• arks and Cody
  • What arks thinks of Cody: arks thinks that Cody is a pretty cool guy. He's able to look past the abrasive parts of his personality and see his positive traits.
  • What Cody thinks of arks:arks is somebody worth getting to know and be friendly with. more
  • Common Ground: Outdoor abilities. Both come from more rural areas. Both don't like Matrix.
  • Points of Contention: Cody's meanness sometimes. Arks' Obfuscating Stupidity and Midwestern politeness. Jinxed.
  • Interaction: Good friends, comfortable enough with each other to know exactly where the other's limits are. Joke around a lot. Can say things to each other that they wouldn't allow anyone else to say to them.
• arks and Fawriel
  • What arks thinks of Fawriel: Another person that can't leave people alone. Faw means well, but he needs to realize that people can function on their own.
  • What Fawriel thinks of arks: Arks has a lot of negative emotions coming from him, most commonly anger. However, he acts like he's fine, revealing a two-faced nature. On top of that, Jinxed seems a little too close to him.
  • Common Ground: They both are in touch with their instincts (though it manifests in different ways).
  • Points of Contention: Faw's Mentor tendencies; arks' influence on Jinxed; arks' emotional problems
  • Interaction: Faw often makes an effort to get to the root of arks' emotions so he can make an effort to help arks out of his problem. The fact that arks always diverts the issue irritates Faw. He doesn't trust arks around Jinxed (will he make this explicit? I'm not sure) Arks responds to Faw's leading questions by changing the subject or coming up with excuses.
• arks and Gabriel
  • What arks thinks of Gabriel: Thinks he should like Gabriel, but feels that there's something off about him. Attributes it to his loner tendencies, but is subconsciously aware that it's not quite it. Tends to be kind of wary. Realizes that Gabriel is quite good at reading people.
  • What Gabriel thinks of arks: Arks' actions almost never mesh with his real emotions. He has a lot of questions about arks. Is he hiding something? Does he not like himself? Picks up that arks is not trustful of him. Less likely to pick up that arks could figure him out. Gabriel is a lie detector and arks lies a lot.
  • Common Ground: Outdoorsy. Both are good at reading people, although they do it in different ways. Both are polite.
  • Points of Contention: arks' negative emotions in regards to Gabriel.
  • Interaction: Arks is constantly wondering what he doesn't like about Gabriel, and looks for some hard evidence for his feelings. Gabriel recognizes arks' negative emotions and suspicions and tries to figure out where they come from. They are very careful in how they deal with each other. However, arks' Midwest sensibilities means he can't act like he's avoiding Gabriel, and Gabriel's motives as a spy means he does have to interact with arks every once in a while. Also Gabriel really wants to know what's causing arks' suspicions so he can defuse them, but he can't say it outright. They act polite and friendly towards each other on the outside, but this dynamic is there in the background.
• arks and Hikari
  • What arks thinks of Hikari: Hikari is someone you need to be very careful around. That demon or other personality is probably tied with his emotions somehow. Make sure he never feels threatened, and when he does, bring him out and comfort him.
  • What Hikari thinks of arks: Resents him at first, because he represents restrictions. He also doesn't like arks' attitude towards him. Feels that he is being false or deceptive, because of the differences between his normal attitude and Hikari's first impression of him. After many cooldown hugs, he becomes more attached to him because he's the one that helps bring him back. He begins to trust arks deeply and implicitly. Arks is a safety net, and Hikari feels more comfortable when he's around.
  • Common Ground: A love for fun and theatrics. Hikari feels their world views are similar (they aren't really).
  • Points of Contention: Arks hopes that Hikari is smarter than he acts, or will at least learn from his mistakes, but that rarely seems to be the case. Hikari doesn't like other characters' reactions to the Ho Yay dynamic and doesn't like the fact that arks doesn't seem to care.
  • Interaction: Lots of physical contact (hair ruffles, holding the shoulders, etc.) on arks' part. Hikari finds the physical contact comforting, since he likes and trusts arks. Arks is in his own subtle way very protective of Hikari. They like being fun and goofy with each other.
• arks and Ironeye
  • What arks thinks of Ironeye: arks has figured out that Ironeye's wearing a mask, and assumes that Ironeye has something bad that happened to him in the past—he pities Ironeye and feels a bit of empathy due to their shared circumstances
  • What Ironeye thinks of arks: he's an idiot...but he's a nice idiot, so Ironeye likes him
  • Common Ground: a tendency to over-think things; hiding aspects of themselves (only arks notices)
  • Points of Contention: Ironeye's tendency towards micromanaging things (arks is a firm believer in leaving people alone if they don't want help); arks' Pollyanna tendencies
  • Interaction: getting along great when they're both distracted by the same interesting idea; polite friendliness with undercurrents of pity and annoyance from both sides
• arks and Jinxed
  • What arks thinks of Jinxed: a kid—a source of entertainment; a point of emotional stability and a reminder that he needs to work his own issues out
  • What Jinxed thinks of arks: Superman!; the most awesome adult on the team since he doesn't treat her like a kid
  • Common Ground: a sense of fun (at least on the outside, for arks); an emphasis on enjoying themselves even though the world isn't in great shape
  • Points of Contention: arks' occasional desire to be an adult, with Jinxed as a kid (irks arks); arks' resistance to anger even when the situation would call for it
  • Interaction: doing sneaky things; Jinxed trying to prove that arks is Superman, with arks (a superhero geek) enjoying every minute of it; lots of goofiness
• arks and Kara
  • What arks thinks of Kara: appreciation for all the work she has to do to keep the team controlled; someone who tries to do too much; has a nice, but impractical, moral system
  • What Kara thinks of arks: good solid member of the team; doesn't produce as much motherly tendencies (because he generally doesn't need healing); someone who is hiding emotional instability; someone she can count on to not need her help
  • Common Ground: both practical on a moment-to-moment basis; cooking; appreciation for a return to normalcy coupled with the understanding that it isn't possible; a belief in learning through discovery
  • Points of Contention: arks calling Kara "ma'am" (though she doesn't push the issue); Kara's worldview not being practical in the long run; arks thinking that not everyone can be protected all the time
  • Interaction: arks tolerating Kara's mothering; not much in general, besides cooking together and talking about cooking
• arks and Korg
  • What arks thinks of Korg: Does not like his Manipulative bastardry. (Which might be a little hypocritical). However, since he's Midwest and Midwesterners are by nature passive aggressive as fuck, and since Korg is in control, he is the authority figure and needs to be treated as such.
