http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlternativeGunGaleOnlineOthers

Note: Unmarked spoilers ahead.^noteEspecially from the web novels.

Real world names are in western naming order. Followed by their online name and worlds they played in.^note

open/close all folders

Squad Jam Participants

Individual members

Thane

A frequent Squad Jam participant as part of Team ZAT^note who's an IRL video maker who records his participations to upload later.

Adapted Out: He made no appearance in SJ2 in the anime.
Camera Fiend: For his videos, his helmet has cameras affixed all around it to capture footage.
Chivalrous Pervert: He appears friendly and affable enough, but when he's killed by SHINC in SJ3, he gets himself shot by saying he'd like to see some boobs before he dies.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Implied. He generally presents himself as kind of a goof and he dies every time he appears, but since he's not one of the top four participants, who are instantly exempt from having to take part in the preliminaries, it's suggested that he and his squad are good enough to get through them.
Famed In-Story: His live-streaming has become well-known among Squad Jam participants and spectators, with some even finding them more entertaining that the actual live footage.
Loophole Abuse: While he could upload footage of he and his team fighting monsters, he couldn't do the same with PVP combat since uploading without permission of the players he fought would be a breach of privacy and possibly get him in trouble. However, since the footage of the Squad Jams is already aired to all of GGO and to anyone who may be watching elsewhere, there's no privacy concern since everyone signed up knowing that they'd be filmed, allowing him to record his participation.
Red Shirt: Whenever he appears, expect him to be killed, usually by one of the best teams.
- In SJ2, he and his squadmates are sniped down by MMTM while engaging them in the snowy mountains. He's starts off attempting to return fire while giving commentary, and he attempts a Last Stand when he becomes the Sole Survivor, only to shot in the head by David.
- In SJ3, he and his team are among the first victims of SHINC's initial rampage. He once again becomes the Sole Survivor and SHINC recognize him from having used his video for research. Tanya allows him some last words, and he chooses "Before I die! I would be very happy if, just once, I got to touch some boobs!"
- In SJ4, he and his teammates are among the first victims of the monsters that spawn, and are forced to fight them off. While they manage to emerge victorious, their excitement over their victory causes them to let their guard down, during which LPFM gets the drop on them, with Shirley shooting Thane in the chest before the rest are wiped out by LLENN, M and Pito.
- In SJ5, being separated from his team due to the unique rule, he flexes his celebrity status to form a 19 man alliance and has them make a bee-line for LLENN in hopes of claiming her bounty. He ironically ends up being the first casualty when he mistakes the LM, LLENN and Fuka's armoured box gear, as a trashcan and walks by it, during which LLENN stabs him in the head with her new Laser Blade before he even realizes what's happening.

1st Squad Jam debut

Team LM

A team consisting of only LLENN and M.

See this page for the individual characters.

Animal Motif: The two of them invoke the Tortoise and the Hare.
Brains and Brawn: LLENN is the brawn to M's brains. She acts as a decoy for the enemies and takes them down by using her small size and nimble speed, while M comes up with the plans and guides her on what to do. Ironic considering LLENN is physically smaller in height and build.
Decoy Leader: LLENN is registered as the squad leader of LPFM, but in reality she's the one who gets instructions from M. Subverted by the second Squad Jam where she's the proper leader compared to Fuka who is a newbie in comparison.
Et Tu, Brute?: M turns his gun on LLENN when he finds out his real life is on the line, thinking he could become the team leader and resign.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: LLENN is the tiny tiny girl to M's huge guy.
Recurring Element: In the first Squad Jam, Team LM is composed of LLENN who is a speedy short-range fighter who is relatively new to the game, backed by M who is an experienced long-range Cold Sniper with Improbable Aiming Skills. This mirrors Kirito and Sinon back in the Phantom Bullet arc who were also a Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy duo, this was likely intentional since Kirito and Sinon's teamwork in the third BoB was the inspiration behind Squad Jam.
Rookie Red Ranger: LLENN is the leader of the LM squadron in the first Squad Jam, but far less experienced than M. In her debut episode, M is actually the seasoned player and the one calling all the shots over radio, while her squad leader status is mainly so she can act as a decoy for the satellite scanners.
Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy: LLENN is the short-range sub-machine gunner to M's sniper.

Team Narrows

A group of combat professionals using the first Squad Jam tournament as a training exercise.

Actually Pretty Funny: Their last casualty before they resign Dies Laughing after fully comprehending the fact that they suffered a Curb-Stomp Battle at the hands of LLENN.
Curb-Stomp Battle: They wipe out multiple other teams in the first Squad Jam without taking any casualties or even any injuries, and they make it look easy. At least, until the end of the episode, when they are the ones on the receiving end of one from LLENN herself.
Fast-Roping: In the first phase of the tournament, the team leader and spotter set up in overwatch positions in skyscrapers to view the battlespace, and use their real life skills in rappelling to quickly evacuate their positions.
I Don't Know Mortal Kombat: They were doing pretty well in the tournament until they came across LLENN, who is so small and moves at such an unrealistically fast speed, that all their actual training and tactics completely failed at that moment.
I Know Mortal Kombat: This is what they were hoping to achieve by entering the Squad Jam tournament. In the end, however, it was decided that the game has too many unrealistic elements and may reinforce too many bad habits in training (such as not putting a finger on the trigger to prevent a Bullet Line from appearing, a technique that sets you up for disaster in real life shooting) that the JSDF decided not to use GGO as a training tool.
Improperly Placed Firearms: They are armed with the FN FAL rifle, which is completely out of place for the JSDF as that weapon was never adopted by them. More realistically, they should be using the Howa Type 64.
Kaiju Defense Force: They are a JSDF squad evaluating the Gun Gale Online game on whether it can be used for actual combat training. More specifically, they are a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force garrison security team from Hyakuri Air Base who report to Lieutenant Colonel Seijirou Kikuouka.
Know When to Fold 'Em: The leader decides to resign from the game after LLENN eliminates two-thirds of his team in less than a minute, as the situation she presented would never happen in real life and is thus completely useless in training.
Named by the Adaptation: The light novel didn't give their team a name, it came from the anime. This actually causes an Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole, as Volume 7 mentions team names max out at 5 letters long, which "Narrows" exceeds by 2 letters.
Self-Imposed Challenge: Of a sort. Since their team is there strictly to evaluate the game as a training tool, it can be inferred that all their in-game builds are designed to simulate a real life person as closely as possible, meaning no one on their team has any kind of superhuman abilities such as Super-Speed or Super-Strength to carry equipment loads that would break a soldier's back in reality.
Serious Business: Played With: Unlike all the other participants who are competing in Squad Jam for glory, for the prizes, or just for fun, they are dead serious in everything they do in the game and treat it exactly like real life. Quite understandable, as they are gathering data in the interest of their country's national security. However, post-game, while delivering a status report, their leader notes that rather than being depressed, everyone is joking around and had a blast playing the game.
Soldier vs. Warrior: Related to the above, they are in Squad Jam with a specific objective in mind and are just there to get it done. There's no time for fame and fortune in GGO for them.
Villainous Breakdown: Although they're not villains at all, just antagonists for LLENN, all their cool-headed planning and tactics go out the window once LLENN uses abilities that are only possible in-game to take them down.
Weak, but Skilled: As whole, the team are an extremely competent squadron thanks to their IRL military training, employing effective tactics and having coordination and teamwork. Unfortunately, since their avatars where likely built up to resemble real life humans as closely as possible, they are likely much weaker compared to the rest of SJ competitors, which is part of the reason LLENN is able to dispatch them so easily.
Wham Line: In the light novel, during the post-match meeting, one of them addresses Kikuoka by name, which may come as a shock to anyone who hasn't read Alicization.

Team ZEMAL

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zemal.jpg

From left to right: Max, Shinohara, Huey, TomTom, Peter Not pictured: Vivi

A team of machine gun fanatics. Their name stands for "Zen Nihon Machine Gun Lovers" which means "All-Japan Machine Gun Lovers."

Ammunition Backpack: Before the Test Play, all members get their hands on a backpack feeding system, large, box-like backpacks that contain all their ammo and link it to their machine guns. This not only means they can fire for much longer without having to reload, but reloading itself just becomes a simple matter of accessing their menu and putting a fresh belt in the empty backpack.
Birds of a Feather: They met in-game and bonded over their love of machine guns, prompting them to form a squadron.
- Surprisingly enough, they seem to get this with Sophie and Rosa after the Test Play, who approach them about their new backpack feeding system, leading to an enthusiastic conversation.
Boisterous Bruiser: Whatever else one can say about them, they certainly know how to have a fun time in GGO.
Butt-Monkey: They get totally wiped out by Team Narrows in the first Squad Jam without them even managing to put a single scratch on them. Later, when they read the notice that LLENN and Fuka have registered for Squad Jam 2, they're so fixated on their computer that they fail to notice a giant sand worm is about to eat them for lunch.
Cool Shades: To help with Max's new role in the team post SJ4, they all got smart glasses with a night vision mode to help them see his infrared laser in dark environments.
Crazy Enough to Work: During the Test Play, their method of infiltrating the castle, which isn't to go in guns blazing like you'd expect, is to actually approach the castle with a large sign saying that they're on the NPC team's side. And it actually would have worked if Pito didn't ruin it. This is because they were real soldiers who legitimately thought they were in a foreign environment instead of mere NPCs.
Crippling Overspecialization: Effectively their largest flaw as a squadron. While Machine Guns are extremely powerful with their absurd fire rates, it's also literally the only weapon they collectively own, carrying no other weapons and anyone who so much as suggests such a thing being kicked out immediately, meaning they collectively suffer the same weaknesses as each other. They start to Downplay this down the line, basing their tactics on the strengths of their signature weapons instead of merely relying on their high firepower.
Curb-Stomp Battle: In SJ4, they end up delivering one to LPFM, SHINC and T-S with Vivi's leadership, setting up an ambush for anyone who rides the train to the mall.
Dark Horse Victory: They win Squad Jam 4.
Dual Wielding: Their dream is to put enough points into their STR stat so they can dual wield machine guns.
Dumbass No More: ... Okay, they're still kind of dumb, but their rapid rising in the Squad Jam's rank can be attributed to them actually using their heads more and focusing on their Machine Gun's strengths as opposed to just their ability to fire loads of bullets.
- In SJ2, they spawned on the top of a hill and quickly realized the terrain advantage it gave them over other teams and so stayed there and shot anyone who came by, only dying because they weren't prepared for an enemy with even higher ground.
- In SJ3 they were able to create what was essentially mobile turrets with just their machine guns and some random stuff they found in a abandoned store that carried them to being one of the last six surviving teams and netting them fifth place in the end
- And in the Test Play they manage to get their hands on backpacks that attach to their guns' feeding system to let them fire for longer.
Dumb Muscle: All five of them are big tough guys in game, and none of them are very bright either.
Failed a Spot Check: They often don't pay attention to their surroundings. A monster takes them by surprise when they hear the news about SJ2, and apparently kills them. Something similar happens when they hear about SJ4, but the intervention of a third party saves them.
Friendly Rivalry: Unlike the other teams, who express varying levels of disdain for the rule, they're actually rather ecstatic to learn of SJ3's traitor and the chance to have a machine gun vs machine gun battle.
Glass Cannon: Statistically, they are this. Their machine guns are plenty powerful with their high fire rate, but their weight combined with that of the ammo needed for them slows them down in spite of their STR-centric stat-builds, lessening their overall speed, also prevents them from donning heavy defensive equipment like T-S' Powered Armor.
Gun Nut: Specifically, they're Machine Gun Nuts, and they take this obsession to cult-like extremes, even claiming there's a "God of Machine Guns" who dictates their actions. Outside of that however, the are practically experts in their craft, recognizing the strengths and practical applications of their Weapons of Choice, such as their effectiveness on higher ground and can even recognize other machine guns based on sound.
The Ham Squad: They're very flamboyant and make sure to announce their presence to everyone through shouts or gunfire.
Hero Killer: With a combination of traps and strategic firing, led by Vivi, ZEMAL manage to kill Tohma, Tanya and the last four survivors of T-S in SJ4.
Hidden Depths:
- It's not known which of them said it, but one of them seemed to realize that Team Narrows were IRL military, hearing they were ASDF, after viewing footage of the first Squad Jam, and even correctly guesses that they won't take part, though because he thinks their participation got them in trouble with their SO.
Honor Before Reason: After Fuka knocks herself and Vivi off the ledge, eliminating the both of them from SJ5, Huey and Max corner LLENN after she managed to avoid going down with them. However, instead of shooting her immediately, they instead decide to allow her a chance to prepare to fight back in acknowledgement of when LLENN previously saved Vivi's life earlier in the tournament. Unfortunately, this leaves them open to get shot in the head by Tohma and Anna from behind.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: During the first Squad Jam, they empty entire belts of ammo in the general direction LLENN is located, which does absolutely nothing, as LLENN has taken cover behind a tree. The only thing they accomplish is give away their position to other teams from the noise of the gunfire.
Infinite: Their team logo, as embroidered on their uniform jackets from SJ3 onward, is a machine gun ammo belt shaped as an infinity symbol.
Joke Character: They are only present to showcase the Lighter and Softer attitude of Alternative; nobody in Squad Jam is of a comparable level to Bullet of Bullets qualifiers, but they're playing GGO as a game, to have fun, and these guys make both points emphatically clear.
Killed Offscreen: In the anime, the whole team gets effortlessly wiped out by Team T-S in Squad Jam 2 and we only learn about it when Fuka offhandedly notices they got taken out after LLENN is finished with the dome battle.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Assuming they witnessed MMTM and SHINC's attempts, or another team before them, it's likely that the reason for their attempt to use a sign to get into the castle meant that not even they were dumb to try challenging the NPC team.
Lethal Joke Character: They are ''still' large hams but they end up vastly improving, consistently making it into the top five since SJ2, and LPFM and SHINC acknowledge that they Took a Level in Badass after a fight with them during the Test Play. And if that wasn't enough, they manage to win SJ4 thanks to Vivi's leadership, and end up being the {{Final Boss}}es of SJ5.
Long-Range Fighter: Despite not looking like guys one would want to take on in a fist fight, they're ultimately this, as their machine guns are most effective when used from a long-range where they can rain bullets on their opponents while they're too far to properly fire back. This is especially the case for Huey, Shinohara and Tomtom, whose machine guns are chambered in 7.62, making them suitable for firing at longer ranges.
MacGyvering: Surprisingly, they do this in Squad Jam 3. Upon finding a hardware store and plenty of tools, they begin by using hacksaws to cut down metal pipes to size, tying clusters of the pipes together, then duct-taping the pipe clusters to the sides of the carts to create makeshift armor. Then mounting their guns on the carts and stuffing backpacks full of ammo links in the bottom section, and you have shopping carts turned into mobile gun platforms!
Meaningful Name: The "All-Japan" part of their name comes from the fact that the five members of their team are spread out across the Japanese islands, all the way from Okinawa to Hokkaido.
More Dakka: Their favourite strategy is to endlessly fire until they're out of ammunition. It is in their name, it is in their creed, and anyone who uses any other weapon, for any reason, is kicked out.
Rapid-fire, rapid-fire! Strafe! Ack-ack! Random fire! As long as we've got bullets, keep firing! That's the way of life for the All-Japan Machine Gun Lovers!
No Name Given: The individual members aren't given names until Volume 5.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Not knowing about their new member and not having access to live footage like the spectators, a lot of teams are wary of the fact that they seemingly haven't moved from the crater they started in.
Pyrrhic Victory: While they do win SJ4 thanks to Vivi's leadership, most of them are disappointed that they couldn't fight in their normal, Hot-Blooded manner, while Vivi ponders if she could have thought up a strategy that could have left them satisfied with their win.
Refuge in Audacity:
- How they exit SJ3; after killing Tomtom with the stray, thereby killing who they thought was Team BTRY's strongest, the remaining four decide to have a free-for-all shoot out as if they were kids playing, and the last one standing strikes a pose shooting in the air as the water engulfs. The audience couldn't believe their eyes.
- Before SJ4, they shock the spectators by entering carrying their new member, the RPD wielding woman, on a makeshift palanquin.
Secret Weapon: The group's Alternative Gear in SJ5 are the components to create a M2HB-QCB Browning machine gun that fires 50 caliber rounds. Unfortunately, the deaths of Shinohara and Tomtom, who were carrying spare ammo and barrels, means that it's use amounts to destroying the tower LPFM and SHINC were hiding before it's put back away.
Serious Business: Machine Guns, to the point where if a team member were to suggest they use another tactically sensible weapon for the situation, they would get kicked out of the squadron.
Shoot the Dog: It's heavily Implied that they, along with MMTM, opted to kill their canine companion at the end of the Five Ordeals quest, not realizing that it was a Secret Test of Character by the Novelist and in turn failing the quest.
Smarter Than They Look: For an entire group of Dumb Muscle who have a cult-like obsession with Machine Guns, they've managed to come up with some good and effective strategies after their loss in the first Squad Jam that allow them to start consistently making the top tens.
Starter Villain: The first opponents LLENN encounters in the very first Squad Jam. Appropriately they turn out to be a complete joke.
Stuff Blowing Up: In the Test Play during the allied assault on the castle, all of them save Peter, who got killed earlier, are the second victims after T-S to Hassan's RPG barrage.
Too Dumb to Live:
- In the first Squad Jam tournament, they seem to think standing out in the open and resorting to More Dakka is a good strategy to beat LLENN. Ultimately all they accomplish is giving away their position due to the loud noises they're making from the continuous fire, making them easy pickings for other teams.
- While they're preoccupied with looking at a computer upon learning that LLENN's joining SJ2, they fail to notice a giant panther monster/sand worm rearing up behind to devour them.
- In Squad Jam 2, the reason they got wiped out by Team T-S at a distance of only 50 meters away was because it never occurred to them that the satellite scan doesn't account for altitude, so they completely failed to look up.
- When getting the news of SJ4, they nearly get killed again while distracted by a bear monster, only to be saved by "The Goddess".
Took a Level in Badass:
- Their skills have improved considerably by Squad Jam 3, to the point that they are among the last six teams still standing. It's lampshaded in Volume 6, in which they actually manage to present a significant threat to Teams SHINC and LPFM.
- They're shown to have taken an arguably larger leap in the Five Ordeals Quest. When LPFM and SHINC meet them and MMTM in the Fourth Ordeal, they're noted to have gotten their hands on some more advanced equipment, such as a pair of Smart Glasses each that provided better night vision and displays in-depth info for Player use. Also, if Max's new appearance is anything to go by, they've finally decided to at least carry handguns on their person, A SIG Sauer P320. It's also noted that their machine gun zealotry and has died down somewhat, though not completely of course.
Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed. As stated in Serious Business, they treat someone suggesting the use of a weapon other than a machine gun as grounds to kick them from the team, and in SJ3, they're quick to kill Team TOMS when they propose an alliance to reach There Is Still Time when they're honest about their preference for SMGs and light assault rifles over machine guns. In the Test Play however, they have less qualms with joining Pito's proposed alliance to take out the NPC Team, and even before that they seemed willing to let M join despite him being a Cold Sniper on account that he owned an MG 42.]]
Unknown Rival: They seem to think of themselves as Worthy Opponents to LLENN, but in reality she doesn't heed them any attention after their first encounter.
Unluckily Lucky: SJ5 sees them lose Shinohara and Tomtom before reaching the castle, Shinohara being betrayed and killed by Fuka and Tomtom being unable to react in time to the collapsing terrain. Fortunately for the rest of the team however, this doesn’t affect their Alternative Gear strategy of carrying components for an M2 Browning machine gun, as their role in the strategy amounted to carrying spare ammo and barrels; a hindrance to be sure, but not one that prevents the M2's use.
Victory Through Intimidation: They're not actually good at PvP, at first anyway, but the fact that they all used machine guns intimidated any players they bumped into in the field.
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Over time, their Crippling Overspecialization in regards to their machine guns turns into this. What they lack in diversity, they more than make up for their immense firepower and the way they base their tactics around it and improve upon it, such as the Ammunition Backpack they got for the Test Play. And when Vivi becomes their leader, she shows them some unique ways in how to use their machine guns.
The Worf Effect: As a testament to how skilled a strategist Vivi is, ZEMAL is able to deal a Curb-Stomp Battle against the combined forces of LPFM, SHINC and T-S as they're passing on a train, killing Tohma, Tanya and all of the latter while leaving the rest at their mercy.

