dog: She personally terminates Greyfield at the end of chapter 21.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Greyfield says that Lin can't kill him because she's one of the good guys. Wrong!
Game Breaker: Her CO Power is, literally, Will's and Gage's combined with no drawbacks. Plus an attack boost to every unit type. This basically dominates everything. She is, to say the least, frowned upon by competitive players.
Heroic BSOD: After surrendering herself to Caulder to protect Will, and being subjected to the Awful Truth of her origins, she's practically catatonic until Will charges to the rescue.
Meaningful Name: In the PAL version, she names herself after the (plastic, imitation) flower Will gives her early in the game. It's a toss-up whether this is more or less awkward than the US version (where Will comes up with a name out of thin air).
Ms. Exposition: Fills this role in the campaign, as she is never a playable CO outside the Trial Maps. Her status in multiplayer as an uber CO really places this in perspective, though...
A Day in the Limelight: Makes a brief dialogue appearance in chapter 12, followed in chapter 14 by the one and only time you engage him directly. Killed Off for Real quickly afterwards.
Honor Before Reason: Such that when he faced Brenner's father in a notoriously bloody battle in the past, the both of them agreed to a 1-day armistice to bury each side's dead.
Graceful Loser: Surrenders himself and his men peacefully when the time comes. Brenner's superiors, however, are not swayed by this gesture in the slightest.
Jack Of All Stats: No CO Power or specialties, just the biggest damn CO Zone in the game. This in itself is his weakness, as the boosts aren't very strong.
Expy: Plays like a mixture of Grit and Drake with focus on artillery and naval units, and has a relationship with Tasha much like Drake/Eagle and Grit/Olaf in AW2.
Gage: Soldiers follow orders, not their hearts. If soldiers acted as they pleased, armies would collapse. We're tools of the government. They tell us what to do, and we—
Will: But there IS no government now! I mean, not a real one!
Gage: Not my problem.
The Stoic: The conversation the above is a snippet from, incidentally, is about as talkative as he is for the whole game.
Hypocrite: he's a Social Darwinist commander claiming to be the strongest man in the world... but in C21, Lin implies that Greyfield actually was a mediocre commander at best and faked the results. And let's not forget himself having the Creeper virus while executing soldiers for having it, something Caulder has fun with by asking if Greyfield will order his own men to execute him as well.
In Love with Your Carnage: Prior to almost every chapter where he commands the enemy forces, before the protagonists inevitably turn the tables.
Meaningful Name: The Japanese/European version is named after an almost equally megalomaniac Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire who once famously described himself as "King of the Romans and above grammar" when criticized for speaking poor Latin.
The Neidermeyer: See above. The guy executes his troops for losing battles.
Stone Wall: Provides big defense boosts for naval units and copters, and his CO Power restores all his units to max fuel and ammo.
Crippling Overspecialization: None of the above helps him if there are no ports, much less water, on the map to use, rendering him one of the least effective COs.
Mighty Glacier: Tasha's opposite. He boosts the defense of aircraft, which are usually Glass Cannon units.
Money, Dear Boy: He wants no part of what he calls Brenner's "charity work", but he's all for living in (relative) luxury as a mercenary for Greyfield.
Moral Event Horizon: He probably crossed it a long time beforehand, but Waylon (on Greyfield's orders) murders Forsythe execution-style, in front of just about everybody, and keeps his smug-ass attitude rolling the whole time.
Rich Bastard: "One more mission and I can retire to my burned-out mansion!"
Try to imagine all of Waylon's dialogue in a Good Ol' Boy southerner accent and he becomes even more hilarious. Slightly less so after Forsythe's death.
For Science!: "Your curiosity comes at the cost of people's lives!"
Hannibal Lecture: about his reasons being "pure" as he wasn't driven by money.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: "Are you done yet?" (took a bit, though.) Caulder is so proud of his monolouging that at one point he shouts "Do not interrupt!"