  • What Korg thinks of arks: So much wasted potential.
  • Common Ground: They're both all about the lulz. Both enjoy playing with people in their own way.
  • Points of Contention: Hikari. Both are aware of the danger he represents, but have wildly differing approaches towards managing that. Korg considers Hikari to be a disposable asset that will have to be eliminated once he becomes a liability. Arks believes that his breaking point should be delayed as much as possible and may not be inevitable. Arks also believes Korg's way of dealing with Hikari will come back to bite them in the ass.
  • Interaction: Off mission, Korg repeatedly talks Arks into all manner of slapstick situations pretty much for his own amusment. This is actually part of a Batman Gambit to make arks "snap" and finally drop his Obfuscating Stupidity routine. Arks resents this and vows to get revenge on Korg somehow. (Which is actually all part of the plan) For the moment, he's just biding his time and waiting for an oportunity. He pretends to find it funny. Though he will tell Korg to go find his fun somewhere else every once in a while.
• arks and Matrix
  • What arks thinks of Matrix: annoying; selfish; self-centered; cannot leave people alone; an Attention Whore; a little whiny
  • What Matrix thinks of arks: a tank!
  • Common Ground: Obfuscating Stupidity (though only arks notices)
  • Points of Contention: everything about Matrix mentioned above; arks' power being underwhelming and annoying for Matrix to copy
  • Interaction: minimal; arks responding politely to Matrix's attempts to be friendly until Matrix realizes that they have nothing to talk about (backstory)
• arks and Murky
  • What arks thinks of Murky: She's a good warrior and competent, but she really needs to make more of an effort to interact with people. Even if you engage her, she doesn't really respond.
  • What Murky thinks of arks: It helps to have another line of defense when on the battlefield.
  • Common Ground: Their roles as warriors. Most of the common ground comes from the battlefield
  • Points of Contention: Murky's solitude
  • Interaction: They mostly leave each other alone, although every once in a while arks tries to engage her in conversation. When the wall doesn't break, he quickly gives up, though.
• Cody and Fawriel
  • What Cody thinks of Fawriel: very difficult to read; slightly threatened by him; unsure if making an enemy of Fawriel is something he really wants to do
  • What Fawriel thinks of Cody: Jinxed doesn't like him, therefore he falls under suspicion.
  • Common Ground: Not much.
  • Points of Contention: Jinxed.
  • Interactions: Little if they can avoid it.
• Cody and Gabriel
  • What Cody thinks of Gabriel: slightly weak and vulnerable; Cody appreciates his attempts at friendliness
  • What Gabriel thinks of Cody: First conclusion: he's just a jerk, then he notices Cody is nice to some people, then wonders "what did I do?". Finally figures that Cody just has issues, but is otherwise okay.
  • Common Ground: Both weren't "good enough" for their parents.
  • Points of Contention: Gabriel's unexpectedly polite response to Cody's meanness gets on his nerves.
  • Interaction: Gabriel tries to be nice and friendly to Cody. While Cody is initially rather unkind to Gabriel, he will usually be reasonably friendly, although he isn't above the odd sarcastic remark.
• Cody and Hikari
  • What Cody thinks of Hikari: immature; rather easy to push around; ignorant; childish
  • What Hikari thinks of Cody: Hikari really doesn't like Cody, since Cody consistently treats him like crap. While some of the characters don't particularly like Hikari, Cody is the only one of the original six who regularly tries to push him around. Because of this, Hikari begins to identify him mentally as "the guy who does not like me" and consistently ignores him and blocks him out.
  • Common Ground: None, really.
  • Points of Contention: Hikari's power; Cody being a Jerkass
  • Interaction: Cody pushes Hikari around. Hikari ignores him and walks away. Rinse. Repeat.
• Cody and Ironeye
  • What Cody thinks of Ironeye: someone in a position of authority, though Cody is also a bit resentful of this (esp. because Ironeye is gay); Cody is pissed that Ironeye doesn't like him
  • What Ironeye thinks of Cody: a dick; a hypocrite; too focused on Black-and-White Morality; too short a fuse; likes that Cody can be sneaky and is a crack shot, but this is far less important to him than the other stuff
  • Common Ground: cynicism; not liking their powers
  • Points of Contention: Cody's treatment of those he sees as beneath him; Cody's anger management issues; Ironeye not liking Cody despite Cody's attempts to be friendly; Ironeye overlooking how useful Cody is (from both Ironeye's and Cody's POV) because of the Matrix issue
  • Interaction: surface civility with an undercurrent of animosity (from both parties!); Cody feigning nonchalance, showing off a lot, and agreeing with Ironeye a lot
• Cody and Jinxed
  • What Cody thinks of Jinxed: just a child—irrelevant and irritating; someone who needs to be protected (this part hidden, of course). Note that he doesn't bully Jinxed since even he sees bullying kids as beneath him.