Huey

The tallest member of the team, who serves as their Leader in SJ3 and the Test Play.

Animal Motif: Downplayed. His reddish brown hair and the way he styles it brings rooster’s to mind.
The Face: Despite his role as The Leader being a formality more than anything, he's the one to negotiate with M in the Test Play.
Failed a Spot Check: He takes grievance with the author's description of their (and other teams) by blood, saying ZEMAL is bonded by belt links. However, he seems to forget that machine gun belt links break apart as the bullets are fired.
Fiery Redhead: He has reddish brown hair, and is just as Hot-Blooded and Hammy as his teammates.
Gentle Giant: Downplayed. He’s stated to be the tallest member of the team, yet has a friendly face. Still a machine-gun obsessed Blood Knight though.
The Leader: He's registered as the leader SJ3 and the Test Play and is definitely the headstrong type, though this is merely a formality since the team never cared much about hierarchy. However, he does seem to take charge often, acting as The Face when they actually negotiate and even giving directions and orders.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Unlike his teammates, he spent the first two Squad Jams going completely shirtless.
Weapon Specialization: The Machine Gun he uses is a FN M240B, a model of MAG used by the American Military.

Shinohara

The headband wearing member of the team.

Boom, Headshot!: He's the third death in SJ1, getting shot between the eyes upon realizing they're getting sniped.
Chekhov's Skill: Implied. With The Reveal that he's a teacher IRL, it's likely that he's the one who did the English for ZEMAL's sign strategy in the Test Play. The fact that he was directing the others in taping up a second one after the initial attempt fails adds to this theory.
Clueless Chick-Magnet: Implied. The reveal of his IRL job as a teacher, or at least one for cram school, has a female student energetically wave him goodbye and his teaching assistant make clear attempts to spend time alone with him that he doesn't pick up on.
Companion Cube: He himself views his Machine Gun as this, buying an airsoft model IRL and going as far to sleep, eat breakfast, and watch movies with it. His team is naturally impressed by this dedication.
Heroic Sacrifice: In Volume 10, after he's knocked off his buggy by the Crab-Dragon's ice machine gun, he fires at it to Draw Aggro towards himself to give the others a chance to flee. And, being a true man of ZEMAL, he goes as far to toss his beloved machine gun to the side before he's killed the hail of ice, sparing it from destruction.
Freudian Slip: When trying to buy M's MG 42 in the Test Play, he inadvertently outs himself as some manner of office worker by offering his summer bonus for it.
Oblivious to Love: Shinohara's IRL teaching assistant is very clearly into him and makes it extremely obvious, but he doesn't seem to pick up on it.
One-Steve Limit: Despite sharing the same last name, he is unrelated to Miyu Shinohara, the real life identity of Fukaziroh.
Real Name as an Alias: He couldn’t be bothered to think up something creative when making his account, so just settled for his family name.
Sacrificial Lamb: In a surprise twist, he ends up being the first major character outside of LPFM to die in SJ5, just before the end of the first volume to boot, courtesy of Fuka shooting him In the Back with her Grenade Launcher when he inadvertently reveals that Vivi is in the mansion they're attacking.
Shout-Out: His appearance draws a great number of influences from Rambo, with his long hair, headband, buff appearance and, of course, the M60 machine gun.
Smarter Than They Look: He is revealed in Volume 6 to be a cram school teacher IRL.
Too Dumb to Live: In SJ5, Fuka is able to convince him to temporarily ally with her by revealing her real name and claiming that as possible relatives, they have to work together. He naturally buys it, which gets him killed when he leads her right to Vivi.
Weapon Specialization: His Machine Gun is an M60E3, just like a certain movie action hero.

Tomtom

The tanned member with the bandana.

Aerith and Bob: He attempted to Avert this; he initially wanted to name himself Tom, but figured there were a lot of Toms in the world and so decided to add a second one to his name.
Badasses Wear Bandanas: Stands out with the green bandana he wears.
Black Dude Dies First: He's this in SJ2, being the first member of the team to get killed by T-S.
Boom, Headshot!:
- In SJ1, he's the team's second casualty when he's shot in the back, causing him to lurch back before the next bullet hits him on the back of the head.
- In SJ3, he’s killed by one of Shinohara’s bullets hitting his head while he’s reloading.
Counter-Attack: In the Test Play, when shot through the arm by Vodka, he responds with a roar and returns fire to stop them from firing.
Didn't See That Coming: In SJ5, he's among the first victims of SJ5's collapsing landscape, having started in the corner of the map due to his status as team leader.
Dumbass Has a Point: He's the one to suggest that Team BTRY officially register themselves as a squad after Pito brings up how inconvenient it is that they can't see each other's health bars.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Downplayed with Team BTRY. There aren't any hints that they hate him necessarily, but Pito gets annoyed at how he and Ervin don't think that she can use her Photon Sword to cut the supports holding the life boats and the narrator notes that the rest of BTRY is rather unfortunate to listen to his Large Ham shouting while he fires. Ervin outright calls him crazy when reflecting on his new team, though he pretty uses that to describe all of them.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: As the Decoy Leader in SJ5, he starts in an advantageous position in one of the corners of the map, preventing players from sneaking up on him and allowing him to mow down anyone who comes after him. The boon however ultimately turns against him when the mist clear and the map starts collapsing, with Tomtom being unable to escape in time and falling to his death.
Nice Guy: He’s very friendly and enthusiastic when he meets his new teammates in Team BTRY. The narrator outright notes that his bright and ditzy nature remained no matter the team he was on.
Oh, Crap!: Suffers this in Five Ordeals when the Crab-Dragon ignores him and M in favour of sending a hail of ice at the rest of the group, warning them to look out.
Perpetual Smiler: He’s stated to be the kind of guy who always has a smile on his face.
Tempting Fate: In SJ2, he outlines the team's advantage against MMTM should they come to them, that being their range and firepower compared to their five assault rifles, before going on to say how they're gonna protect their spot and be winners. He's then immediately killed by T-S.
Unfriendly Fire: During the clash between the ghost armies in SJ5, he opens fire at Pito and ends up hitting some of his comrades in the process. While their massively buffed HP means that this doesn't kill them, that doesn't stop them from complaining about it.
Weapon Specialization: Wields a FN MAG, one of the most famous machine guns in the world.

Peter

The shortest member of the team with a bandage on his nose.

Adaptational Dye-Job: In the Light Novel and Manga, he has black hair. In the anime, he's instead given brown hair.
Back for the Dead: In the Test Play, shortly after dying, respawning, and meeting up with the other alliance members at the castle, he's immediately used as bait for Hassan's rocket launcher barrage.
Big Guy, Little Guy: He’s stated to be the shortest member of ZEMAL.
Dumbass Has a Point: In SJ2, when the team realizes that the team closest to them, aside from T-S which they think is the result of a glitch due to them being atop the walls, is MMTM, the third place runner-ups from last time, he actually expresses doubt that they could beat them.
Heroic Sacrifice: In the Test Play, he, with the help of a grenade David gave him, draws Hassan's attention so Pito can shoot at him with her Bazooka. While shot from his sacrifice doesn't kill Hassan, it gives a Pito a feel for his location and allows her to adjust her aim for David's distraction.
The Engineer: He was the one who used the plans Max and Tomtom to create the backpack feeder system they use in the Test Play.
In the Back: In SJ1, he and Max are shot in the back after getting knocked down by a grenade.
Off with His Head!: Is decapitated by LLENN in a brief moment of distraction in the climax of SJ5.
Pointless Band-Aid: He wears one on his nose.
Shorter Means Smarter: Downplayed. Like the rest of his team, he's Dumb Muscle who has brief flashes of brilliance. However, it's stated that once the team got the plans for the backpack feeding system, he's the one who actually built them.
Skewed Priorities: When Pitohui whips out a bazooka to allow them to fight against Hassan and his RPG-7 collection, he's just disappointed that it's not a machine gun.
This Is Gonna Suck: His reaction to getting the role as bait for Hassan to shoot at.
Peter: Aw, hell, I guess that's me.
Weapon Specialization: His Machine Gun is an IMI Negev, a gun made by IWI modelled after the Minimi.

Max

ZEMAL's black member.

Black Dude Dies First: Averted. He's not only not the first casualty in his team in SJ1, but he's the first to notice Huey get killed and is among the last of them killed by Team Narrows.
In the Back: In SJ1, he and Peter are shot in the back after getting knocked down by a grenade.
Scary Black Man: Along with Tomtom, he’s one of the team’s(in-game at least) Token Minorities, but unlike Tomtom he doesn’t get enough screen time to establish himself as anything more than another of ZEMAL’s Large Ham Blood Knights.
Support Party Member: His set-up in the Five Ordeals quest seems geared towards making him this with the help of ZEMAL's new Smart Glasses. Using the laser sight on his upgraded Minimi, he can pinpoint a target for his teammates so that they can all concentrate fire at specific areas, wasting less ammo than they would normally. And since his laser sight has both optical and infrared modes, he can do this in bright and dark areas.
Took a Level in Badass: While of ZEMAL display this in their brief appearance in Volume 10, Max himself has the most overt changes. Along with their handguns and Smart Glasses, Max upgraded from Mk2 model Minimi to a custom Mk46 model with a shortened barrel and a standardised rail on the front end for attaching accessories carrying an laser sight that can switch between an optical beam and infrared laser. Plus, in a truly shocking move for a member of ZEMAL, he's traded his Ammunition Backpack for a hundred round box magazine for better manoeuvrability.
Weapon Specialization: His Machine Gun is a FN Minimi, the most famous 5.56 mm machine gun in the world. Specifically, he uses the Mk2 type, which distinguishes itself with it's longer fixed stock. In Five Ordeals, he's shown to upgrade to an Mk46 with a laser sight to better fit into his role as a Support Party Member.

Vivi

ZEMAL's Sixth Ranger and new Leader who joins them before SJ4, due to them quickly growing enamoured with her after she saves them with her custom PKM. Later revealed to be a well-known player in the VR community, who Fuka developed a rivalry with in ALO due to being part of opposing races.