Returning to Hannibal Lecture, he delivers a special one that's almost an Easter Egg if you lose chapter 23:
Will: Aaargh... I refuse to...
Caulder: Yes, yes. You refuse to abandon anyone. I know this story well. You suffer from a regrettable human affliction...the concern for others. You think this is an admirable trait, but you are mistaken. Excessive empathy is an illness. And I am afraid that both you and Captain Brenner were terminal cases.
Gamebreaker: In a game where CO powers have been nerfed, he's the one character who's probably stronger than most of the original CO's. His only power is his CO-Zone, and that's all he needs. It's 3 by 3 and never changes, and gives any units in it 50% increase to attack and defense, and heals them 5 HP every turn.
In the PAL version, his hamminess is toned down a lot, making him a much more serious villain.
Mad Scientist: So much so that the rest of the scientific community cast him out.
Meaningful Name: Japanese/Europe only. Stolos is an alternate name of Stolas, a demon from the Ars Goetia said to be a keeper of wisdom. Its appearance? An owl◊.
Omnidisciplinary Scientist: For someone "kicked out of the medical academy", he doesn't exactly limit himself to medicine.
Shoot the Medic First: The main reason why he's such a Game Breaker is that all units in his (large) CO zone are healed by 5HP at the beginning of his turn, plus he has Tabitha's monstrous Zone boosts. This, of course, means that destroying the unit he has boarded is a top priority. Considering that it has 180% attack and defense, this is easier said than done.
What Is Evil?: Tries it on Will. Given his nature, nobody's fooled.
Xanatos Gambit: He does a few of these. Justified in that his main motive is curiosity about how humans will behave when thrust into adverse conditions; whatever way they react, he still wins.
Penny/Lili
Break the Cutie: It is implied that Penny's "slightly" psychotic personality is due to Caulder's experiments on her.
Companion Cube: Mr. Bear, though this is only present in the NA version.
Lethal Joke Character: Do not be fooled by her large but puny CO Zone. Her day-to-day power (the only CO with one in this game) is complete immunity to weather effects, regardless of if the units are in her Zone or not. Rain severely limits your vision and brings fog of war, sandstorms reduce attack signficantly, and snow reduces movement. Now, imagine that Penny gets three turns of having a huge advantage over you, ESPECIALLY if it rains. And that large Zone helps the CO Gauge build up very quickly.
Death from Above: Her CO Power calls in the Great Owl for an airstrike. In other words, it's Sturm's power. However, with the massive destruction you can already wreak by keeping the gauge full, this attack is more often used as a humiliating Finishing Move.
Difficult, But Awesome: Her CO Zone is 0, meaning it only applies to the unit she gets into. The fun part? +180% attack and defense to that one unit, making it really damn hard to kill. If you do not smash this unit to bits quickly, and allow Tabitha to build up her gauge (and thus increase the size of her Zone), kiss your tucus goodbye. The only thing keeping Tabitha in check is that she's nothing special otherwise.
Pungeon Master: The fact that he does it in the worst situations possible doesn't help. He does crack a decent one in the end, or at least to Will.
Shoo Out the Clowns: After a bit (roughly, the post Lin's Gambit difficulty spike), he really only shows up to make others comment that it isn't the right time to make jokes, or to do something scientific.
Butt Monkey: Gets stuck with Greyfield, and trying to prevent Greyfield from nuking his own men to kill Brenner could very well have earned him a Senseless Sacrifice. Finally leaves Greyfield's service due to Greyfield executing troops for having the Creeper, only to have been hit by the Creeper himself.
Too Dumb to Live: that idiot trusts Caulder to give an antidote for the creeper, displaying both Genre Blindness and a lack of common sense given Caulder's ruthlessness and that he has no reason to keep his word.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Subverted; after meeting Greyfield, he isn't seen for quite a few chapters (players will most likely assume that he stayed at the shelter, given that is pretty much what he wanted), then pops out of nowhere, apparently having never left.