  • What Jinxed thinks of Cody: jerkass
  • Common Ground: They aren't even going to try to play nice with each other...and neither of them are going to hide their feelings
  • Points of Contention: Cody bullying Jinxed, Hikari, and Matrix
  • Interaction: Open hostility; Cody acting contemptuous and condescending (because that's the way he's used to paternal figures acting)
• Cody and Kara
  • What Cody thinks of Kara: quite tough; competent; a voice of reason; the one person he genuinely respects; someone he doesn't want to cross
  • What Kara thinks of Cody: He's valuable to the team and generally behaves well, but needs to get over his hangups re: Ironeye (and to a lesser extent Korg, but Ironeye is the one she feels more defensive about).
  • Common Ground: Snarking
  • Points of Contention: Kara's idealism/Cody's cynicism; Cody's homophobia; Cody's religious worldview
  • Interaction: Mostly businesslike, with the occasional shared snarky observation; Cody acting gentlemanly and polite
• Cody and Korg
  • What Cody thinks of Korg: deserving of contempt because of his bisexuality—it makes Cody uncomfortable; tells good jokes of the darker sort; generally irritating
  • What Korg thinks of Cody: A reactionary with a bothersome tendency towards Honor Before Reason, but also vital in being able to obtain the intel necessary for him to use Murphy's Lens to maximum effect.
  • Common Ground: Cynicism, snarking, Christianity (although the latter may be a point of contention more often than not due to Korg's more liberal religious beliefs)
  • Points of Contention: Korg's bisexuality and general fondness for blasphemy-based humour.
  • Interaction: Professional whenever possible, but always frosty and strained on both sides. Both have difficulty resisting the urge to work in a Take That! towards the other during missions. Korg strives to seem like a Reasonable Authority Figure in the hopes that Cody will eventually realise that competence is what matters.
• Cody and Matrix
  • What Cody thinks of Matrix: Thinks Matrix is beneath him. Matrix least notices Cody's existence.
  • What Matrix thinks of Cody: Doesn't know Cody exists. Doesn't like him when he does notice because Cody is a jerk.
  • Common Ground: They both like attention. Maybe Cody is jealous of Matrix because he gets a lot of attention and Cody doesn't. Their both sort of hunters.
  • Points of Contention: Matrix ignores Cody. Cody doesn't like this. Cody insults Matrix blatantly. Matrix doesn't like this, which causes him to ignore Cody.
  • Interaction: A vicious circle.
• Cody and Murky
  • What Cody thinks of Murky: attractive; boring; stuck-up; cold; unfriendly. Cody admires Murky for keeping a cool head during a crisis
  • What Murky thinks of Cody: Dependable in combat, but otherwise sort of annoying; Murky disapproves of his bullying tendencies
  • Common Ground: cynicism
  • Points of Contention: Murky's coldness
  • Interaction: Cody trying to show off and impress her (mostly backstory); Cody snarking at Murky about her coldness; Cody feigning nonchalance and frequently siding with Murky in arguments
• Fawriel and Gabriel
  • What Fawriel thinks of Gabriel: Seems a bit sad, for some reason?
  • What Gabriel thinks of Fawriel: Senses a similarity between them. Fawriel needs to learn to leave people alone sometimes.
  • Common Ground: They're both empathic and level-headed.
  • Points of Contention: Fawriel has a habit of being around people when he's not wanted, which would annoy Gabriel should he find himself the unfortunate victim.
  • Interaction: They get along pretty well enough, more often than not.
• Fawriel and Hikari
  • What Fawriel thinks of Hikari:
  • What Hikari thinks of Fawriel: An awesome, super-cool hero who Hikari really looks up to. He has two attitudes towards him, one of "I'll never measure up to him" and one of 'Wow, I can't wait until I'm exactly like him!" At the same time, Hikari tends to feel rather distant from him, because he never places himself and Fawriel on the same level.
• Fawriel and Ironeye
  • What Fawriel thinks of Ironeye: A decent person. Responsible, usually relaxed and in control of his emotions. A solid member of the team who puts a lot of thought into his actions. Often has an aura of contentment, which is a relaxing emotion. Has an interesting world view. Someone who needs to be saved from his inner turmoil.
  • What Ironeye thinks of Fawriel: Faw is a potentially dangerous enigma. Faw's focus on nature and instinct, as well as his animalistic nature, are so foreign to Ironeye that he's already resigned himself to not understanding Faw. With Ironeye's focus on organization, Faw is just too unpredictable. Has the right heart for a father, but perhaps not the good sense—Ironeye has no problems with him watching over Jinxed.
  • Common Ground: Following a Grey-and-Gray Morality; a love of philisophical matters, particularly enigmatic statements
  • Points of Contention: Ironeye has a tendency to sometimes let his emotions get away from him; Faw's worldview and animal side
  • Interaction: Faw and Ironeye engage in polite coversation, with Faw eventually starting to get Ironeye to open up about his...issues. Of all the people to talk to, though, Faw would be one of Ironeye's last choices, so Ironeye tries to politely brush him off; Faw can't pick up on the hints (and thinks that he's helping Ironeye along the path of realization) so the superficial conversations continue.
• Fawriel and Jinxed
  • What Fawriel thinks of Jinxed: a little lost kid who needs his help
  • What Jinxed thinks of Fawriel: new!papa; funny; odd; saved me from living in France forever!; his ears are fun to tug on
  • Common Ground: their love for each other
  • Points of Contention: normal parent/child stuff; Faw not wanting Jinxed to fight; Jinxed's thieving tendencies
  • Interaction: Jinxed hanging on Faw-faw's antlers, and tugging on anything she can get a hold of; Jinxed attempting to break the rules Faw has made for the sake of adventure/doing so; normal parent/child stuff
• Fawriel and Kara
  • What Fawriel thinks of Kara:
  • What Kara thinks of Fawriel: She likes him a lot. He's very nice, and he's been taking care of Jinxed.