The Ace: Fukaziroh, who isn't exactly her biggest fan, describes her as this. Not only is she Strong and Skilled player who hops from VR game to VR game enough to build up a reputation among VRMMO community, but she's also deviously intelligent, being enough of The Social Expert and Manipulative Bitch to effectively lead teams by utilising both their in-game and individual skills to their fullest potential. The fact that she was able to take Joke Characters ZEMAL and turn them into One of the Squad Jam's few champions is a testament to this. Additionally, her avatar is drop dead gorgeous and personality-wise, at least in the eyes of the spectators, she lacks any of the flaws most of the Squad Jam's other female competitors have.
Benevolent Boss: While only serving as their leader for a brief time now, it's evident that she's bonded quickly with the group and treats them well. This includes being just as bummed out as them when she realises that they couldn't truly enjoy their win due to their more careful approach and resolves to come up with strategies to let them win more satisfied, and being upset by Shinohara and Tomtom's early deaths in SJ5 despite them holding the least vital parts of the teams M2HB-QCB, even expressing a desire to kill Fuka for killing the former.
Big Damn Heroes:
- How she meets ZEMAL, killing a monster that was about to kill them while they were too distracted by the news of SJ4.
- In SJ5 during their Enemy Mine, she saves LLENN from getting run over by shooting at the vehicle with her machine gun, knocking it off course and causing it to crash.
Bow and Sword in Accord: Implied. When recounting the multitude of ways Vivi has killed her back in ALO, two instances Fukaziroh mentions was her cutting her wings off as she was flying and scoring a headshot on her with an arrow. While the exact melee weapon melee is kept vague, this makes it evident that her ALO avatar uses a bow.
Crazy-Prepared: After learning how the ordeals in the "Five Ordeals" quest were based on the author's books, she spent the time between then and SJ5 reading all of them to get an idea of what to expect in the tournament should he sponsor it. This proves useful when the tournament ends up featuring a thick fog, for which she brought an infrared light that her team could see with their smart glasses.
Cute Bruiser: A cute girl who immediately entices ZEMAL with her looks and use of a modified short-barrelled RPD.
A Day in the Limelight: Volume 11 sees her pull an Enemy Mine with LLENN in SJ5, due to one of the tournament's unique rules separating all teams in a pitch-white mist. This, along with a brief flashback of Karen asking Miyu about her, allows us to learn more about her.
Defiant to the End: Even in the midst of her Disney Villain Death in SJ5, she engages Fuka in a pistol shoot-out during free fall.
Disney Villain Death: Fuka finally kills Vivi in SJ5 by grabbing her wrist while she's on top of the PM and running off the map's ledge, causing them both to fall to their deaths.
Dude Magnet: Effectively this already due to having an attractive female avatar, but ZEMAL practically worship her as a Goddess due to her weapon choice.
Enemy Mine: Early on in SJ5, she and LLENN bump into each other and agree to a ceasefire until the both of them can reunite with their teams. While she does subtly pushes the alliance in her favour, she nonetheless takes it seriously, even rescuing LLENN from getting run over by some other players. The alliance ends when Fuka kills Shinohara and proceeds to try destroying the mansion they're hiding in the get at her, prompting them to split and agree to meet again as enemies next time. She does however maintain the partnership they formed with David as a result.
Face Death with Dignity: In SJ5, when she thinks she's about to die from being impaled on a fence and with LLENN seemingly lacking any means of freeing her, she simply laments how it's it for her and tells LLENN to go on ahead. Fortunately, thanks to LLENN's quick thinking and P-Chan, along with a Big Damn Heroes courtesy of Eva, she's able to survive the experience.
Fiery Redhead: Subverted. Her hair is described as wine-red and while she does use a machine gun like ZEMAL, she's a lot calmer and more strategic than ZEMAL.
Friendly Rivalry: Revealed to be one to Fuka from back in ALO, the both of them being Salamander and Sylph respectively and natural enemies. That being said, Vivi speaks with her rather friendlily and agrees to let LPFM and the remains of SHINC go if they just leave their main weapons.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: In SJ5, she ends up impaled on a metal fence post after being flung by one DOOM's suicide bombings. She's able to survive this fortunately.
Jumped at the Call: When ZEMAL requests that she be their Leader for SJ4, she's initially surprised and laughs over their overdramatic kneeling, but she accepts and promises to make them into the toughest guys in the tournament.
The Leader: Gets slapped with this role when ZEMAL begs her to join their team.
Loophole Abuse: In a sense. While her leadership has seen ZEMAL become more willing to carry pistols and explosives, they are still generally adamant on their usage on machine guns. So, as an impromptu Sniper Rifle, she got her hands on a L86A2 LSW with 4x scope, as it is technically designated as a light machine gun despite resembling a bullpup assault rifle and boasting enough accuracy to serve as a designated marksmans rifle, which she uses to foil LLENN's attempt at a Taking You with Me in SJ5.
Made of Iron: At the very least, she's tough enough to survive being impaled on a sharp fence post after getting throw off her feet by a massive explosion, long enough for LLENN to find her, free her, and heal her.
Manipulative Bitch: Miyu states that part of her status as The Ace is that she's good at using people.
- While doing so is hardly a challenge, she’s able to lead ZEMAL efficiently to win SJ5 and get them to drop some of their gun-based biases to turn them from Lethal Joke Characters into a truly effective squad.
- This is also shown when she and LLENN form their Enemy Mine. She proposes a plan that involves LLENN being the Designated Point Man while wearing an infrared light that only she with her special glasses would be able to see, allowing her to follow at a safe distance so they can progress through the mist without alerting other players. LLENN is quick to realise that this puts Vivi at an advantage, since she’s forced to have her back to her with a flashing indicator of her location, and would lack a means of easily locating Vivi to return fire should the other woman decide to shoot her In the Back. Additionally, while the plan is to meet up with their respective teams or SHINC, ZEMAL would be the only she’d be able to recognise due to their use of the infrared and she’d have to take extra to avoid accidentally shooting her team or SHINC. Unfortunately, LLENN has no choice but to go along with it since it’s the most sensible plan they have.
- She and David, during SJ5's climax, manipulate all the greedy players desperate for LLENN's bounty to form what is essentially an army of cannon fodder.
No Name Given: ZEMAL is so enamoured by her being a girl with a Machine Gun that they never really bother to learn her name, just referring to her as "Goddess". It's not until Volume 9 where we learn that her name is Vivi.
Only Sane Woman: While she also likes and uses a Machine Gun, an modified RPD to be exact, she's not as cult-like about them as the male members. This serves to ZEMAL's benefit as unlike them, she's not as trigger happy as them and can effectively give them commands to increase their efficiency.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: At the end of Volume 10, she speaks in a very harsh tone by her standards when LPFM and SHINC spawn, annoyed at having failed the quest.
Perpetual Smiler: She's hardly described as not smiling, even when ZEMAL make their entrance carrying her on a makeshift palanquin.
Pet the Dog:
- After their Curb-Stomp Battle against LPFM, SHINC and T-S, she actually approaches them and requests they surrender instead of killing them outright.
- After ZEMAL wins the tournament, she notices that they don't seem too happy with their victory on account that they couldn't play in their usual Hot-Blooded fashion. Instead of getting angry at them for being Ungrateful Bastards, she actually seems to wonder if she should have come up with a strategy that would have let them win more satisfied.
Pragmatic Villainy: Well villainy's a stretch, but unlike requesting they surrender and resign of their own volition, her decision to spare LFPM, Eva and Rosa was less of a Pet the Dog in this regard; the reason she let them go with only their pistols was so they could fight the other teams converging on the mall and weaken them for ZEMAL to finish off, figuring that they'd die in the process anyway.
Refuge in Audacity: After she leads a successful assault on the locomotive and leads ZEMAL on finishing off T-S and kill Tohma and Tanya in the process, she almost casually approaches the surviving players completely unprotected, save for Peter and Max still in hiding, and asks them to resign, catching them off guard to the point that they forget to counter-attack and actually hear her out.
The Scrappy: Becomes this In-Universe, with fans of ZEMAL getting annoyed at their more careful approach with her as The Leader.
Sixth Ranger: A quite literal one, seeing as ZEMAL were a five-man Squadron, who joins them when SJ4 is announced and acts as The Strategist.
The Squadette: Is this SJ4, joining as their Leader with the promise whip them into shape. They see her as a Goddess sent by the "God of Machine Guns".
The Social Expert: Part of her skills as a Manipulative Bitch and The Strategist is this; along with knowing her allies weapons and skills, she'd also able to know enough about them individually to give them orders that makes the best of their personal skills and traits.
The Strategist:
- Despite having her own powerful Machine Gun, this is her main role as a member, directing the others in combat.
- Back in ALO, she was known as one for the Salamanders, her reputation being that having her on your can guarantee a win.
Underestimating Badassery: While it doesn't backfire on her necessarily, she let LPFM and SHINC go to the mall assuming they'd be able to weaken the remaining teams for ZEMAL to finish off before dying. They end up defying her expectations by killing practically everyone there, meaning ZEMAL only had to finish off the remnants of V2HG to secure the win.
Weapon Specialization: Vivi's machine gun of choice is a Soviet RPD with a shortened mobility for better mobility. This seems to extend to light machine guns in general, as shown when she procures a L86A2 LSW with a scope to serve as a designated marksman rifle, and successfully uses to foil LLENN's attempt at a suicide attack.
Women Are Wiser: Vivi shines as the sole consistent element of intellect in ZEMAL, with her leadership turning them from Lethal Joke Characters who get by on dumb luck and brief flashes of brilliance, into a group that wins the 4th Squad Jam and becomes the Final Bosses of the 5th.

Team MMTM

see this page for more details.

Team SHINC

See this page for more details.

2nd Squad Jam debut

Team LF

A team consisting of only LLENN and Fukaziroh.

See this page for the individual characters.

Action Girls: They are both more than capable of kicking ass.
Adventure Duo: LLENN is the more serious hero, while Fuka is the eccentric and excitable lancer who provides much of the humor.
Brains and Brawn: LLENN is now the brains to Fuka's brawn. LLENN being the more knowledgeable and experienced combatant who comes up with the plans, while Fuka is the newbie with high stats and lots of firepower.
Crazy-Prepared: Fuka is carrying Abnormal Ammo of pink smoke canisters to help keep LLENN under cover.
Lovely Angels: A two girl badass squadron who absolutely annihilate the competition.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Both of them are short enough to get mistaken for children, yet are among the top participants in Squad Jam.
Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy: LLENN is the short-range sub-machine gunner to Fuka's long-range grenadier.

Team PM4

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pm4.jpg

A team composing of Pitohui, M, and a group of mercenaries they hired.

For Pitohui and M's individual entries see this page.

Battle Couple: If one considers Pitohui and M to be dating, then they are very much this.
Et Tu, Brute?: Pito is not forgiving of M's betrayal, even though he was doing it out for love for her.
Four Is Death: Invoked with their name, with P and M representing their initials (or name in M's case), and a 4 at the end of their name, which in Japan is pronounced similarly as the word for death. Fuka outright interprets it as meaning "The death of Pitohui and M".
Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy: M is the long range sniper, while Pitohui likes to get up close and personal either with firearms or her photon sword.

Team PM4 Mercenaries

Ambiguous Situation: While they're being paid to assist Pito and M, the amount of knowledge they have on Pito and M's impromptu Death Game is vague. While they do willingly make a Last Stand to defend Pito and M after their Leader hears M conviction and love for Pito, it's hard to tell if they did so to keep them dying or if they just assumed the two, or at least M, were intense Roleplayers and they decided, since they're likely to die anyway, to play along for the hell of it.
Big, Thin, Short Trio: Well, quartet. The main way anyone tells them apart are their varying body types; one is a short man of at least five five, one is slender with stick-like limbs, and two fulfill the big part with one being a similar build to M, though not as large, and other being tubby with a physique reminiscent of a Sumo wrestler.
The Faceless: The four of them wear camo masks with sunglasses to cover their faces. Some speculate is that it's because they'd be recognized otherwise, with some thinking that they're actually BoB participants, though this is unconfirmed.
Hold the Line: Do this against MMTM to give M time to wake up Pito.
Not So Stoic: The chubby sniper displays some emotion during the fight with SHINC, getting annoyed when they dodge his shots, cheering when M takes out Anna, and expressing a good deal of bewilderment when Sophie sits crossed-leg and gets killed by Eva. Later on the others, after deciding to help M protect Pito from MMTM, become very enthusiastic.
The Squad:
- The thin man is evidently the Leader, or Lancer in this case, and appears to lean more towards strategy and tactics than fighting, given the only weapon he uses is 45. calibre Glock 21 and that he often discusses the team's tactics with M.
- The short is likely infantry, with his use of a UTS-15 fourteen round shotgun.
- The large man is the Big Guy and possibly alternates between infantry and support with his German MG3 Machine gun, though the suppressor suggests he also serves as some manner of scout.
- The fat man is, along with M, the Cold Sniper, with a Savage 110 BA Sniper Rifle using .338 Lapua rounds. Though unlike M, assuming he isn't using the Barret Pito borrowed, he serves better in longer ranges.
The Stoic: Not unlike M, they are all rather silent and calm, and hardly react to Pito's eccentricities.
Unskilled, but Strong: In a way, the chubby sniper is this. He's in his own right an excellent sniper, and his rifle is more powerful and has longer range than M's signature EBR, but he has no IRL experience with firearms, meaning he's incapable of performing the Lineless Shooting feat like M, meaning the most help he can be to M during the fight with SHINC is to misdirect them with his Bullet Line so M can hit them.
You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Basically the short man's reaction when he realizes, after Pito gets shot, that Pito was using a NerveGear.

Team KKHC

A team that debuted in Squad Jam 2. They are made up of a group of hunters from Hokkaido. Due to Japan's strict anti-gun laws, they are among the few regular players in the Japanese server who have extensive experience with rifles in real life.^note

See this page for Shirley.

Decoy Leader: Their strategy in SJ3 hinged on this; the plan was for the team to make it so that Shirley would be the last person to claim leadership in the event the leader dies, then everyone would go their separate ways and avoid dying, allowing Shirley to go around undetected and wreak havoc.
Horrible Judge of Character: The team leader attempted to form an alliance with Pitohui, even offering to let them win the tournament when it was down to just the two of their teams left. Completely unaware of her awful reputation for betrayal and backstabbing, it comes as no surprise that she guns them all down right after she promised she wouldn't.
Humble Pie: As Shirley hoped, their humiliating defeat in SJ2 served as this for them, making the team reluctant to take part in SJ3. Ironically however, Shirley herself, having become a bigger Blood Knight than any of them, pretty much forces them to take part with her.
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Team KKHC comes at the game this way. They use their real world hunting skills in Squad Jam 2.
Hypocrite: Before SJ3 begins, they express worry to Shirley about their chances since they hardly practiced their teamwork and coordination, conviniently forgetting how they got arrogant and immediately assumed they'd win after a few kills.
I Know Mortal Kombat: Each of the members got into GGO to practice their IRL shooting without the risks of accidentally shooting other people, specifically hunting monsters that had behavioural algorithms resembling real-life animals they might hunt in areas resembling Hokkaido. During the winter hunting season preceding SJ2, the team found their clean kill rate^note being higher than their average, meaning this evidently worked.
In the Back: Pito kills four out of five of them, sans Shirley, in the back mag-dumping her pistol into them as they walk away.
Know When to Fold 'Em: After Shirley dies in her fight against Clarence and their Decoy Leader is discovered and killed by ZEMAL, the other three decided to resign from SJ3.
Mass "Oh, Crap!": Their reaction when Pito starts shooting at them.
Meaningful Name: Their name stands for "Kita no Kuni Hunters' Club," or "Northern Country Hunters' Club".
Pride Before a Fall: Due to their Lineless Shooting allowing them to deal Curb Stomp Battles to more hapless players, and assuming their superiority based on anyone retreating, they quickly became arrogant and assumed they'd win in a landslide. Then they met Pito...
Too Dumb to Live: While trying to pull this with Pitohui was bound to end horribly, the fact that they considered allying with anyone as opposed to just relying on their Lineless Shooting the whole time only served to give them a less-than-dignified death in SJ2

Clarence's Team

Clarence's team who took part in SJ2. While they don't take part in SJ3, Clarence is able to Blackmail them into helping her and Sam through the Prelims.

See this page for Clarence.

Curb-Stomp Battle: They're just one of the few squadrons that LLENN is able to effortlessly wipe out thanks to her and Fuka's new pink smoke strategy, with them being completely unable to see her and her pink outfit while she's able to see them due to more contrasting outfits and bullet lines.
Everyone Has Standards: As the narration puts it, "Even Clarence's teammates in their random seem to want nothing to do with them." This eventually leads to them kicking her out of the Squad, allowing her to dedicate herself with her partnership with Shirley.
Defector from Decadence: Inverted. Around the time Clarence and Shirley started their partnership, they kicked the former out after getting tired of her Sadistic behaviour.
Noodle Incident: Whatever Clarence was threatening to reveal to get them to help her and Sam through the prelims, it can't have been good...
Villain Team-Up: When LF come to the Dome, they accept a proposal from another squadron to team up against them.

Sam

A member of Clarence's team who she effectively forces to take part in SJ3 with her.

Apologetic Attacker: After Clarence betrays the alliance of Squads targeting LPFM, all he can do is apologize as he joins the massacre.
Badass Israeli: Invoked. His Avatar resembles a middle-eastern man with a beard, and he dresses the part with a turban and a muffler.
Butt-Monkey: He’s forced to join Clarence for the third Squad Jam, dragged into her plan to kill an alliance of squadrons and potentially LPFM, and he gets killed by Shirley the moment he tries to bail.
Extreme Doormat: He's easily pressured by Clarence into taking part in the Squad Jam before she even has to whip out the Blackmail to get the rest to help with the prelims.
More Dakka: He wields a FAMAS, which has the highest fire rate of any assault rifle, going up to 1,150 rounds per minute.
Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: After Clarence expresses interest in going after LPFM, despite the fact that they just took out seven squadrons, he quickly tries to bail only to be killed by Shirley.
Torso with a View: How he gets killed in SJ3, being shot in the chest by an explosive round courtesy of Shirley.

Team T-S

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/l8kdvos.png

A faceless team running around with full body power armor and H&K XM8 assault rifles.