  • Common Ground: Parental feelings toward younger members of the team
  • Points of Contention: None, really.
  • Interaction: Mostly concerns Jinxed, at least up until post-poisoning.
• Fawriel and Korg
  • What Korg thinks of Fawriel: Well meaning but his ideals get in the way of his effectiveness. He'll learn, eventually. Largely regarded as Kara's subordinate and the 2IC (2nd In Charge).
  • Common Ground: Both consider themselves mentor figures to the team.
  • Points of Contention: Benevolent nonsensical Trickster Mentor vs sadistic Trickster Mentor. Faw prefers to straight up give (mystifying and possibly meaningless) advice and encouragement. Korg is of the belief that people listen best when they're pointlessly subjected to pain.
  • Interaction: Minimal interactions during missions as Korg lets Kara take care of managing him, at times heated debate off mission, especially when Korg has deliberately pulled a gambit off the team.
• Fawriel and Matrix
  • What Fawriel thinks of Matrix:
  • What Matrix thinks of Fawriel: On the one hand, Fawriel is butting in on all his territory - animal hybrid, scouting, Murky - but on the other hand, Fawriel is actually a nice guy, and he'd rather not lose Jinx as a friend. So, while he is jealous of and resents Fawriel, he tries not to show it. Also, Matrix doesn't like how Fawriel is calm all the time.
  • Common Ground: Being animal hybrids, scouting, liking Murky
  • Points of Contention: Jealousy and resentment on Matrix's end, Faw trying to be a mentor to everyone, especially him
  • Interaction:
• Fawriel and Murky
• Gabriel and Hikari
  • What Hikari thinks of Gabriel: Wants to befriend and help Gabriel, because he knows how it feels to be an outcast within the group. He is completely confident that Gabriel will be integrated into the team in no time: he just wants to help smooth the ride. They're really all genuinely nice people once you get to know them!
  • What Gabriel thinks of Hikari: Hikari is not hiding anything. He's a very honest person. This is a good relief for Gabriel. He doesn't have to scrutinize Hikari's behavior. Just take everything at face value. No ulterior motives. No hidden agendas. No pretending to be something he's not. Feels relaxed around Hikari.
  • Common Ground: Memories of being "the 'not-liked' new guy" Gabriel likes Hikari's idealistic vision and wishes it were true.
  • Points of Contention: Gabriel's world is not actually the same as Hikari's. The whole, you know, demon thing.
  • Interaction: Gabriel is a little more open around Hikari. He feels more comfortable around him. Gabriel cannot stand being around arks and Hikari at the same time.
• Gabriel and Ironeye
  • What Gabriel thinks of Ironeye: suspicious, particularly because he's hiding something behind his false smiles; one of the people most likely figure out that he's a spy
  • What Ironeye thinks of Gabriel: suspicious because despite being eager to join the team, he doesn't do a lot of socializing
  • Common Ground: mutual suspicion; observing others from behind walls that they put up; analytical tendencies
  • Points of Contention: how they treat people—Ironeye sees them as particularly complicated machines and is satisfied by figuring out the "box" that he can put their behaviors in, while Gabriel tries to truly understand who they are (Gabriel asks "why?", while Ironeye thinks that "why?" gives an answer too complicated to understand)
  • Interaction: Cat-and-mouse conversations as they try to figure out what the other is up to; teaming up to figure out unrelated problems
• Gabriel and Jinxed
  • What Gabriel thinks of Jinxed: it's a boy!; like his younger brother—a bit of resentment; only gets all of the attention because she's the youngest and acts cutesy
  • What Jinxed thinks of Gabriel: he's that one guy who thinks I'm a boy :-(
  • Common Ground: None, really
  • Points of Contention: Gabriel mistaking Jinxed for a boy; Jinxed reminding Gabriel of something from his past, which he is trying to put behind him
  • Interaction: He prefers to avoid her if it's reasonable to do so.
• Gabriel and Kara
  • What Gabriel thinks of Kara: the mother figure of the group, but Gabriel is an "outsider", so she probably doesn't think of him as part of "the family"
  • What Kara thinks of Gabriel: She likes him as a person and admires his skills, but is always a little worried that he has her too well figured out.
  • Common Ground: They both enjoy "puttering"—he with mechanical devices, she in her garden.
  • Points of Contention: None at first
  • Interaction: Kara is the third person that Gabriel learns to trust, and is the final convincer for him that the team as a whole are good people.
• Gabriel and Korg
  • What Gabriel thinks of Korg: Sees the cynicism and the Murphy's Lens as useful tools (despite not being so much of a cynic himself).
  • What Korg thinks of Gabriel: Korg respects and envies Gabriel's autonomy and effortless understanding of those around him.
  • Common Ground: A sense of curiosity and urge to understand the world around them.
  • Points of Contention: None at first.
  • Interaction: Purely professional.
• Gabriel and Matrix
  • What Gabriel thinks of Matrix: Matrix is amusing. He's hard to keep up with. Can sometimes be annoying.
  • What Matrix thinks of Gabriel: That guy, yeah. He's cool, I guess.
  • Common Ground: Both are kind of Outdoorsy.
  • Points of Contention: They're both just "yeah, whatever" about each other.
  • Interaction: Gabriel is not Matrix's first choice for interaction. Every once in a while, they do hang out and have fun, though.
• Gabriel and Murky
  • What Gabriel thinks of Murky: She is a total enigma, and it bugs him. He gauges people on their emotional responses and Murky's emotions don't make sense/he has trouble reading her/needs to make more effort to get a proper reading. With everyone else, he has emotions directed at him. With Murky, even though he does feel her emotions he can't feel any emotions directed his way (quoth Kyler: "it's like viewing static")
  • What Murky thinks of Gabriel: Let's see what he does for now. I'll form an opinion later (truly completely neutral). Gabriel never does anything to make her feel one way or the other.
  • Common Ground: Mechanical skill. Both are kind of observers and loners.
  • Points of Contention: Murky's neutrality really aggravates Gabriel.
  • Interaction: Conversations between the two will have a lot of long silences. These silences don't always have to be awkward.
• Hikari and Ironeye
  • What Hikari thinks of Ironeye: Ironeye can be intimidating at times, but he's an intelligent, friendly, well-balanced guy who has Hikari's best interests at heart and is totally awesome. Hikari feels comfortable opening up to Ironeye, since Ironeye was the first member of the team to really reach out to him. He`s kind, trustworthy, and while he may be a little extreme at times, Hikari knows that he always has the best of intentions.
  • What Ironeye thinks of Hikari: Hikari is an idealistic fool who's too sure of himself...which is exactly like Ironeye was at Hikari's age. Hence, Ironeye feels an annoying sort of attachment to the kid, even as Ironeye resents Hikari for not yet having felt the crushing grip of reality. The boy needs someone to watch over him (in more ways than one, but he doesn't need to know about the less than friendly variations).
  • Common Ground: Goofiness, especially goofing off with Matrix; Hikari's personality/Ironeye's past personality
  • Points of Contention: Hikari's power; completely different worldviews
  • Interaction: A lot of friendly conversations, with Ironeye hanging around Hikari more than many of the other characters think he ought to.
• Hikari and Jinxed
  • What Hikari thinks of Jinxed: cool little sis; like him, but younger and female; someone who he would enjoy fighting beside. He respects her, but quickly starts to think of her as an equal.
  • What Jinxed thinks of Hikari: adventuring buddy; big brother
  • Common Ground: they're idealistic teenagers who act about 14—of course they get along great; a sense of adventure
  • Points of Contention: the Wind of Light, which scares Jinxed
  • Interaction: Going on adventures!; sibling stuff (Hikari has a tendency to taunt Jinxed, rambunctiously when they`re having fun and gently when he's being serious)
• Hikari and Kara
  • What Hikari thinks of Kara: Hikari thinks of her as a rather cold and distant mother figure. He often feels like he's intruding in her space, and tends to apologize a lot when she's around. Still, in the end, he is rather unrepentant about his status as "intruder", and hopes that she will one day simply learn to accept him.
  • What Kara thinks of Hikari: At first, she doesn't like him at all—she considers him an intruder into her new family, not to mention he's reckless, uncontrolled, and kind of an idiot. She eventually warms up to him after he becomes better integrated with the team.
  • Common Ground: Idealism, Chronic Hero Syndrome
  • Points of Contention: Primarily Hikari's lack of discipline and common sense
  • Interaction: Kara keeps Hikari on a very short leash until she accepts him. After that, she tries to mentor him and encourages the others on the original team to do the same. The leash is still short, but not very short. Hikari tries very hard not to antagonise Kara. He is very patient and usually submits to her demands. Of course, he might argue if it clashes with what he believes is right.
• Hikari and Korg
  • What Hikari thinks of Korg: Rather frustrating and uncompromising. Prefers not to deal with him too much. He will listen to Korg's criticisms, but his belief that he is right rarely allows him to take any of them to heart. Because of this, he may come off as being disrespectful and not really listening.
  • What Korg thinks of Hikari: Frequently finds him infuriating, as he's almost his exact opposite in terms of temperament. Considers him the team's biggest potential weakness, that his Knights Templar tendencies may lead him to execute a Face–Heel Turn without realising it.
  • Common Ground: Very little indeed, Teeth-Clenched Teamwork, ahoy!
  • Points of Contention: Korg is a cynic and a stoic, who believes Hikari's enthusiasm and idealism are dangerous and need to be monitored and controlled.
  • Interaction: On mission, Korg frequently tries to keep Hikari in the dark and doesn't tell him anything until the last moment. He frequently prefers to have control of Hikari delegated to a field subordinate who has a better trust and rapport with Hikari (typically Ironeye) and issues orders using this person as a proxy. His off mission interactions usually consist of harsh criticism.
• Hikari and Matrix
  • What Hikari thinks of Matrix: Really likes Matrix. Likes the goofiness and fun and agrees with his idealistic traits.
  • What Matrix thinks of Hikari: Buddy!
  • Common Ground: Almost everything
  • Points of Contention: Hikari's demon. Matrix's temper
  • Interaction: Best buddies! Also, they will occaisionally lie down somewhere comfortable and just meow at each other.
• Hikari and Murky
  • What Hikari thinks of Murky: Murky seems rather cold and emotionless to Hikari, which makes him rather uncomfortable at times. However, he really looks up to her, seeing as she's awesome, and he believes that if such a powerful person sided with the team, she must be a very good person in her heart of hearts.