Big "NO!": In SJ4, 005 lets out one when an RPG rocket destroys the hand railing for the locomotive and he falls off, landing on his head and dying instantly.
Captain Ersatz: They are all dressed in green armor, and look like Galactic Federation Marines.
Curb-Stomp Battle:
- They're able to deal an easy one to ZEMAL due to them not realizing they were up on the wall behind them, shooting them like fish in a barrel. They later do the same to LF, catching them by surprise while they were tired and injured when they were injured from their fight with PM4.
- In SJ4, they happen to run into Team TOMS and utterly decimate them due to a combination of their armour making their low-calibre weapons useless, their new Grenade Launchers increasing their range and damage, and finding a vehicle to let them make up for the speed difference between them.
Born Lucky: The only way to explain their victory in the second Squad Jam, especially seeing as they had no prior experience in PvP combat. Shortly after spawining, they managed to find a way to climb up the border wall and bikes to allow them to traverse across it more easily. The high ground allows to take out Team ZEMAL and allows them to avoid conflict for most of the tournament. And when they finally get off their high horses and go back to the ground, they just so happen upon a weakened Team LF just as they finish off PM4, allowing them to score an easy win.
- Extends to SJ3. Not equipping their signature armour to avoid being recognised, they're approached by a guy instigating other players in a plot to pull an Enemy Mine against the four champion^note Them, LPFM, SHINC and MMTM and gives them a letter detailing the plan and flares to signal other teams that they found them, tipping them off to the fact that they're a target.
Didn't See That Coming: In SJ3, in order to avoid being targeted by other teams, who are all in on a plot to gang up on the top teams (which are them, LPFM, SHINC, and MMTM), a plan that they learned of due to not wearing their armour, they camp out on top of a tall building and shoot at anyone who comes close. However, they did not notice the rising water level aspect of the tournament until it was too late, which leads to them getting stuck on top of the building with no way to leave once the traitor rule comes into play.
Dirty Coward: The real reason the crowd watching Squad Jam 2 hated them so much is because aside from sniping ZEMAL down, they spent the entire tournament just hiding out in one corner, and won by gunning down LLENN and Fuka when they were down, winning with practically zero effort.
- They're this again in Squad Jam 3, by accident. Being the champions of Squad Jam 2, and knowing that a lot of people hate them for their victory, they correctly understand that a lot of players will be gunning for them, so T-S sets up shop at the top of a skyscraper with a machine gun overlooking the approach. The only problem is, the map is slowly sinking, so by the time they realize the water has washed away any hope of any team going after them, they're stuck on top of a tower with no way to participate in the tournament.
- And they do this again in Squad Jam 4, trying to flee when they, LPFM and SHINC get ambushed by ZEMAL after their train ride. While LLENN doesn't exactly fault them for it, saying they can get revenge later, their quickness to flee bites them in the ass when they trip a plasma grenade landmine trap and get blown up.
Faceless Goons: Their armor is completely face-covering.
Fish out of Water: Before SJ2, they were a squadron that only focused on MvP and merely joined out of curiosity. Needless to say, they were only able to come out the champions because of sheer, dumb luck.
The Fool: In reality, these guys are a bunch of idiots whose victory in SJ2 was the result of sheer luck and in SJ3, they managed to get themselves stuck on the top of a building because they didn't notice the rising water.
Grenade Launcher: For SJ4, three of them equipped themselves with HK M320 grenade launchers wielded with a stock attached, which they use to make quick works of TOMS.
Hated by All: They do almost nothing for the whole Squad Jam 2 tournament and then arrive last minute for a Kill Steal, after Teams LF and PM4 had done all the work in clearing the other teams up. The fact such an undeserving team won the tournament led them to be reviled by the entirety of GGO's residents. The novels suggests that the players had to immediately logout to avoid getting into trouble. As time goes on however, a lot of this ire seems to die down, though you still won't find many people rooting for them over other recurring participants. At the very least, they'd moved past the reputation enough for 006 to form an Enemy Mine with some other players in SJ5.
It's Personal: Downplayed. It's evident that they're frightened of and have a grudge against Pitohui for how she killed them in SJ3, especially Ervin considering she stabbed him in the back of the throat with a Laser Blade, but they are willing to negotiate with and agree to Pitohui's proposal of an alliance in the Test Play to take out the NPC. However, Ervin states in no uncertain terms that if given the chance, they will kill Pito.
Kill Steal: During the second Squad Jam, Team T-S camped the entire battle, and came up after the bitter, desperate battle between Pitohui and LLENN to finish off the badly wounded survivors and win the game.
Logical Weakness: While their armour makes them all but invincible, that doesn't necessarily mean that their guns are invincible, which 003 learns the hard way when he shoots a grenade at V2HG only for the leader to shoot it's barrel while he's reloading.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Each member has a metal plate equipped on their non-gun arms to serve as arm shields.
Mighty Glacier: Their armour gives them a speed penalty, but is very, very strong for defense: in Squad Jam 3, M sniped Ervin multiple times with his M14, but did no damage to him. In fact, his first shot hit Ervin dead center on the head and it simply bounced off! On the other hand, they can still feel the physical impact of the bullets hitting and it can rattle them. Ervin only died because Pitohui betrayed him, as expected of her, and stabbed him with her Photon Sword at point-blank range which no armour could protect against. And the rest of T-S died when Pito rammed the cruise ship right against the building they were stuck on, causing them to fall into the water and drown.
- However it is later shown that explosives are the most effective weapons against them. In the Test Play Battle even their armor is no use when the NPC team busts out half a dozen RPG-7 launchers and blasts all of Team T-S to kingdom come. And in Squad Jam 4, they all die to explosives, with four of them taken out at once when they step on a buried plasma grenade trap.
No Bikes in the Apocalypse: They avert the trope, as they use bicycles to travel along the boundary wall in Squad Jam 2.
Powered Armor: Their outfits look like this, and it's not just for show; while extremely heavy, it also has extremely high defence against bullets of at least up to 7.62x54, as evidenced by M attempting to shoot Ervin in the head only for him to survive disoriented but unscathed. Nothing short of an explosion, falling into a deep body of water, or a Photon Sword will do the job.
Rivals Team Up: In SJ4, the group bumps into LPFM and SHINC, who convince them to help against V2HG and WNGL.
Skewed Priorities: They just found a way to the top of the barriers, giving them an unmatched height advantage over the other teams, and one appears more concerned that there's literally only clouds and sky behind it, claiming whoever developed the arena got lazy.
Stuff Blowing Up: In SJ4, the four surviving members get taken out by a Plasma Grenade trap as they try fleeing from ZEMAL's assault on the locomotive, eliminating them from the tournament.
Super Drowning Skills: Due to the weight of armour, Pitohui is able to kill all save Ervin, who was on her side at the time, in SJ3 by crashing the There Is Still Time into the building they're stuck on, causing them to fall into the water and drown.
True Companions: They establish themselves as this when Ervin, their representative in team BTRY, tries bringing them with him to the "There Is Still Time" to get them off the building they're stuck on and later when he asks Pitohui to pick them up with the ship, despite the fact it'd be disadvantageous to his current team.
Took a Level in Badass: By SJ4, three of them outfitted themselves with Grenade Launchers.
Unskilled, but Strong: In the first and second Squad Jam, they're largely inexperienced in PvP and largely got by on luck, but they make up for it with their equipment; namely, their Powered Armor that is so tough, that Ervin is able to receive zero damage from a headshot!
The Voiceless: Unlike the other teams, they never say a word throughout their appearances in the anime. This changes as of Volume 4, where they are shown talking.
Weapon Specialization: In preparation for the second Squad Jam, they squadron got their hands on guns that have futuristic designs to go with their space marine aesthetic.
- The team's machine gunner uses an H&K GR9, a version of the HK21 with a built in-scope and a rounded design.
- Two members use Steyr AUGs.
- Two other members use SAR 21s.
- The last of them, Ervin, wields a H&K XM8, a lightweight assault rifle that never left the development stage, with an equipped suppressor. The anime simplifies things by having them all use the XM8.
You Are Number 6: Each member is simply known by a number from 001 to 006. Although in Squad Jam 3, the one who is chosen for the Betrayer team decides to use his actual online handle of "Ervin."

Ervin

The "Number 2" of T-S and the traitor in SJ3

The Friend Nobody Likes: Averted. Despite his team scoring a cheap win in SJ2, none of the other members of Team BTRY seem to give him grief over it, with Pitohui even telling him “A win’s a win” to ease his nerves about his situation. David even resolves to avenge him after Pitohui kills him.
The Face: Downplayed. Since he's interacted with them before, he's the one who discusses an alliance with the other teams instead of his teammates.
Gentle Giant: He is described as being pretty large, but he’s fairly soft-spoken and clearly cares about his teammates.
Heroic Sacrifice: In the Test Play, he leads the charge against Hassan during the attack on the castle to ensure that if there are any mines in their path, he'll be the only one taken out by them. Unfortunately, he didn't account of Hassan having access to RPGs.
Honor Before Reason: In SJ3, he asks Pitohui to rescue his teammates from the building they got stuck on before the Traitor Rule came into play, despite the fact that doing so would give Team BTRY a huge disadvantage and that it’d be smarter to deal with the other teams and go after them last. Too bad it’s Pitohui he’s asking this of.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Pitohui kills him by stabbing him from behind with her Photon Sword.
Nice Guy: Despite being part of a widely reviled team, Ervin himself is a decent guy who cares about his teammates and refers to his new teammates in Team BTRY in honorifics. Even when Pitohui kills off his team against his wishes, he still refers to her politely.
Number Two: Implied. Each of the members of T-S have a number on their helmet and Ervin’s is “002”, implying that he’s the team’s sub-leader.
Rapid-Fire "No!": How he responds to Pitohui killing off his team.
True Companions: Clearly feels this way about his teammates, being upset by being chosen as the traitor in SJ3 and making multiple attempts to help them get back into the tournament even after, since they ended up stuck on a sinking building. He’s clearly devastated after Pitohui, instead of helping them like he asked her to, crashes the ship into the building they’re stuck on to kill them in one fell swoop.
You Are Number 6: The number on his helmet is “002”.

006

Another member of T-S.

Ascended Extra: Downplayed. It's not quite on Ervin's level, but SJ4 and 5 sees him get a bit more characterisation compared to the rest of his team.
Designated Point Man: His role in his temporary team in SJ5 is walking in front of his teammates unarmed and making loud complaints to bait out people to shoot him, which would prove futile thanks to his armour and gives his team an opening to counterattack and kill any oppossition.
I Know Mortal Kombat: Inverted. In SJ4, 006 reveals that he works as a railway engineer IRL, which proves useful in getting the locomotive moving again after the RPG assault it suffered.
Uncertain Doom: Last time 006 is seen in SJ5, he's acting as bait for his temporary team and they get into a firefight after LLENN and Vivi slip past them, with them passing by a member of DOOM heading in their direction and blowing up shortly after.

Team NSS

A group of roleplayers who act like soldiers from different wars flung into the post-apocalyptic world of GGO. Their team name is short for "New Soldiers."

Adapted Out: They make no appearance in the anime.
All for Nothing: In SJ2, The survivor's decision to retreat from KKHC proves to be for naught when they team up with the alliance of squadrons targeting PM4, leading to rest of them getting wiped out.
The Alcoholic: The Green Beret is apparently this, having a habit of logging in drunk, which annoys his teammates. He was however sober during SJ2 due to the West German, his IRL friend, making he was dry for the tournament, which makes his inability to see the Bullet Lines more surprising to his teammates.
Curb-Stomp Battle: In SJ3, they suffer one at the hands of the now more experienced ZEMAL and their shopping cart machine gun turrets.
Fish out of Temporal Water: They roleplay as this, roleplaying as soldiers who were declared MIA during their respective wars and were flung to the futuristic world of GGO, and are working together to find a way home. Respectively, they consist of a Green Beret from the Vietnam War, a Russian paratrooper from the Soviet Afghanistan war, a merc from the Rhodesian Bush war, a West German soldier from the Cold War, and a English infantryman and Imperial Japanese officer from World War II, wearing equipment and wielding guns that match their chosen time periods.
Know When to Fold 'Em: After their leader and snipers are taken out by KKHC and their Lineless Shooting, the surviving three numbers show no shame in retreating.
Honor Before Reason: After the alliance of players fails to kill PM4, the Imperial Japanese soldier intends to go to the mountain and fight them, likely knowing that he'll die, and expresses to his fellow team leaders that it was a good strategy regardless and wishes them luck with a salute, inspiring them to team up with him in his attempt. This gets the rest of them killed.
The Squad:
- The Green Beret is The Leader, but also seems to serve as one of their infantry with his superior speed and XMI77E2 Assault Rifle.
- The West German and the English Infantryman serve as the team's snipers due to their respective use of G3A3ZF and Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk. I rifles.
- The Russian appears to be their Demolitions Expert due to his AKS-74 having a grenade launcher with an 1,300 feet range.
- The Mercenary and the Imperial Japanese appear to be their infantry based on their use of a FAL Rifle and a Type 100 SMG respectively.

Team RGB

A team of energy weapon lovers who compete in Squad Jam 2 & 3. Their name stands for Ray Gun Boys.

Ascended Extra: They go from Joke Characters to surpass ZEMAL to members of Fire's alliance of squadrons, effectively making them part of the Big Bad Ensemble.
Curb-Stomp Battle: LLENN and Fuka utterly annihilate them in Squad Jam 2 with their improvised artillery barrage. And then Team SHINC wipes the floor with them in Squad Jam 3 in their POV segment at the start of Volume 5.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: They're fond of ray guns.
Foil: To ZEMAL. The both of them start as largely inept teams obsessed with a particular type of weapon, RGB with Optical Guns and ZEMAL with Machine Guns, and are frequent participants in the Squad Jams despite the disadvantage this obsession puts them in. ZEMAL however wield more practical weapons for the competition and while they start the series being the Squad Jam's first ever losers, they progressively Take a Level in Badass that sees them frequently make the top tens due to strategizing around the strengths of their machine guns and, later with the help of a new leader, start to make some compromises on their cult-like and obsession and even manage to win a Squad Jam. RGB on the other hand refuse to compromise on their choice in weapons or employ smarter tactics to compensate for their disadvantage, continuing to lose fairly early in every Squad Jam in Curb Stomp Battles, the one time they did get relatively far being because they joined an alliance of Live-Ammo Gun users.
Joke Character: They more or less exist as a fodder team for the main characters to take down on the way to their confrontation with their primary rivals. In Squad Jam 2, it's Team LF that does it, and in Squad Jam 3 it's SHINC's turn to roll right over them.
Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: Team RGB ends up falling victim to this trope. Lasers do have some advantages over live ammo, such as not being affected by the wind, and power packs for laser weapons being a great deal lighter, but none of them offset the fact that GGO is designed from the get-go for every player to have in-built shields that protect against lasers.
Meaningful Name: While not the intended meaning in-universe, RGB can refer to red, green and blue, the primary colors of light.
Plot Tailored to the Party: Amazingly enough, their stubbornness in using energy weapons works out well for them in Squad Jam 4. The anti-camping measure in SJ4 is to have monster hordes spawning to attack players every five minutes, so for once, their weapons are actually useful in fighting in the tournament as they make short work of monsters much faster than players using conventional bullet-firing guns. This actually gets them invited to Fire's alliance of Squadrons.
Pride Before a Fall: The Leader suffers this in SJ2 before getting killed by Fuka's grenade.
Leader: Don't worry. We're not going to lose here. Be confident. Trust in your teammates. Trust in our victory. We're going to fight hard, survive this twisted, corrupt world, and carve our names into eternal glo-"
This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman:
- In SJ4, they brought into Fire's alliance of squadrons since their use of Optical Guns instead of normal firearms makes them the best for dealing with the tournament's monster spawns, allowing Fire's group make the north of the frozen lake a permanent base of operation instead of having to be constantly on the move.
- It also turns out that their Optical Guns are good for bypassing glass, even bulletproof ones, due to the fact that light can bypass translucent surfaces. This allows them to hit Shirley and LLENN through their Humvee's bulletproof front window.
Super Drowning Skills: Along with PORL, they get eliminated from SJ4 when Clarence sacrifices her life to crack the ice they're standing in, causing them to fall into the frozen water and drown.
Too Dumb to Live: They go into a PvP tournament with weapons specifically designed for PvE. As hotheaded and inept as Team ZEMAL is, at least they have the right tools for the job.

3rd Squad Jam debut

TEAM LPFM

A four member team consisting of LLENN, Pitohui, Fukaziroh, and M, effectively combining Teams LM, LF, and PM4.

See this page for more details.

Team TOMS

A team of Fragile Speedsters who take part in the third Squad Jam.

Big "WHAT?!": The Leader's response before ZEMAL kills them, either as an Oh, Crap! or because he's confused at ZEMAL killing them because their machine guns told them to. Or both.
Butt-Monkey: These guys really get the short end of the stick. In SJ3, they're introduced still reeling from a Curb-Stomp Battle against T-S that killed two of their members, used up all their healing items, and left them all at 60% HP, and that's before their fastest member is chosen to join Team BTRY and they're killed on their way to the There Is Still Time due to some poor choice words to ZEMAL. Then they're not seen during the Test Play not because they weren't invited, but because they suffered two Curb Stomp Battles that prompted them to Rage Quit. Then in SJ4, they just so happened to bump into T-S once more, who recently equipped themselves with three Grenade Launchers and nearly wipe them out. And, as the icing on the cake, Cole then ends up getting killed when he sets off a trap MMTM set.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Suffer this a few times, two times from T-S.
- In SJ3, they decided to target T-S under the assumption they'd net more glory taking out the defending champs, and end up assisting in other teams' attempts to take them down, but get hindered by their enviroment and T-S' high ground, leading to two of their guys dying and forcing them to retreat.
- In the Test Play, they tried attaking NPC team using their speed advantage only to be taken out twice, prompting them to Rage Quit.
- In SJ4, they end up bumping with T-S, who recently Took a Level in Badass by equipping themselves with Grenade Launchers, and whose armour prevented their bullets from hurting them anyway. The result? Everyone else dead, and Cole running for his life only to trigger a trap MMTM set.
Crippling Overspecialisation: Considering they're an entire team of Fragile Speedsters.
Demoted to Extra: After their somewhat important role in SJ3, being one of the six remaining teams and Cole becoming their representative for Team BTRY, they lose prominience in the Test Play and SJ4, getting Killed Offscreen in both events.
Difficult, but Awesome: As explained, the AGI build is not the Game-Breaker it was when GGO launched, but TOMS can still use it effectively enough to be one of the last surviving teams, albeit with two casualties.
Fragile Speedster: This is TOMS' main gimmick. They're all players with AGI builds and light weaponry that rely on fast movement to make up for their low defence.
Glory Seeker: Evidently a problem of theirs; The reason for their poor position when we meet them in SJ3 is because they picked a fight with T-S, having gone after them since they figured they would have gotten more glory from killing them. Then when Cole meets his new teammates in Team BTRY, he gets excited at the possible reputation he'll get for killing the high level players on the team.
Horrible Judge of Character: They try to form an alliance with Team ZEMAL, who proceed to kill them after they admit to not liking machine guns.
Killed Offscreen: The rest of the team sans Cole suffer this offscreen at the hands of the Grenade Launcher equipped T-S, their Fragile Speedster playstyle and low-calibre SMGs and LARs proving useless against their powerful armour and new, explosive weapons.
Rage Quit: They also take part in the Test Play, but decided to quit after suffering two Curb Stomp Battles from the NPC team.
Tactical Withdrawal: Their keep the ammo mags on their person to a minimal of four, preferring to disengage and get more ammo from their inventories in the event they run out.
Weak, but Skilled: As per their Fragile Speedster stat builds, the team is quick and reliant on skillful dodging and shooting, but have low HP and their guns lack much piercing power. This puts them in contrast to T-S, who are Unskilled, but Strong Mighty Glaciers with their armour, a concept that seems almost heretical to them, but unfortunately leads to them suffering a Curb-Stomp Battle in SJ4.
Worf Had the Flu: Part of their loss to T-S in SJ3; not only did T-S have the ground, being atop a building, but it's hinted that the urban enviroment they were forced to fight on hindered their speed based playstyle.