  • What Murky thinks of Hikari: He's a potential threat; later, she comes to like him while still recognizing the threat of the Wind of Light; he's goofy and reckless
  • Common Ground:
  • Points of Contention:
  • Interaction:
• Ironeye and Jinxed
  • What Ironeye thinks of Jinxed: little girl who needs to be protected; admiration for her technical abilities as well as her skill with thievery
  • What Jinxed thinks of Ironeye: cool but kinda distant; Hikari's "older brother"
  • Common Ground: fondness for Hikari in a sibling fashion; mutual respect for each other's talents
  • Points of Contention: completely different ways of seeing the world
  • Interaction: Ironeye tries to maintain the adult/kid barrier except when drawing upon her as an expert; Jinxed doesn't have any particular interest in him, anyway
• Ironeye and Kara
  • What Ironeye thinks of Kara: big sister; authority figure; someone to protect; too idealistic and stubborn for her own good; The Not-Love Interest; the cook!
  • What Kara thinks of Ironeye: insecure; needs reassurance; wishes he wouldn't keep rehashing old issues; a little bit creepy due to his devotion; he's family
  • Common Ground: both witnessed the destruction in LA; spent the aftermath of C-Day together
  • Points of Contention: Differences in morality (Kara being more traditional, with Ironeye tending towards moral relativism); Kara's stubbornness; Ironeye's insecurity
  • Interaction: Inside jokes; non-verbal interaction; Ironeye opening up to Kara in private, coupled with brutal honesty from both sides; Ironeye defering to Kara in front of the others
• Ironeye and Korg
  • What Ironeye thinks of Korg: Ironeye finds Korg's dark humor rather amusing, and admires him for his intelligence and ruthless streak. Beyond that, Ironeye considers Korg to have the proper balance of morality and good sense—something he thinks is lacking in most of his team members. While the flirting amuses him, he puts up walls between himself and Korg, never really establishing a meaningful connection.
  • What Korg thinks of Ironeye: As Korg sees Ironeye in increasing situations of stress, he gains increased insights into the true nature of his personality, sensing a greater common ground and increased respect. Although as he gets a greater grasp of Ironeye's insecurities, his trust in him starts to falter due to perceived weakness.
  • Common Ground: A shared love of gallows humour as a coping mechanism and a certain bleak optimism. Additional commonalities include using people as pawns, and having a fondness for philisophical digressions.
  • Points of Contention: Korg feels that Ironeye skirts dangerously close to an Ubermensch philosophy, where he defines his own morality.
  • Interaction: Korg frequently and openly flirts with Ironeye, although they never romantically progress beyond this one-sided, Lesiure Suit Larry flirting. Korg respects him, along with Kara, as being one of the "adults" on the team who is worth addressing as an equal rather than a subordinate. On mission, Korg treats Ironeye as the "Sergeant" of the team. Off mission, Korg enjoys discussing philosophy with Ironeye.
• Ironeye and Matrix
  • What Ironeye thinks of Matrix: sexy; what Ironeye wishes he could be (goofy, confident, intelligent without having to think too much, likes his powers, etc.); a spazz
  • What Matrix thinks of Ironeye: Ironeye is a good friend—no, there really isn't much depth here
  • Common Ground: Silliness; finding Matrix hot
  • Points of Contention: Matrix not having a toggle switch on his silly for when things get serious; Ironeye's cynicism; "Not now, Matrix."
  • Interaction: Ho Yay for the lulz; lots of goofing off when not on-mission
• Ironeye and Murky
  • What Ironeye thinks of Murky: total badass (speaking from experience as a martial artist, he realizes just how much better she is); terrifying; someone you shouldn't piss off
  • What Murky thinks of Ironeye: he's too cold to approach; admiration for his ability to relate to people despite putting up a facade; someone to learn from (re: interacting with people)
  • Common Ground: mutual admiration; overlapping hobbies; focus when it comes to business
  • Points of Contention: Murky's preference for straightforward solutions; iciness; analyst vs. warrior; Ironeye's tendency to avoid getting his hands dirty (more literally than metaphorically)
  • Interaction: Only when it comes to business, generally; Murky "appreciating" Ironeye's Ho Yay with Matrix
• Jinxed and Kara
  • What Jinxed thinks of Kara: Kara's "the mom", but not her mom, and finds the motherliness annoying; someone she can't lie to
  • What Kara thinks of Jinxed: a child who needs to be mothered and protected; someone who needs to stay behind on missions; a likable little girl; +1 to womenfolk!
  • Common Ground: girl talk (periods, etc.); idealism
  • Points of Contention: the mother/daughter relationship (an initial rejection thereof by Jinxed); Jinxed's tomboyish tendencies to do dangerous things (often involving explosions, fire, and climbing unstable structures) and take on things that are too tough for her
  • Interaction: Kara acts maternal, while Jinxed acts like a teenager; occasional bonding over being "the girls"
• Jinxed and Korg
  • What Jinxed thinks of Korg: Boss man, Technology guru. Kinda a jerk at times but its cool.
  • What Korg thinks of Jinxed: An incredible useful team asset, particularly towards enemies with a heavy reliance on technology. His first call for intiltration, over and above Cody, even on times when Cody may actually be preferable.
  • Common Ground: A love of nerdular technology.
  • Points of Contention: Korg generally doesn't like children much and sometimes expects Jinxed to be unrealistically mature. He'll get mad at her sometimes for doing things which are perfectly reasonable for someone her age. She also doesn't like his darker humor sometimes thinking they're too mean.
  • Interaction: Korg will interact with Jinxed directly during infiltration missions, but most of the time works through Kara as a proxy. They don't meet in person due to Korg's reliance on technology.
• Jinxed and Matrix
  • What Jinxed thinks of Matrix: one of her best buddies; totally awesome; big brother in hybrid form, pet in skitty form
  • What Matrix thinks of Jinxed: the (occasionally bratty) little sister he never had; someone who needs protecting
  • Common Ground: Pokemon is awesome!; teenage rebellion and pranks
  • Points of Contention: Matrix hitting on "daddy's" love interest; Matrix getting startled by firecrackers; Jinxed dragging Matrix along for potentially painful stupid teenage plans; which Pokemon generation is the best (Jinxed likes 1st, Matrix prefers 3rd)
  • Interaction: acting like siblings; sneaking off to do something forbidden/causing trouble—kid buddy movies; Matrix getting pissed off at Jinxed and chasing her around.
• Jinxed and Murky
  • What Jinxed thinks of Murky: badass personified (esp. due to the southern accent); "daddy's" future girlfriend
  • What Murky thinks of Jinxed: someone she needs to be nice to in order to be on good terms with Faw; Murky encourages her skills in thievery because of how useful they are.
  • Common Ground: liking Faw (though in different ways)
  • Points of Contention: Murky not knowing how to handle a kid; Murky being closed off; having to figure out how to share Faw time
  • Interaction: lots of awkward moments; assessment by Jinxed to see if Murky is good enough for her Faw-faw, including lots of annoying questions
• Kara and Korg
  • What Kara thinks of Korg: Strikes a good balance between being fun and serious. Good to talk to about most things. The flirting gets a little annoying at times. So does the cynicism. She tries to brush it off because it's important to her that she get along with the only other really together adult on the team.
  • What Korg thinks of Kara: Korg respects Kara and considers her the nominal "Team Lieutenant" due to her age and wisdom, naturally talks to her as the team leader. He appreciates the fact that they can joke about things when the fecal matter hits the fan.
  • Common Ground: Age and maturity, Team Parent role
  • Points of Contention: Almost opposite viewpoints on humanity and the world. In particular, Korg's extreme selfishness and disinterest in the general welfare of society beyond getting infrastructure running and keeping the government stable so that he can enjoy its favours. Kara also doesn't accept that Korg outranks her as such; from her perspective it is a relationship of equals and she defers to his commands in the field out of convenience, not obedience. Most of the time, it's a moot point anyway because of their different roles. But when it gets stirred up, everyone below them had better head for the friggin' hills.
  • Interaction: Kara is the member of the team Korg is most likely to talk with off mission as they have the greatest amount of common reference points. She is the first person he addresses for tactical details on mission due to his regarding her as the team leader (unless it's something he's delegated to Ironeye behind her back). Their interaction is rarely harmonious, however and the two tend to argue frequently, although respectfully. This will sometimes be interpreted as a "lover's tiff" by younger team members for lulz.
• Kara and Matrix
  • What Kara thinks of Matrix: he could be more serious; someone who can cheer her up (petting a kitty)—Matrix is effectively Kara's teddy bear; more amusing than exasperating
  • What Matrix thinks of Kara: the boss; a friend who likes him; a surrogate mother
  • Common Ground: the attention they give to each other
  • Points of Contention: Kara treating Matrix more like a pet than a person (despite her best efforts); the lack of things for them to talk about
  • Interaction: a lot of petting of skitty in laps
• Kara and Murky
  • What Kara thinks of Murky: someone with great combat ability; a good friend
  • What Murky thinks of Kara: "mother"; her best friend
  • Common Ground: being the only women on the team
  • Points of Contention: Kara trying to do the female bonding thing when Murky isn't interested; what counts as a balanced diet
  • Interaction: Not much, though Murky goes to Kara whenever she needs to talk to someone
• Korg and Matrix
  • What Korg thinks of Matrix: With difficulty, he keeps his tongue from rolling out of his mouth. On those occasions when he can keep his mind on the JOB, he regards Matrix as being immature and childlike.
  • What Matrix thinks of Korg: Matrix doesn't like Korg being patronising to him and making fun of him, though when Korg is doing neither of those, he's fine with him. He likes that Korg can point out the stuff that he can't due to his lack of awareness.
  • Common Ground: A shared attitude of playfulness.
  • Points of Contention: Korg has difficulty taking Matrix seriously and will sometimes act inappropriately patronising to Matrix. Also has the tendnecy to make Matrix the butt of his jokes.
  • Interaction: Korg can often be seen using his laser pointer to play with Matrix in Skitty form.
• Korg and Murky
  • What Murky thinks of Korg: she respects him as a strategist and leader but is otherwise indifferent.
  • What Korg thinks of Murky: Not very much either way. Largely regards her as Kara's subordinate and personal bodyguard.
  • Common Ground: Politeness and understanding the necessity of Dog Shooting.
  • Points of Contention: Korg may occasionally pull rank over Kara and ask Murky to do something Kara explicitly disapproves of, causing a conflict of loyalties.
  • Interaction: Generally polite, Korg almost always refers to her by the honorific of "Ma'am" even though she is of lower rank.
• Matrix and Murky
  • What Matrix thinks of Murky: Thinks she's hot because she's strong, skilled in fighting, and standoffish. Matrix thinks that she's the kind of person who should be in charge. He likes the book reading, too, showing her intelligence. Likes Southern accents.
  • What Murky thinks of Matrix: He's an annoying pest, although he is amusing when he's not bothering her. Also she's allergic to fur, which makes her want to stay away.
  • Common Ground: Very little. Both are kind of perverts, but this doesn't come to the fore.
  • Points of contention: Murky's allergies. Murky's standoffishness for Matrix (which is also part of what attracts him to her). Matrix won't leave Murky alone.
  • Interaction: Matrix constantly tries to engage Murky, while Murky tries her best to avoid Matrix.

Interesting Three Character Interactions: (to be filled in later)

• arks, Cody, Fawriel
• arks, Cody, Gabriel: Cody's friendship with arks and pseudo-friendship with Gabriel force arks and Gabriel into situations where they have to interact, even though they might not want to at that point. Gabriel and arks exchange pleasantries, then one comes up with an excuse to leave. ark's excuse tends to be that he's going to go running. This is in contrast the the normal arks/Gabriel behvaior because they like being prepared when they deal with each other.