Cole

The fastest member of the team.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: As a member of BTRY, he acts friendly, helpful, and polite to his new team, despite his intent of betraying them so his team can win.
Fragile Speedster: Like the rest of his team, but he’s noted to be the fastest.
Ludicrous Gibs: This is how he meets his end in SJ3, being shot by Team SHINC’s PTRD-41 while his back is turned.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Subverted. He planned on doing this on Team BTRY and maybe ZEMAL after his teammates are killed by the latter, but he’s killed by SHINC before he has the chance.
Sole Survivor: Ends up as this in SJ4 after a run-in with T-S, who recently got their hands on Grenade Launchers. He plans to hide it out until most of the teams wiped each other before making a hopeful Self-Destructive Charge, but while he's trying to escape T-S, he tries to use the train MMTM Booby Trapped when they first spawned, killing him before he can enact his plan.
The Starscream: Attempts to be this for Team BTRY so that his team can score the win. Unfortunately, they’re wiped out by ZEMAL before he can make his move and he’s killed shortly after before he can try avenging them.
Tempting Fate: When he sees a locomotive while running from T-S, he thinks he found an escape, and excitedly tells his now dead squad that he'll win the event for them. Unfortunately, said locomotive is the same one MMTM rigged to explode when they first spawned...
Undying Loyalty: To his team, which is shown when unlike the other traitors, he decides to not play along with SJ3’s traitor rule and planned to betray Team BTRY so his team can win.
True Companions: His (failed) betrayal is motivated by him wanting his team to win.
Weapon Specialization: His preferred firearm is a H&K MP7A1 SMG, which was designed with an idea similar to the P90 in mind; shoot faster and harder than a pistol from a small gun. It even uses bullets smaller than your average pistols that travel faster.

Team BTRY SPOILERS

Team BTRY

From left to right: Pitohui, Eva, Ervin, Cole, David, Tomtom.

A team made up of members of the six remaining teams, as per SJ3's unique rule. The members are Pitohui (LPFM), Eva (SHINC), David (MMTM), Tomtom (ZEMAL), Ervin (T-S) and Cole (TOMS). It's later revealed that their representative from LPFM was LLENN, but Pito stole the spot with her quick thinking.

Big Bad Ensemble: Effectively this, though in some cases they could be seen as Forced into Evil.
Cool Boat: They meet up on and effectively assume control of the There Is Still Time, a large luxury cruise liner that held some of the last survivors of humanity, but unfortunately crashed with everyone on it presumably dying. With combined efforts of Pito and LLENN, it ends up sinking during the final battle.
Fighting Your Friend: While the traitor rule serves to Invoke this, Pito effectively Enforces this by putting David, Tomtom, and Eva in positions where'd they'd be attacking their old teams to keep them from getting onto the ship.
Hold the Line: Their first order of business is trying to prevent their former teams from getting onto the ship before the water level rises too much. Their initial plan against this was to cover up the holes that would allow them to enter by cutting down the lifeboats and dropping them down in front of them before proceeding to shoot at them. However, the deaths of Cole, their spotter, and Tomtom, their long range machine gunner, along with SHINC sniping a new hole into the ship with their PTRD forces the battle onto the ship.
Home Base: The There Is Still Time, which they attempt to prevent the other teams from getting onto. Once the defence fails however and the fight moves onto the ship, they quickly make base at the bridge.
Know When to Fold 'Em: After Cole and Tomtom are killed, removing their spotter and long range support, Pito has the team retreat into the ship to avoid losing anyone else and to prepare to face the enemy teams in the ship, which the others agree with.
The Squad:
- Pitohui serves as The Leader, displaying a surprising amount of strategic skill in their plans to defend the ship and wipe out the other teams. Though it's later revealed that she's the Sixth Ranger Traitor, having claimed the role as her team's traitor before LLENN could realize it was actually her, and heading over to join Team BTRY with every intention of backstabbing them to put LLENN in a tough spot.
- The both of them being the leaders of their initial teams, both David and Eva serve as Lancers, often discussing tactics with Pito and expressing concern at her riskier ones. David also doubles as a Cold Sniper with his STM's long barrel extension and scope, which he uses to hold back his old team before Lax forces him behind cover.
- Both Tomtom and Shinohara serve as The Big Guy, though in different ways. Tomtom does so with his machine gun, which has sufficient range and firepower to attack and hold back their enemies. Ervin serves as this with his Powered Armor, which is strong to protect from bullets up to 7.62 mm.
- Cole is the Designated Point Man. Though instead of using his speed to scout ahead, he performs this role by going to the top mast using his speed and and using his binoculars to tell the other's team positions.
- Upon retreating to the bridge, the team gets a Utility Party Member in the form of Clara, the AI in control of the There Is Still Time, giving them control over the entire ship, which Pito uses to kill MMTM and put the ship on a time limit before it sinks.
- After Pito reveals herself as the Sixth Ranger Traitor, LLENN and Eva team up and the former becomes the Ensign Newbie, leading herself and Eva to deal with Pito and Fuka.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: While they do an effective job at first, it'd be a stretch to call this a properly cohesive team, even if they don't hate each other per se; Pito is... Pito, David and Eva, while giving their all, aren't exactly happy to be there, Cole is planning to backstab everyone so his original team can win, Ervin, while polite, thinks his new teammates are crazy, and Tomtom is more concerned with getting to shoot stuff.
Victory by Endurance: Are ultimately able to pull this off; with LLENN officially taking her rightful role in the team and, with the help of Eva, defeating both Pito and Fuka, Team BTRY ends up the winners of SJ3.

Clara

The AI in control of the There Is Still Time, who Pito and surviving team members meet upon retreating to the bridge.

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Averted. Clara herself is working just fine despite the ship's condition. The problem is that she's taking orders from Pitohui.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: As part of her plan to sink the ship, Pito, after killing Ervin and David, proceeds to shoot Clara's control console with a burst of automatic fire, prompting her to repeat "Please stop. I will lose functionality" until Pito orders her to just go to sleep.
Blind Obedience: While she will ask her if she's sure about activating certain facilities and devices if there's a potential risk to human life, she pretty much does everything Pitohui tells her to do. David even describes her as a "faithful hound."
Making a Splash: Very Downplayed. Having control over the entire ship, she naturally has control over the sprinkler system. Not too dangerous on its own, but combined with the broken generator that transfers some of it's charge to the sprinkler's water when both are on at the same time...
Sarcasm-Blind: When informing Pito of the amount of water entering the ship due to Fuka's accidental Plasma Grenade, we get this exchange.
Pitohui: Ah, how scary.
Clara: Please, do not be frightened.

4th Squad Jam debut

Team DOOM

A new team in Squad Jam 4. Their main tactic is using suicide bombings.

Armor Is Useless: Averted they wear extremely heavy armor on their heads and fronts of their bodies which is impervious to almost all light-to-medium-caliber bullets. The only ways to reliably kill them are to either shoot them In the Back where they have not armored themselves or use a weapon that is an instant-kill... such as Pitohui's Photon Swords, as LLENN realized.
Awesome, but Impractical: Their suicide attacks in a nutshell. Detonating their explosive packs results in a blast larger than most explosives, but it also costs the team the life of the user. The only way for their tactics to be remotely worthwhile is if they take several enemies out in a blast, so LLENN makes quick work of four of them by attacking by herself.
Badass Biker: All six of them use motorcycles, and prove to be skilled at riding them when they're able to dodge Fuka's grenades and Shirley's shots.
Bribing Your Way to Victory: Downplayed. Due to requiring powerful explosives to pull off, their suicide bomber strategy is very expensive. However, their status as rich middle schoolers helps them get around this, as they can simply convert their high IRL allowances into Credits to buy them.
Crippling Overspecialization: They participate in SJ4 with only their explosives, and no guns whatsoever.
Determinator: These guys just don't let up. Even after losing one member without taking out LPFM, they still send another and when he's knocked off his bike, he just gets up and keeps running.
Doomy Dooms of Doom: Naturally.
The Dreaded: They stand out as having achieved this status in the span of one Squad Jam despite being defeated relatively early on, due to the sheer might of their explosives. DOOM themselves realised that they got this reputation, and so entered SJ5 under a different name to give a false sense of security.
Glass Cannon: Kind of a given when your main strategy is blowing yourselves up with powerful explosives. You're bound to deal damage from even the shockwave, assuming the enemy lacks cover, but that doesn't change the fact that literally you're only attack kills you. Zig-Zagged however in that they wear heavy armor to help them get close to their targets.
Glory Seeker: While their strategy guarantees that they're not gonna win the Squad Jam, they are still eager to take down LPFM, the previous champs.
Graceful Loser: When they meet up in the waiting room, they're not at all bothered that they lost, choosing to root for LPFM the rest of the way.
I Have Many Names: Invoked. For SJ5, they realised that everyone would likely be aware of their tactics after their performance in the last Squad Jam, and therefore would be wary if they saw their name among the participating teams. So, to gain the element of surprise, they entered under a new name, BOKR, in order to catch their competition off-guard.
I Know Mortal Kombat: Their skill in riding motorcycles stems from playing racing games before coming to GGO.
Lethal Joke Character: Played with. Their tactics are surprisingly deadly, but can also be easily countered if you know how.
Meaningful Name: Zigzagged. They certainly will bring doom if caught in their explosions, but in actuality their team name is just an anagram of domo, a basic Japanese greeting.
The Needs of the Many: Inverted. When LLENN charges at them with Pito's Photon Sword, the leader opts to not detonate when she gets close since taking out the rest of her team would be more efficient than taking out just her. While logically sound, this unfortunately bites him, and the team, in the ass.
Senseless Sacrifice: The final member of the team detonates and tries to take out LLENN, but she's able to avoid the blast in time.
Small Role, Big Impact: It's thanks to one of DOOM's members that Shirley is finally able to kill Pitohui; forming an Enemy Mine with one, Shirley had him make a beeline to the castle seemingly with the intent to blow up, when it actuality it was to kick up a dust cloud that would provide cover to the teams making their way to the castle, which would naturally include LPFM. This presented the perfect bait to get Pito into Shirley's sights and all but assure she's finally killed by her. Additionally, this would allow Pito to pull a Big Damn Heroes for LLENN by recruiting her fellow deceased players for when they revive to help disorient MMTM and perform a successful attack on ZEMAL, arguably netting LPFM the win.
Spanner in the Works: The sudden appearance of the Sole Survivor of DOOM at the end of SJ5 ruins LLENN's attempt at a Spiteful Suicide, as it prompts Eva to punt LLENN off the ledge to get out of the explosions range.
Spoiled Sweet: They're rich middle schoolers who presumably get a high enough allowance to pay for their powerful suicide bombs, but they're all rather excitable and prove to be Graceful Losers when they're beaten.
Suicide Attack: They attack by detonating their explosive packs in a massive blast.
Taking You with Me: Their modus operandi.
Too Dumb to Live: Having all their members prepared to blow themselves up to take out large groups of the enemies does seem like a good idea, but the fact that they only use their Suicide Bombs with no other weapons effectively guarantees that they won't be winning the Squad Jam. Not that they seem to care.
Took a Level in Badass: Their re-emergence in SJ5 sees them utilise smarter tactics to cause more damage, such as entering under a different team name to catch everyone off guard, and one removing his armour and explosives before entering the castle and blending in among those gunning for LLENN as a guy who lost his gun.
Unskilled, but Strong: The members of the team converted from other games, so while their basic stats are high, they don't know much about GGO.

Fire's Alliance

General

A group of players hired by Fire Nishiyamada to help him win the Squad Jam and win the bet he made with LPFM so he can marry Karen.

Badass Army: Being in an alliance before the tournament even starts, and with Fire hiring more during the tournament, they are technically the largest squadron to ever take part in the Squad Jam.
Custom Uniform: While all three teams work for the same person, each one has a unique uniform, Team A (WNGL) donning a custom made camo pattern mixing brown, green, black and pink spots, Team B (V2HG) wearing futuristic armour that looks light and durable, and Team C (WEEI), most bizarrely of all, wearing dark-blue sports tracksuits.
The Faceless: Despite each team having unique uniforms, the one thing they all have in common is that they wear ski masks and sunglasses to cover their face and eyes.
Home Base: With the help of Team RGB, they're able to set up an impromptu base across the frozen lake, which is where all three squads gather themselves and anyone they bring into the fold.
Hidden Badass: Invoked. When Eva tries to get a read on the masked members, she's annoyed to see that they are opting to keep their weapons and gear, aside from their armour, in their inventories to hide their combat strength. Subverted with WEEI, who don't carry primary weapons in favour of handguns that can fulfill similar rolls.
Locked Out of the Loop: At the climax, they decide the best course of action would be to engage LPFM and the remainder of SHINC inside the pistols only mall, where their targets would be forced to give up their primary weapon, as opposed to engaging them before they entire since it would likely end up being a Curb-Stomp Battle with LFPM and SHINC on the giving end. Of course, they're unaware that their run-in with ZEMAL has left them two more short and lacking their primary weapons.
Only in It for the Money: It's evident that every squadron involved, or at least the initial three, are being paid by Fire to help him win the Squad Jam. Subverted for at least WEEI and potentially The Leader for V2HG, who are revealed to actually be Fire's friend and co-workers IRL.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Like Fire below, this is Downplayed. While it doesn't stop those in the know from displaying Villain Respect for their female competition and they do display a good deal of respect for Fire despite his appearance and want to help him get together with the girl he likes, that doesn't change the fact that they're trying to help Fire get with a girl with no interest in him, with a clear lack of regard for LLENN/Karen's feelings on the matter.
Pragmatic Villainy: Unlike most Squad Jam participants who are more than likely to immediately go on the offensive, especially with their technical numbers advantage, the Alliance are more prone to recruit other squadrons with useful skills, the most notable one being Team RGB, who's use of Optical Guns allow the group to camp out at one area without having to worry about the monster spawns.

Fire Nishiyamada / Fire

Fire Nishiyamada:

A man Karen meets while accompanying her father to a party.

Admiring the Abomination: When monsters start spawning after LLENN kills a scout monster to save him, he actually looks more curious about them than frightened.
Affably Evil: He's a Stalker with a Crush who hints that he'd be a rather controlling husband and serves as the Big Bad in the 4th Squad Jam, but he honestly seems genuinely friendly and a lot of his rudeness could be seen as the result of ignorance as opposed to anything genuinely malicious.
Arc Villain: Appears to be the main antagonist of SJ4 as an opponent who's seeking Karen's hand in marriage.
Awesome Mc Cool Name: No, that's not just his username. His name is literally Fire, which he notes that a lot of people are often caught off-guard by. That being said, he's a GGO beginner and not very powerful, forcing him into the role of Non-Action Big Bad.
Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason he fell for Karen is because she didn't judge him for his short and pudgy appearance IRL. Deconstructed in that LLENN isn't exactly keen on the idea, since they only shared a fifteen minute conversation, and he goes to some stalkerish when she refused.
Benevolent Boss: Despite his disdain for GGO and the fact that they're simply hired help, Fire is generally pretty affable to members of his alliance. As opposed to simply siccing them all on LLENN in an attempt to overwhelm her and LPFM, he prefers to utilize tactics that can minimise casualties on his side, such as deceiving SHINC into thinking he'll let them and LPFM duke it mono-e-mono, only to send a Humvee with a minigun to wipe them out. Then, as he reveals to Eva, there's his plan for when he wins; gather everyone together and detonate a grenade to take them out, ensuring they all tie for 1st. It eventually turns out that the members of the teams he brought to GGO are his friends and employees, all of whom are genuinely loyal to him.
Birds of a Feather: Part of the reason he and Karen hit it off when they meet is that she and Fire are similar in that they have complexes about their heights, and Karen's father seems to approve of the possibility of them getting married based on this.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. He appears genuinely affable, if ignorant, and aside from the mysterious reason he knows about LLENN's in-game identity, he's largely hinted to be an Honest Corporate Executive according to Karen's father. However, him tracking down LLENN in-game displays him as a Stalker with a Crush and he hints himself to be rather misogynistic by stating his plans to outright ban LLENN from playing GGO once they're married, with no thought to LLENN's feelings on the matter.
Bribing Your Way to Victory: M speculates that due to his status as a new player, he'll use his IRL wealth to hire mercenary players to do the fighting for him. He's proven right when he hires 18 players, each of which make up 3 teams, to accompany him into the tournament. He then seemingly does the same with at least four more squadrons in the tournament, including SHINC.
Broken Pedestal: Downplayed and Played for Laughs. While she's not interested in marrying him, Karen didn't really have anything bad to say about Fire as a person. The moment he followed her into GGO, embarrassed her in front of the rest of LPFM, and said that he would forbid her from playing it if they got married, she immediately starts seeing him as an In-Universe Hate Sink, even seeming ready to take him outside and beat him up.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: In GGO, he's tall and handsome, while Karen is rather short.
Hypocritical Humour: While he overlooks Pito's behavior under her excuse that it's her roleplaying (it isn't), he's quick to call Pito pointing at him and everything she does after as "rude", which is rich coming from the guy who cyberstalked Karen, who quickly Lampshades this.
Non-Action Big Bad: As a beginner and and Actual Pacifist, he instead has to hire players to fight for him in the 4th Squad Jam. He ends up as the last man standing on his team after LLENN dies saving him from the monster spawns, and he resigns shortly after.
No Guy Wants an Amazon: He gives up on getting together with Karen after learning that she and LLENN are the same person, since he's afraid of the latter.
No Social Skills: In GGO, the fact that he's a beginner is immediately obvious not just by his gear, but how he acts. He calls LLENN by her real name, which is practically unheard of in-game, he constantly observes the environment in interest, and feels sorry for LLENN having to "role play". And considering his actions in Stalker with a Crush below, he might lack some IRL too.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: As noted below, Fire is Perpetual Smiler both IRL and in-game. This makes the stern look he wears during his date with Karen all the more odd, and he acts very nervous when interacting with Karen. As it turns out, it's because LLENN scared the crap out of him.
Perpetual Smiler: He seems to always be smiling, IRL and In-game.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Downplayed. He's an overall Nice Guy with no Implied prejudices and is rather courteous towards the women he's shown interacting with, but his attempts at getting Karen to marry him even after she says no show a lack of regard for her feelings on the matter, and he states that in the event that they do get married, he would ban her from GGO due to his own distaste for it, showing he'd be a rather controlling husband. Plus, what ultimately gets him to stop pursuing Karen is the fact that LLENN terrified him after she saved his life from a horde of monsters. Though granted, the latter is somewhat understandable considering how LLENN can get, plus he's rather apologetic if nervous about it.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: While it's Implied that all of WEEI are his IRL friends and subordinates, which is how he got their help, it's Implied that the the reason he got the help of V2HG is because he knows their Leader in some way.
Smug Snake: Not only does he agree to Pito's proposition to Best LLENN to Marry Her despite being a new player, but he even states he won't watch clips of previous Squad Jams due to his dislike of violence, meaning he's effectively going in blind.
Stalker with a Crush: After falling for LLENN in their first meeting, he's quick to contact her father and ask to marry her. When that fails, he decides the next best thing would be to find out who she is in-game, make an account, and search for her there to bring it up.
Start X to Stop X: Despite seeing GGO as barbaric and frightening, even claiming he'll forbid Karen from playing it when they're married, he opts to accept Pito's challenge to beat LLENN to win her hand in marriage.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Sugou Nobuyuki. They're a Stalker with a Crush with a fixation on Karen and Asuna respectively who hint that they'd be a Control Freak of a husband, are effectively Non Action Big Bads due to being pathetic combatants yet having a good deal of resources to their name, and their in-game appearances are much more good-looking than they are IRL. That being said, Fire is leagues a better person than Sugou, being largely hinted to be an Honest Corporate Executive as opposed to Sugou's Corrupt Corporate Executive, a lot of his kinder moments are hinted to be genuine and his maliciousness is born of ignorance while Sugou's a Sadistic Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, and he doesn't go as far as to try and kidnap Karen and Brainwash her, instead making a bet that he'd get to marry her if he beats her in the Squad Jam.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome: In contrast to IRL, where's he both short and pudgy, his GGO avatar is tall, more so than M, and handsome, and he has black hair. Eva even Lampshades when he removes his mask for her, stating that his size would make it hard to mistake him for anyone else.
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: In real life, he's short and rather portly, in comparison to the Huge Schoolgirl Karen.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: It turns out the reason he hired SHINC into his Alliance is because he knew about their and LLENN's rivalry and used it to make sure LLENN and her team were in one spot. The moment they were and both teams were preoccupied with each other, a Humvee equipped with a minigun comes in to take both teams out.

WEEI SPOILERS

One of the three original groups of the alliance, distinguishable with their track suits. They're the ones Fire joins SJ4 as a member of. They were formed with the pistol-only zone in mind, coming equipped with guns that'd let them act as if they were using primary weapons.

Crazy-Prepared: They got their hands on handguns that would allow them to fight as effectively as players widling primary weapons during the mall battle, some of which must have no doubt been rather rare.
Crippling Overspecialization: As deduced by Eva, this group was formed specifically for the pistol-only zone in mind, carrying guns that could be seen as the pistol counterpart to the primary weapons most Squad Jam participants would use. This however meant that they didn't bring any primary weapons.
David Versus Goliath: While in any other scenario they'd be the David, being a handgun heavy team, the mall battle places them firmly as the Goliath, with their specialized handguns with traits similar to more conventional primary firearms giving them a major edge against the normal-pistol wielding LPFM and SHINC. To put it into perspective, it's basically like a more modern military unit with more advanced weaponry going up against a group of older soldiers wielding single-shot rifles with only one Sniper Rifle, thanks to Shirley getting her own Sniper Pistol, to their name.
Loophole Abuse: Their strategy for the mall battle can be summarised as using any gun designated as a "pistol" in GGO and using them to fulfil roles a normal primary weapon can, giving them an edge against their enemies in the mall battle, who are using relatively normal handguns.

Beralto

A member of WEEI who, during the mall battle, serves as their sniper with a Remington XP-100.

Actually Pretty Funny: He finds the fact that Shirley got the exact same gun as him "Hilarious".
Combat Pragmatist: Realizing he's outmatched by Shirley and can't let the fight drag on due to her explosive bullets, he wastes no time shooting a chandelier hanging above her and dropping it on top of her.
Death from Above: During their Sniper Duel, she shoots at chandelier that was above Shirley and sends it crashing down on her.
Disney Villain Death: Subverted. Shirley beats him by shooting his climbing rope and causing him to fall, which she think kills him, but he actually survived long enough for David to finish him off.
Sniper Duel: Ends up in one against Shirley.
Sniper Pistol: His main arm is unknown, but for the mall battle he wields a Remington XP-100.
Tempting Fate: As he's celebrates surviving his Subverted Disney Villain Death, David shows up and finishes him with his combat knife.
Wall Crawl: Not quite this, but in order to get a better angle to shoot at Shirley from, he uses a rope to climb further up. This ends up being his undoing when Shirley, after being saved by Fuka, shoots the rope and causes him to fall to the ground, leaving him injured and vulnerable to a finishing blow by David.
Weak, but Skilled: Proves to be this in his match with Shirley, with his gun not only firing less powerful rounds than Shirley's explosive ones but with him also having less overall experience than Shirley. However, his initial higher ground and climbing abilities gives him a distinct edge and he's not afraid to use the environment to his advantage, as shown when he drops a chandelier on Shirley.

Penabia

A member of WEEI armed with a pair of Glock 18Cs.

Armour Is Useless: Averted. He's the only one of WEEI to don protective armour, including a chest and stomach plate and padded guards over his thighs, knees, and shins with a protective helmet with a face shield used by special police forces that can deflect bullets, making him resemble a baseball catcher. He does remove it for better manoeuvrability in his fist fight with M, though this arguably serves to his detriment.
The Brute: He's evidently this for WEEI. Along with being as big as M, he's the most heavily armoured, uses a pair of machine pistols, and he has enough STR to make the recoil a non-issue. Plus, even unarmed, he's a trained hand-to-hand combatant.
Challenge Seeker: As he expresses to M during their fight, he's glad to fight someone who won't go down easy.
Exact Words: He's confused at M's choice of words referring to him and his team as mercenaries, before saying it makes sense in the sense that their fighting for Fire's wishes.
Graceful Loser: He takes his loss to M rather well, admitting that he got him good and Dies Laughing.
Guns Akimbo: Starts off using a pair of Glock 18Cs to pin down M and Pito.
More Dakka: His pistol of choice is a Glock 18C, a full-auto handgun that fires at 1200 rounds per minute, and with thirty three round magazine. And what's more, he's using two of them, so he can use one while Ron reloads the empty one for him before switching.
Shed Armor, Gain Speed: During his fight with M, he decides to remove his combat armour for greater mobility. This comes back to bite him, as it may have helped him survive M's grenade.
Worthy Opponent: During their fight, he quickly grows to respect M for his durability.
Strong and Skilled: He's not just big and has a lot of STR, but he's a trained martial artist IRL, a skill he brings into GGO in his fight against M, and gives him the upper hand.
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: When M uses his shield to block his blows, he resolves to just keep punching and crush M beneath it.

Ron

An acrobatic member of WEEI.

Boom, Headshot!: Pito shoots him in the head while disguised as a mannequin.
Combat Parkour: He has a high Acrobat skill, allowing him to dodge shots from Pito while returning his own, and jumping about the place like a monkey.
Didn't See That Coming: Downplayed. He was unprepared for Pitohui donning a mannequin disguise after throwing a smoke grenade, but he does realize her trick. He just jumps too late.
Lean and Mean: He's described as short and skinny.
Oh, Crap!: He realizes that Pito disguised herself as a mannequin at the last possible moment, but is unable to escape in time.
The Sneaky Guy: He wields a Ruger MK III with a fused silencer that fires .22 Long Rifle rounds.
Support Party Member: Before his fight with Pito, he served as one for Penebia, reloading his Glock 18Cs for him as he laid fire on Pito and M.

Unnamed grenadier

A nameless member of WEEI who wields a handgun Grenade Launcher.

An Arm and a Leg: Shirley uses a Last Breath Bullet to shoot his arm off, preventing him from reloading.
Armor Is Useless: Like Penabia, this is Averted, with him wearing body armour for added protection that carries pouches holding grenades for his Kampfpistole.
Batter Up!: After retreating into a sports shop, he comes at LLENN with a baseball bat and would have finished her off with it if it wasn't for Eva Blasting It Out of His Hand and giving LLENN the chance to kill him.
Berserk Button: He gets insulted when LLENN insinuates that Fire's paying him and his buddies to help him kill LLENN, due to his IRL Undying Loyalty to him.
Boom, Headshot!: After he loses his bat, LLENN shoots him in the face with both Vorpal Bunnies.
Demolitions Expert: By virtue of carrying a flare gun capable of firing explosive rounds.
Dented Iron: He's surprisingly able to survive LLENN unloading both Vorpal Bunnies into him, after losing his arm to Shirley's explosive bullet no less. Though he admits to LLENN when he has her cornered that his HP is pretty gone and that someone could kill him just by flicking his forehead.
Handicapped Badass: His loss of an arm at the hands of Shirley doesn't make him any less of a threat. Even without being able to reload his grenade launcher, he's able to nearly kill LLENN with a baseball bat.
Grenade Launcher: He uses a Walther Kampfpistole, a World War II era flare gun that he loads with Sprenpatrone rifle grenades, meaning he basically entered the mall battle with a grenade launcher.
Mighty Glacier: The dude has a surprising amount of HP which, combined with the body armour he wears, allowed him to survive both Vorpal Bunnies getting unloaded into him after Shirley shoots his arm off, albeit with only a sliver of HP remaining after. Plus, his Kampfpistole deals a lot of damage on account of the fact that it's basically a Grenade Launcher.
No Name Given: Despite the amount of personality he gets and the fact that he's the one to out himself and WEEI to LLENN as Fire's IRL co-workers and friends, he never gets named.
Oh, Crap!: He gets caught off-guard when LLENN leaps out from behind the electric cart Saki sends his way.

Unnamed Deagle User

Another unnamed WEEI member using a Hand Cannon.

Deadpan Snarker: This guy certainly isn't without his quips.
- After tricking Pito into cutting a water container and causing a gas explosion;
"Welcome to the water shop. I thought you might be thirsty."
- After two discuss the physics and bioligy of in-game objects and player avatars and suggest askings the developers who occasionally log in.
"You'll have to leave SJ4 first, then."
Cruel and Unusual Death: After pinning him down, Pito opens a nearby container of water and dumps it's contents into his throat, drowning him.
Guile Hero: Guile Antagonist more accurately, but he's able to get the drop on Pitohui by throwing a water container at her from behind a smokescreen, prompting her to cut it with her Photon Sword and cause a gas explosion, knocking her down and disarming her.
Hand Cannon: Wields the famous Desert Eagle .50, which makes among the more dangerous WEEI members in the enclosed mall environment.
No Name Given: Like the grenadier above, he never gets named.

V2HG SPOILERS

One of the three original groups of the alliance, distinguishable with their futuristic combat armour. They act as a sort of vanguard, equipped with assault rifles, a machine gun, a Grenade Launcher and a single Sniper Rifle, and drive the group's Humvees, in contrast to WNGL's pure sniping.

Affably Evil: The man with the HK433 who recruits SHINC speaks to Eva in a friendly tone, even though he's clearly cautious.
Badass Driver: They drive the alliance's collection of Humvees, and Shirley notes that the ones in charge of driving them must be skilled after she commandeers one and has one trouble driving it.
Blatant Lies: When they encounter SHINC, they lie to them by claiming that by claiming that the sniper who shot at them was a member of Team DOOM and that they took him out. However, what the readers know but SHINC don't is that not only were all members of DOOM killed in their encounter with LPFM, but that none of them carried firearms and relied entirely on their suicide bombs. This makes it clear that the actual sniper who attacked SHINC was one of their own and that they made SHINC think they saved them so they'd be more likely to trust them.
Bodyguard Betrayal: Despite the deal being that they would guard the area and prevent anyone from interrupting the match between SHINC and LPFM, they go back on their word and rush in with a minigun equipped Humvee to take out both teams.
Boring, but Practical: Compared to WEEI's pistol-based specialization and WNGL's dedication to sniping, V2HG is definitely the most conventional team of the alliance's initial three, having at least four assault rifle users, one of which carries a Grenade Launcher, one Machine Gunner, and the The Leader serving as their Cold Sniper.
Cool Car: While Humvees aren't an unusual sight in the Squad Jam considering MMTM's use of them in SJ2, they managed to get their hands on one equipped with a M134 Minigun, which they use to try and wipe out LPFM and SHINC.
More Dakka: They somehow came into possession of a Humvee equipped with a minigun, which they use to interrupt LPFM and SHINC's rematch in an attempt to take them both out.
Villain Respect:
- The two manning Car 2, the one with the minigun turret, come to respect Sophie after she thoroughly outwits them and destroys their tires, removing their ability to chase the rest of SHINC.
- The three guys in Car 3, which have a Grenade Launcher and a surveillance drone like M's, are both impressed and intimidated upon learning their and the leader's drone were taken out by Fuka's expert flying.

Leader

The Leader of the team, who doubles as their sniper and the driver of Car 1.

Blasting It Out of Their Hands: He not only manages to do this to 003's Grenade Launcher, but his bullet lodges itself into the barrel and makes it unusable.
Cold Sniper: He's shown to generally be rather serious, though goes along with one his guy's tendency to say "Over" like in movies, and he wields a L129A1 Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle.
Hypocrite: When his attempt at sniping Clarence and Shirley fail, the narration states that he finds them hiding in a bullet-proof truck unfair despite him also driving one.
Know When to Fold 'Em: He tries sniping Clarence and Shirley after they kill the guys he had drive Car 2, but gives ups when they commandeer it for themselves and are protected by it's bulletproof windows. It's at that point he decides to surrender the Minigun Humvee and focus on taking out LPFM.
Secret-Keeper: He's keeping his team in the dark about how much Fire's paying them and about his apparent IRL connection to Fire. He tries to tell them as he dies, but is Killed Mid-Sentence.
Stuff Blowing Up: Killed when the team's remaining Humvee is overwhelmed by the stolen one's minigun fire, with a bullet reaching the gas tank and blowing it up with him in it.
Villainous Valor: Recognizing that the Humvee won't last against the Minigun Clarence is firing at them, he orders the others to get out of the Humvee while he remains to try sniping at them, leading to his death.

Grant

The gunner for Car 2, utilizing it's equipped minigun.

Amazon Chaser: Implied. His response to Sophie outwitting them and destroying Car 2's tires "what a woman."
Blood Knight: Apparently when he got given the role of using the Humvee's minigun, he was rather glad to have gotten the job and was gleeful in his handling of it. After Clarence kills the remainder of WNGL and wrecks one member's machine gun with it, they note that he must have be pretty happy with it.
Boom, Headshot!: Gets killed when Shirley blows his head off.
Butt-Monkey: He and the driver's attempts to take out LPFM and SHINC fail with only one kill to show for it, which was a Heroic Sacrifice that kept them from taking out the rest, he fails to take out LPFM's drone, gets said drone dropped on his head when it runs out of charge, and gets his head blown off by Shirley immediately after he destroys it out of spite.
Gatling Good: It's very doubtful it's his main weapon outside of the Squad Jam, but he was given control of the Minigun for Car 2.
Know When to Fold 'Em: He tries shooting at LPFM's drone but eventually gives up due to Fuka's expert flying.

Johann

The driver for Car 2, who wields a HK433

All Men Are Perverts: If Clarence killing him by stripping to her underwear and offering to let him grope her to lower his guard is anything to go by. Clarence even jokes that they probably could have convinced him to outright change sides and drive the Humvee for them if Shirley joined in.
Distracted by the Sexy: He gets taken out when Clarence strips to her underwear upon entering it, lowering his guard with an offer to touch her breasts before shooting him in the head.
Oh, Crap!: When Grant gets headshotted by Shirley.

The Grenadier

A member of the team armed with a Grenade Launcher, who's rides in Car 3.

Grenade Launcher: Wields an M79 grenade launcher.
The Movie Buff: He's evidently a massive fan of military and action films, constantly saying "Over" at the end of his sentences when the Leader contacts him, and ends up getting him to do it too. Veers into Skewed Priorities when he opted to not get his hands on Plasma Rounds for his M79, which would have allowed them to destroy the locomotive LPFM, SHINC and T-S are using to escape, since he's never seen them in any war movies, causing his friend to snarkily suggest he watch some more sci-fi.
Skewed Priorities: Despite Fire's resources meaning he could have easily gotten his hands on some, he opted out of getting his hands on Plasma Grenades for his Grenade Launcher since he's never seen a war movie or action film containing them. This bites the team in the ass when LPFM, SHINC and T-S are able to escape from them with a freight train that their bullets and his normal grenades can't hope to damage.

The Drone Pilot

A member of the team tasked with flying a drone and the driver of Car 3.

Designated Point Man: As the team's drone pilot, he's used to pinpoint LFPM and SHINC's location so the grenadier can fire at them.

Machine Gunner

The team's machine gunner and the final player to ride in Car 3.

BFG: Wields a H&K MG5.
Deadpan Snarker: When the grenadier states that he didn't get Plasma Grenades for his launcher, which would have helped in destroying the train LPFM, SHINC and T-S are riding out of town, since he's never seen one in a war movie, he says that's why he keeps telling him to watch more sci-fi.
Wrecked Weapon: His machine gun suffers damage to the barrel when he tries shooting at the minigun Humvee, leading to the grenadier lending him his HK433.

WNGL

One of the three original groups of the alliance, distinguishable with their unique camo outfits. Their full name is "Wrong Lancers", a well-known group of snipers capable of acting on their own.

Cold Sniper: An entire team of snipers that are fully capable of acting individually. That being said, they're shown to get along and joke around with each other.
Confusion Fu: While almost every member use their own distinct gun, there are two members of similar builds who use the same MK 12 SPR and often dress the same to confuse the enemy, with one exposing themselves and getting the enemy's attention before the other exposes themselves, confusing the enemies and making them think they teleported or something. This is noted to make them two the best Anti-Personnel fighters in the Squadron.
Crippling Overspecialization: These guys specialize in sniping alone, without a spotter, so they're not well suited to Squad Jam. This is part of why they work together with V2HG, as their more standard set-up balances things out.
Death by Irony: They're a team that specialize in sniping in manners that prevent people from seeing their Bullet Lines and therefore catching them by surprise, and all of them are killed by something they didn't see coming or were caught off-guard by, the first two being killed by Shirley's insane driving while the last four are torn apart by the Humvee minigun that they weren't in angle to properly see.
Half the Man He Used to Be: The last four members of the group are killed when Clarence uses the M134 attached to the Humvee she and Shirley stole to shoot at them as they're moving to meet up with the rest of V2HG, splitting all of them in half.
Improbable Aiming Skills: It's unknown if any of them are capable of doing Lineless Shooting like M and Shirley, but it's noted that they're good at sniping in a way that prevents targets from seeing the Bullet Lines, usually from doing it from unnatural angles.
The Navigator: Instead of relying on the map made from the device, the team painstakingly copied a map of the city where they fight LPFM and SHINC on a piece of water-proof paper so they can give certain routes designations for easier coordination.
Sniper Rifle: Being a team comprised solely of sniper's, they each use their own distinct ones.
- One member, who tried sniping Eva and entered a brief Sniper Duel with M, wields an M110A1
- One member wields a Barret 98B, a bolt-action anti-personnel rifle chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum and holds ten rounds, with an effective range of 1,500 meters max.
- Another member uses a Ruger Precision Rifle with a straight angled stock and pistol-grip, and fires .308 Winchester rounds.
- Two members, as part of the above Confusion Fu, wield the same MK 12 SPR automatic sniper rifle, which uses 5.56 assault rifle ammo and have lower effective range of 700 meters, shorter than most high calibre rifles, but makes up for it with lighter weight and automatic function for close-ranged combat.
Undignified Death: Instead of dying in battle, the member with the Barrett 98B who came close to killing LLENN gets killed in a car accident. More specifically, Shirley accidentally slams the Humvee she and Clarence commandeered into him in her eagerness to get to where Pito is.
Warrior Poet: One of them, a man armed with a Barrett 98B, has this to say when LLENN unknowingly dodges a bullet to the head by tripping over.
"Good luck... is the sign of a hero..."

PORL

One of the teams that were hired during the tournament. They show up to fight the team on the locomotive as they approach the bridge.

Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: They're understandably confident due to their RPG-7's, noted previously be an In-Universe Game-Breaker, and the fact that with SJ4's unique reload rule that they effectively got Bottomless Magazines for them. It's to the point that they decide to betray Fire after dealing with the locomotive.
BFG: They use RPG-7s in the fight against the locomotive team, which caused the allied teams in the Test Play some trouble in the hands of the NPC team. They're also clearly practiced with them, standing in a horizontal line to prevent the blowback from hitting each other and taking a knee for better stability and accuracy.
Death by Irony: After harassing the locomotive team with RPG fire, they end up getting killed by an even bigger courtesy of Clarence sacrificing herself.
Failures on Ice: Inverted. They're able to reach the bridge before LPFM/SHINC/T-S' locomotive on pairs of ice skates.
Super Drowning Skills: Along with RGB, they get eliminated from SJ4 when Clarence sacrifices her life to crack the ice they're standing in, causing them to fall into the frozen water and drown.
The Starscream: In the middle of their assault on the locomotive, they decide that once they're done taking out the locomotive, they'll slaughter Fire's Alliance next.

SATOH SPOILERS

One of the teams that were hired during the tournament, a group that based their gear and weapons on the American Marine Corps. They join WEEI in the final battle in the mall, and are sent in before them.

Achievement In Ignorance: Downplayed. The leader suggests that both them and WEEI simply intercept LPFM and SHINC on the way to the mall and wipe them all out before they can enter the mall, and said plan would have had a good chance of succeeding considering the Curb-Stomp Battle they suffered at the hands of ZEMAL and the fact they were let go in exchange for their primary weapons. However, since none of them know this to be the case, the plan is shot down.
Actually Pretty Funny: The Leader, after the team's defeat and when LLENN questions him, bursts out laughing when LLENN asks how much Fire is paying them to help him. This is because he knows that WEEI know Fire IRL.
Blood Knight: Some of the members, such as the one who tries shooting Fuka while she's vulnerable and the guy who gets Eva in the shoulder before getting a bullet in the head back, are noted to be sporting Slasher Smiles during the fight.
Boom, Headshot!: How LLENN finishes off The Leader.
Boring, but Practical: Not unlike MMTM when they first started, the group all wield Assault Rifles and nothing else. Specifically, the use 5.56mm M27 IARs that are used by American Marines.
Graceful Loser: The Leader takes the team's loss rather well, complimenting the team on their victory and respectfully asking M if he can borrow the shield tactic he used on them for future use. Doesn't stop Pito from Knee Capping him though when she realizes she's transmitting the conversation to Fire.
Determined Defeatist: The Leader recognizes that their odds of beating LPFM and SHINC inside the mall are slim, but plans to fight them with the intent to win and at least weaken them for WEEI to finish off.
Glad He's On Our Side: When WEEI, aside from Fire, take out their in preparation for the mall battle, their leader can only express how he's glad SATOH's not fighting them.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: The Leader suggests to WEEI that they intercept LFPM and SHINC before they enter the mall and take them out, though the plan is shot down by WEEI since none of them know that their weapons, namely the PTRD and Shirley's explosive sniper rifle, have been confiscated by ZEMAL.
Only in It for the Money: When WEEI tells the them to enter the mall first to fight to be a warm-up for LPFM and SHINC and tell them they're expected to lay down their lives to protect Fire, the leader admits that if it wasn't for the payment he was being promised, he'd tell them to go to hell.
Pre-Final Boss: When the mall battle begins, WEEI requests that they be the first to engage LPFM and SHINC in hopes of weakening them for WEEI to deal with.
Tag Team: When the mall battle begins, four members try this against LPFM and SHINC.
- The Leader and another member both team up against Pito and M and fire at them, but their bullets prove useless against M's shield and they're quickly taken out when Pito jumps over it to attack.
- Another pair harass Rosa with gunfire, with one at the front firing at her while the other stays behind them and ready for when he runs out of ammo. Rosa however is able to take out the guy in front by detonating her grenades.
Your Head Asplode: One member attacking Fuka gets taken out by Shirley, using her Remington XP-100 with her explosive bullets.

5th Squad Jam debut

Wannabe Millionaires SPOILERS

Am impromptu army formed by all the displaced players whose comrades died en-route to the castle, who form via MMTM's manipulations for the express purpose of eliminating LLENN and claiming her ten million credit bounty.

The Dog Bites Back: After being manipulated by MMTM and ZEMAL into being cannon fodder to get at LPFM and SHINC, Pito is able to play on their resentment of anyone still alive to get the bounty to get them to help LLENN by hindering the opposition.
If I Can't Have You…: Invoked by Pito. Playing on their resentment over the fact that they lost their chance to claim LLENN's bounty, Pitohui convinces a number of them to assist LLENN upon respawning as ghosts less out of support, but to more to prevent anyone else from claiming the money.
Uriah Gambit: Their purpose in MMTM and ZEMAL's attack on LPFM and SHINC. They use their greed for LLENN's million credit bounty to have them enter the tower and attack first, with one of two outcomes in mind; either managed to defeat them only to get shot In the Back, or get killed or weaken the two teams in the process. Sure enough, when the tower assault fails and they attempt a retreat, they're promptly killed by MMTM.
We ARE Struggling Together: Despite working together to corner LLENN and claim her bounty, there is very little comradery between them since they generally want all the money to themselves. One player for example, upon noticing LLENN and Fuka running atop the walls, immediately opens fire on them with no attempts to inform his allies. The closest thing to True Companionship is between two IRL friends, with a complicated history involving a high maintenance ex-girlfriend, who agree to split the bounty, and that's after they used some of their "comrades" to create a human pyramid to climb the wall LLENN and Fuka were traversing on before killing them with a grenade.

Others

The Drill Sergeant

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Tamara Ryan (English)

A female NPC character who helps players get oriented to Gun Gale Online... by acting like a Drill Sergeant Nasty.

Ascended Extra: The NPC trainer wasn't even described in the light novel (to the point that their gender wasn't even revealed until Volume 9 when LLENN briefly remembers her) and only has one line recommending LLENN to use submachine guns, and was completely absent from the manga adaptation (where LLENN's tutorial was only one panel). The anime adaptation is the only medium where she gets a lengthy scene to herself.
Drill Sergeant Nasty: As is fitting for the tutorial program of a gritty game setting like GGO, her entire personality is based on the idea of an intense training officer who does a lot of shouting. It nearly scares the crap out of LLENN.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Her shots upon demonstrating the pistol create, as they say in the gun community, a "ragged hole" in the bullseye of the target. Then again, she should expected to have perfect aim as she is a trainer NPC.
Ms. Fanservice: A very intentional example. She's a voluptuous and beautiful NPC wearing an outfit that leaves little to the imagine, making it clear she's there to appeal to GGO's predominantly male playerbase. Even her Drill Sergeant Nasty personality could have been made to appeal to those Too Kinky to Torture which, considering that there are some shown GGO players who like the idea of getting shot by a females and sometimes ask for it, shows that Zaskar certainly thought ahead when designing.
Non-Player Character: She is a tutorial NPC.
Stripperiffic: Her outfit is barely there, as it is.
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: She demands that LLENN reply with a "Yes, ma'am."

Boss

A manga-original character. A mercenary player who leads a Squadron to try and take out "The Pink Devil".

An Arm and a Leg: LLENN disarms him by shooting his gun arm off, leaving him with only his shield.
Bad Boss: As part of his Smug Snake attitude, he's quick to call his guys morons for getting killed by LLENN and claims he'll be taking their share of the pay when he kills her.
BFG: He uses an RPK soviet made machine gun in his fight with LLENN.
Boom, Headshot!: After disarming him of his machine gun and tricking him into getting his shield stuck, LLENN finishes him off by jumping onto his back and blasting her P-90 into his head.
The Brute: A large and violent STR/VIT player with the large avatar to match.
Canon Foreigner: He appears in neither the original Light Novel nor the Anime, only appearing in the manga to inadvertently convince LLENN to appear in the Squad Jam by pissing her off.
Insult Backfire: He constantly throws insults at LLENN pertaining to her height during their fight, only for LLENN to smile in response to them.
Evil Counterpart:
- While they never actually meet, he could be seen as one to M. He's a large guy with an turtle based Animal Motif whose playstyle relies on a shield. However, whereas M is a calm and collected Long-Range Fighter who uses his shield purely defensively, Boss is a rude and aggressive Close-Range Combatant with a machine gun who uses his shield more aggressively.
- A similar comparison could be made between him and Eva. Both are large, aggressive players who fight LLENN, and are Leaders of their own squadrons. But whereas Eva is Benevolent Boss, is called "Boss" as an Affectionate Nickname and sign of respect from her squadmates and LLENN, and sees LLENN as a Worthy Opponent, Boss is a Bad Boss who insults his guys for getting killed by LLENN, literally named his avatar Boss as opposed to properly earning such a title, and constantly underestimates LLENN.
Failed a Spot Check: He was too focused on his fight with LLENN that he didn't notice that Pitohui wiped out his squadmates, allowing her to pull a Big Damn Heroes and shoot LLENN out of his grasp.
Firing One-Handed: He has the potential to fulfil ZEMAL's dream of Dual Wielding Machine Guns seeing as he has enough STR to carry his RPD in one hand while using his free hand for his massive metal shield.
Hypocrite: He's quick to boast about his STR/VIT Build, claiming GGO is all about stats, yet is quick to judge LLENN as a weakling based on the appearance of her avatar.
Large and in Charge: Based on the way he talks and his username, it’s safe to assume that he’s the leader of the Mercenary squadron attacking LLENN and Pitohui in the first chapters of the manga.
The Leader: The Headstrong who clearly has no gift for strategy, simply ordering his guys to fight Pitohui while he deals with LLENN. Compared to LLENN's fight with Eva later on, which challenges LLENN much more, his lack of teamplay ultimately makes LLENN's fight with him much easier.
Left Stuck After Attack: After he resorts to trying to Shield Bash LLENN to death, she tricks him into with striking a rock with his shield and getting it stuck, allowing her to finish him off.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: He wields a large metal riot shield.
Mighty Glacier: In his own words, he utilizes a STR/VIT stat build, and he wields both an machine gun and a large metal shield. As a result however, LLENN is leagues above in movement speed
Shield Bash: He uses his shield to break the rock LLENN and Pitohui were hiding behind and when LLENN shoots his gun arm off, he decides to try flattening her with his shield.
Smarter Than You Look: You'd be forgiven for thinking he's smug Dumb Muscle... because he kind of is, but he is able to trick LLENN into coming into his range so he can grab her by the throat and try and strangle her to death. When LLENN tries again, she opts towards a higher approach.
Smug Snake: If calling himself “Boss” wasn’t enough, he’s under the constant impression that he can beat LLENN easily because of her small height, forgetting that GGO is a game more about stats than appearances, something he literally just stated.
Starter Villain: While he's certainly not the first player LLENN has killed, he serves as the first antagonist and fight in the manga, with LLENN, with some minor support from Pito, fighting him before even entering the Squad Jam.
Super-Strength: Evidently rocks an STR build, based on him Dual Wielding a RPD machine gun and a large metal riot shield. He's even able to break a rock LLENN and Pito are hiding behind with a charging Shield Bash.
Underestimating Badassery: Upon seeing LLENN, he calls his squadmates idiots for losing to a “Pipsqueak” and casually claims that he’ll kill her and get the reward money himself. She kills him.

The Novelist

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ggo_novelist.jpg

Voiced by: Keiichi Sigsawa (Japanese), Christopher Bevins (English)

A novelist responsible for sponsoring the Squad Jam tournament concept in Gun Gale Online.

Author Avatar: The In-Universe creator of Squad Jam is essentially the real life author of the Squad Jam light novel. Sigsawa even voices himself in Episode 3.
The Gadfly: Episode 5.5 reveals he took a lot of video clips from Squad Jam without consent and edited over the audio to turn it into a giant joke.
Gun Nut: A gun fanatic novelist, much like the real life Sigsawa who he based himself off of.
Hated by All: Hardly anyone seems to like him In-Universe, especially after Squad Jam 3, in which the special rule he added split up teams and forced friends to fight each other.
Manchild: Volume 7 has him described as a 50-year-old man who writes like a child.
Self-Deprecation: The novelist is based off of the real life Sigsawa. Pitohui voices her opinions on said individual, stating he's a gun otaku and if ever seeing someone like that in real life they should have the cops called on them. Volume 4 takes it up to eleven, with the short story in the afterword basically showing the novelist to be a loser with an over-inflated ego who isn't even that good with guns despite being totally obsessed with them! And then he gets taken out in-game by an enemy player named Kadokawa. As in, the light novel company that publishes the Sword Art Online franchise! Volume 5 also has LLENN getting very cross with the novelist for coming up with the "betrayer" rule for the third Squad Jam, which resulted in her being forced to fight her teammates and friends, despite thinking that Pito was the betrayer for much of the match. Volume 6 also has LLENN and Fuka making fun of the author's decision to have an Excuse Plot of reclaiming a WMD from a terrorist group, since it means little considering that most of humanity has already been wiped out, and calling the novelist "an idiot" and his writing "trash." At that point, the narration suggests that this is kicking the author when he's down.
Self-Insert Fic: He is basically Sigsawa himself. While he's not a main character, he's still crucial to the story being possible, due to him sponsoring the very first Squad Jam. He later sponsors Squad Jam 3 and 4, and the Test Play.
Small Role, Big Impact: His sponsorship of the very first Squad Jam is what enabled the tradition in GGO and making the central plot of the series possible.
Sniper Rifle: Some afterword stories show that he wields a Swiss SIG SG 550 Sniper Rifle.

Test Play Team SPOILERS

A team consisting of advanced NPC soldiers created and being tested by Zaskar. In the end, it's revealed that they're not NPCs, but real life soldiers and a Medicuboid doctor, who set up the Test Play as a way to convince one of them to retire from Mercenary work.

The Ace: The team as a whole is extremely competent.
Badass Crew: A group of elite soldiers who are display incredibly competent teamwork to deliver devastating Curb-Stomp Battles against the best players to have took part in the Squad Jam, to the point they're all forced to team up to actually make progress.
Badass Normal: From what can be gleamed, they don't possess the super-human abilities or equipment owned by players like LLENN or M. Despite this, they're able to deal a number of Curb-Stomp Battles to GGO's best squadrons.
Combat Pragmatist: They take full advantage of their terrain and superior weaponry to give the other Squadrons a hard time, which includes using RPG-7s against them and Roy shooting at them through a secret door to avoid being shot at.
Curb-Stomp Battle: They have quite a few to their name which, considering their opponents, is essentially them dealing out The Worf Effect.
- Rock and Vodka are able to successfully take out LLENN, two-time Squad Jam champ, with Rock sniping her while Vodka lays covering fire on her and forces her to jump out of cover.
- They manage to take out MMTM with some cleverly placed explosives, which they detonate the moment they entered the castle to take out four of them before killing the other two with a grenade.
- Immediately afterwards, they're able to take out SHINC with some clever and well-practiced shoot and cover play before Rock takes out Tohma and Anna. Somewhat Justified since SHINC attacked at the same time as MMTM in hopes that they would divert their attention, not knowing they were already dead.
- They delivered on to T-S offscreen.
The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Along with their great skill, the team has possession to weapons that are either extremely rare in GGO or are not even introduced into the game yet, including a PKP Pecheneg, the latest in PKM series, the GM6 Lynx, a versatile anti-material rifle, and a collection of RPG-7s, which is noted to be so much of a Game-Breaker in practice that a number of players aren't sure if it's ever going to be added to the game.
Foreshadowing: They have a lot of this in regards to their true nature.
- The fact that they responds to ZEMAL's attempts to enter the castle with a giant sign saying that they're allies in English is very strange, seeing as just previously they were killing everyone who came close to the place.
- During Doc's one-sided fight against Kenta, Kenta says he's "just a damn NPC". After Kenta's dead, Doc, now alone, simply says "No... not him."
- His fight with Tanya doesn't get Vodka killed, merely make his machine gun unusable. But after noticing the damage, he effectively kills himself by opening a menu and pressing "resign", which isn't something you'd think an NPC would need to do.
- Arguably their most baffling is the fact that, instead of killing LLENN on the spot like Doc did with Kenta, they instead capture her as a prisoner of war, which everyone notes is highly unusual for NPCs to do.
Retired Badass: With the exception of Jacob and Doc, the entire squadron is comprised of retired soldiers who are trying to convince the former to finally retire from mercenary work.
The Squad:
- Jacob is The Leader and, like of these in the series by this point, The Strategist, giving orders and plans to the others to defend the castle. Though considerable the overall purpose of the simulation was for him to lose, the role was very likely given to him on purpose.
- Roy is one of the closest to The Sneaky Guy, at one point utilizing a trap door to fire at the alliance with retaliation. He also appears to be the second-in-command on account of how close he is to Jacob.
- Doc is The Smart Guy, and their other Sneaky Guy based on his ACX having an attached suppressor. The epilogue also implies that he's The Medic, as shown when he bandages Jacob's head.
- Both Rock and Hassan appear to be the Cold Snipers, though Rock does it with an anti-material rifle while Hassan is more a designated marksman, as he does it with FN SCAR-H assault rifle.
- Vodka is The Big Guy, being the team's machine gunner who's using a rather advanced one to boot.
- Cain is the Demolitions Expert, using an assault rifle with an Underbarrel Grenade Launcher and being the one in charge of detonating the explosives planted at the entrance.
Strong and Skilled: Similarly to Team Narrows, the squadron's IRL military experience allows them to easily work together and coordinate their attacks in order to defend the base despite also possessing realistic stat builds. The Strong part comes in with their advantages, namely the strong fortification of their castle and the rare and powerful weapons inside, whereas Team Narrows was forced on an even playing field with the other SJ competitors and had comparatively basic weaponry consisting of assault rifles and a sniper rifle. When the alliance of Squadrons are able to get some members in and take out some of the team's more troublesome weapons, they progressively start to become Weak, but Skilled like Narrows above, with LLENN taking out Doc and Jacob very quickly upon getting the jump on them.
Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to discuss Volume 6's epilogue without delving on The Reveal that the whole team were essentially real people, or at least A.I.s based on ones while the The Leader was an IRL Blood Knight going through Medicuboid therapy to convince him to retire from mercenary work.

Jacob

A bearded soldier later revealed to the The Leader of the Squadron.

The Ace: Jacob is an excellent soldier and leader, with all his team never suffering a single casualty during his whole military career.
Benevolent Boss: One of his proudest achievements from his time in service is the fact that whenever he led a unit, no one died under his watch.
Best Friend: With Roy, the two of them having served together.
Blood Knight: Deconstructed. Jacob is a soldier who, during his time in service to his country, became addicted to the battlefield to the point that what should have been one simple side-job for a security company led to him becoming a full-time mercenary. This caused a strain on his marriage and it's noted multiple times, especially by his Best Friend Roy, that he was constantly putting his life at risk and could die anytime. It takes the unwitting use of Medicuboid therapy where he lives out his worst fear, seeing his whole team dying, for him to finally retire.
Gun Accessories: It's not known if the same applies to the M4A1s the others are using, but LLENN notices that his one has a good deal of mods and accessories, including a dot sight and laser sight.
Handicapped Badass: Part of the simulation had him suffer a head injury enroute to the team's mission and get amnesia. Doesn't stop him from leading his team to deal a bunch of Curb Stomp Battles.
Happily Married: He's married with two young girls and, despite his wife initially having reservations with him becoming a mercenary, the two love each other a great deal.
Heroic BSoD:
- When Roy informed him that Cain and Vodka were dead, he was pretty shocked, and it gets worse as the rest, starting with Roy, die.
- Upon seeing LLENN, who he thought was a Child Soldier, kill herself by running into the wall and snap her neck, he vomited on the battlefield for the first time.
In-Series Nickname: Roy refers to him as "Jake"
The Leader: Of the Test Play Squadron. He was actually the leader of a squad during his time in the military, and was so competent at it that the only blood any of them shed under his command was Roy accidentally shooting his finger off.
Thrill Seeker: As Roy describes it, he's a gambler who just kept on winning, entering multiple life-threatening combat missions and coming out alive each time, which only served to make him keep going. So he and Doc concluded that the best way to get him to retire is to create a scenario where he actually loses.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Seeing as he himself is a father, he's reluctant to shoot LLENN despite her wanting him too, mistaking her for a Child Soldier due to her appearance. Doesn't stop him from trying to kill her when she kills Doc and they enter a fight.

Roy

A large, black soldier wielding the group's standard M4A1 assault rifle. In reality, he's Jacob's Best Friend from their time serving together and one of the guys who set up Jacob's medicuboid therapy.

Combat Pragmatist: Like David, he didn't bring his own unique gun or steal one from the castle's armoury like Rock and Vodka. So instead, he relies on fighting with the support of the rest of the team and, when the alliance's offensive starts succeeding, firing at them from a secret door to avoid returning fire.
Fingore: During his time serving with Jacob, he accidentally shot his own finger off.
Handicapped Badass: Even with the lack of a finger, he's still a skilled soldier and fighter.
Master Actor: He was an actor before he enlisted, leading to a joke among Jacob's unit after he accidentally shot off his own finger about how he'd have trouble holding an Oscar.
Mutual Kill: He and David shoot each other in the head at the same time after the former discovers the hiding place he was shooting at them from.
Token Minority: He's the only black member of the team.

Doc

A bespeckled soldier using a SIG Sauer MCX with a suppressor. In reality, he's the doctor heading Jacob's medicuboid therapy.

Blatant Lies: For some reason, possibily to keep player-involvement a secret, he tells Jacob that LLENN was powerful NPC he created when he asks.
Close-Range Combatant: His use of a SIG Sauer MCX is noted to potentially make him a dangerous enemy to face indoors, something Kenta learns the hard way.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Deals one to Kenta when they encounter each other, catching him by surprise and shooting him in the right flank, right knee and right breast, before finally the head, before ruining his attempt at a Taking You with Me by surgicially grabbing the grenade pin and putting it back in.
Inexplicably Awesome: In the context of Jacob's simulation, he's not a soldier but a nuclear physicist sent to assist in handling the bomb. He's still able to keep up with the other trained soldiers and deal with Kenta in a Curb-Stomp Battle.
Multiple Gunshot Death: Ends up taking 20 shots from LLENN's P90.
Smart People Wear Glasses: Wears a pair of round-looking glasses
The Sneaky Guy: His ACX is equipped with a suppressor.

Vodka

A large Russian soldier using a PKP Pecheneg Machine Gun.

The Alcoholic: Implied. Assuming his name isn't his real one, it's likely a Code Name or nickname of his.
Animal Motif: He's given comparisons to a Russian polar bear.
BFG: Uses a PKP Pecheneg, an upgrade of the PKMs that Sophie and Rosa of SHINC use, the latter noting it possesses things like an unremovable air-cooled barrel for longer firing and better accuracy, an equippable scope for long-ranged shooting, and just a general higher rate of fire and damage output.
The Brute: He's the largest guy on the team, and the one with the biggest gun.
Husky Russkie: A large Russian named after a well-known Russian alcohol and wields a powerful Russain acohol.
Know When to Fold 'Em: When Tanya destroys Vodka's PKP Pecheneg is destroyed, Vodka calmly resigns from the test play.
Pyrrhic Victory: He manages to kill Tanya and permanently take her out of the event, but she's able to shoot the the rail and scope of his PKP, making it effectively unusable and forcing him to resign.

Rock

A sharp-eyed looking soldier wielding a GM6 Lynx Anti-Material Rifle.

An Arm and a Leg: As he's about to shoot MMTM with an RPG, he gets his arm blown off by Shirley, before getting his upper half blown by her to finish him.
BFG: Subverted. Despite being an Anti-Material rifle, the GM6 Lynx is actually rather compact, being roughly the size of an assault rifle, meaning Rock can shoot it with ease while standing up.
Cold Sniper: Rock, being the one to wield the GM6 Lynx Anti-Material rifle to deadly effect.
Sniper Duel: Delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to Tohma and Anna during SHINC's initial attack on the team's castle. They're able to get revenge later by sniping at him and destroying the Lynx with the PTRD.
Sniper Rifle: The GM6 Lynx, a semi-auto, bullpup anti-material rifle that holds up to ten rounds.
Wrecked Weapon: His GM6 Lynx is destroyed when Tohma shot at him with PTRD while he was distracted by the alliance's human centipedes, forcing him to switch to using an M4A1 and later an RPG-7 in an attempt to take out MMTM.

Cain

A young-looking Asian soldier with a Steyr AUG with an underbarrel Grenade Launcher.

Demolitions Expert: Not only does he have an underbarrel Grenade Launcher, but he's the one who set up the explosions used to wipe MMTM, having manually detonated them.
Multiple Gunshot Death: Killed by LLENN once she enters the castle.
Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction when LLENN manages to jump over the rubble created by the explosives he detonated to take out MMMTM while avoiding the new ones he activated, the narration saying his handsome face was mixed with shock and nerves.
Pretty Boy: He's very young-looking and handsome, immediately catching Fuka's eye and getting her to try and make the mission about extracting him from the castle. LLENN even speculates that he was modelled off some pretty boy actor.
Grenade Launcher: Unlike the others who main with assault rifles, he uses a Steyr F90, an upgrade of the Steyr AUG with an under-barrel grenade launcher.

Hassan

A middle-eastern soldier wielding a FN SCAR-H.

Beard of Sorrow: Has one to go with his haunted-looking expression.
BFG: To prevent the alliance from entering the castle, he starts firing at them with a collection of RPG=7 rockets, which he uses to take out T-S and ZEMAL.
Cold Sniper: Designated Marksman more like. His FN SCAR-H is noted to be a good gun for long-distance sniping, similar to M's.
Stuff Blowing Up: Gets killed by Pitohui's Bazooka.
Thousand-Yard Stare: He's noted to rather haunted and mournful, which Fuka quips is because he's going through a divorce after his wife cheated on him and he's at the risk of losing his loving daughter as a result. In reality, it probably has something to do with him being a former soldier.

The Kohiruimaki Family

Karen's family in real life. She has her two parents, two older brothers and two older sisters.

Adapted Out: Karen's eldest sister, who lives with her husband and daughter in the same apartment complex as Karen, is occasionally mentioned in the first two story arcs of the light novel, but isn't even hinted at in the anime.
Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Karen's family has a low opinion of VRMMO games after the SAO incident, so she doesn't tell them about playing GGO.
Good Parents: Despite their wealth, which contributed to Asuna's woes in the main series, Karen evidently has less relationship issues with her parents, with them giving her a regular allowance instead of forcing her to get a part time job, ensuring she gets a first class flight back home whenever she visits, and when Fire Nishiyamada sends an email asking for Karen's hand in marriage, her father, while approving of Nishiyamada for his work ethic and dedication, and feeling that someone who's had similar struggles would be good for Karen, he ultimately makes it her choice, citing that how she feels is most important.
Rich People: The Kohiruimakis have enough money to fly their daughter home first class and pay for her luxury apartment.

Suuzaburou

A NPC for the Five Ordeals quest that takes the form of a talking dog.

Exact Words:
- In the Second Ordeal, he tasks the group with killing thirty enemies within a time limit. He never specified what the enemies were though, with everyone initially assuming that it was the robot soldiers when it was actually the guns they were using.
- In the Third Ordeal, he states that the objective is for at least one player to survive and go through the door at the top of the tallest building that will take them to the next Ordeal. As Pitohui realizes after they blow up said tallest building to crush the swarms of monsters, it no longer applied as the tallest building and the title went to the second tallest building, meaning the door was now on top of there.
Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Upon meeting the group and explaining his purpose to then, he asks them to name him before proceeding. After some debate between LLENN and Fuka which delves into the history of Fuka's first dog, they settle (or rather, Pito forces them into settling) for combining their suggestions into Suuzaburou.
Secret Test of Character: The final tasks that he gives the players to complete the quest is to kill him. However, the correct answer isn't to follow through with the quest, but to state your intention to resign the quest in response.
Self-Deprecation: Whenever the players he's tasked with guiding talk disparagingly about whoever designed the quest, heavily Implied to be the Novelsit or an associate of theirs, Suuzaburou will pipe up with how ashamed he feels, prompting Fuka to jump to his defence despite no one actively tormenting him.

Characters / Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online Others

Edit Locked