• arks, Cody, Hikari: Arks will do everything he can to avoid this situation.
• arks, Cody, Jinxed: Cody and Jinxed put arks in a situation where he has to choose sides. arks oscillates between putting down one, the other, or both, reassuring the "loser" in the process.
• arks, Cody, Korg: You could cut the air with a knife. That or the two join forces in chewing out Korg.
• arks, Cody, Murky
• arks, Fawriel, Gabriel
• arks, Fawriel, Hikari
• arks, Fawriel, Ironeye
• arks, Fawriel, Jinxed: Faw will be trying to find ways to break up this duo, or at least make sure he's keeping constant tabs on them.
• arks, Fawriel, Kara
• arks, Fawriel, Korg
• arks, Fawriel, Matrix
• arks, Fawriel, Murky
• arks, Gabriel, Hikari: When this trio comes up, Gabriel is always the one to back down. This is because arks feels protective about Hikari, so he wants to make sure Gabriel isn't doing anything that might set him off.
• arks, Gabriel, Ironeye: A three way I Know You Know I Know with Ironeye missing out on arks having a secret.
• arks, Gabriel, Kara
• arks, Gabriel, Korg
• arks, Gabriel, Murky
• arks, Hikari, Ironeye: talk to Hikari
• arks, Hikari, Jinxed: Either of the boys with Jinxed tends to bring out the mischievous side of both members of the pair. Putting all three together is a recipe for crazy.
• arks, Hikari, Kara: Will be almost completely different before and after Kara accepts Hikari. Before—arks is the buffer between the other two. After—arks and Kara work in concert trying to bring out the best in Hikari and teach him some sense.
• arks, Hikari, Korg
• arks, Hikari, Matrix: arks tries to keep Matrix away from Hikari because it brings out Hikari's excitable nature. Matrix and Hikari have so much fun hanging out together that arks has his work cut out for him.
• arks, Hikari, Murky
• arks, Ironeye, Korg
• arks, Ironeye, Murky: Purely professional.
• arks, Jinxed, Kara: The two adults disagree on the boundaries that need to be set for Jinxed.
• arks, Jinxed, Korg: Korg and arks really only agree on how to use Jinxed.
• arks, Jinxed, Matrix:
• arks, Jinxed, Murky: interesting due to relationships with Faw (who need not be in the scene)—more
• arks, Kara, Matrix: Kara has to mediate between the other two. With any luck, their mutual respect for her will do most of the work; if not, it's going to be a long day.
• arks, Kara, Murky: Murky will probably feel like arks and Kara are ganging up on her to force a social interaction and/or feed her vegetables.
• arks, Korg, Matrix: The Korg/Matrix relationship baffles arks because he knows that Korg values intelligence, and Matrix is, well, lacking in that regard as far as arks is concerned.
• arks, Korg, Murky
• arks, Matrix, Murky: arks has no problems with siccing Matrix on Murky if the situation calls for it.
• Cody, Fawriel, Gabriel
• Cody, Fawriel, Hikari
• Cody, Fawriel, Ironeye
• Cody, Fawriel, Jinxed
• Cody, Fawriel, Kara
• Cody, Fawriel, Korg
• Cody, Fawriel, Matrix
• Cody, Fawriel, Murky
• Cody, Gabriel, Hikari
• Cody, Gabriel, Ironeye
• Cody, Gabriel, Jinxed
• Cody, Gabriel, Kara
• Cody, Gabriel, Korg
• Cody, Gabriel, Matrix
• Cody, Gabriel, Murky
• Cody, Hikari, Ironeye: At the first hint of aggression from Cody, Ironeye politely asks him to leave, remaining to continue watching over Hikari (and holding a goofy conversation, of course).
• Cody, Hikari, Jinxed
• Cody, Hikari, Kara
• Cody, Hikari, Korg: Powderkeg.
• Cody, Hikari, Matrix
• Cody, Hikari, Murky
• Cody, Ironeye, Jinxed
• Cody, Ironeye, Kara
• Cody, Ironeye, Korg: Cody would likely have a conniption fit.
• Cody, Ironeye, Matrix
• Cody, Ironeye, Murky
• Cody, Jinxed, Kara
• Cody, Jinxed, Korg
• Cody, Jinxed, Matrix
• Cody, Jinxed, Murky
• Cody, Kara, Korg
• Cody, Kara, Matrix
• Cody, Kara, Murky
• Cody, Korg, Matrix
• Cody, Korg, Murky
• Cody, Matrix, Murky
• Fawriel, Gabriel, Hikari
• Fawriel, Gabriel, Ironeye: Ironeye and Gabriel go about their usual probing conversation, with Fawriel being a Spanner in the Works because he doesn't have a clue what's going on. Ironeye would never directly ask him not to interfere (and Faw won't take a hint), but whether or not Gabriel says something depends on who Faw is interefering with more.
• Fawriel, Gabriel, Jinxed
• Fawriel, Gabriel, Kara
• Fawriel, Gabriel, Korg
• Fawriel, Gabriel, Matrix
• Fawriel, Gabriel, Murky
• Fawriel, Hikari, Ironeye: Hell on Ironeye's nerves.
• Fawriel, Hikari, Jinxed
• Fawriel, Hikari, Kara
• Fawriel, Hikari, Korg
• Fawriel, Hikari, Matrix
• Fawriel, Hikari, Murky
• Fawriel, Ironeye, Jinxed
• Fawriel, Ironeye, Kara: Pretty comfortable and relaxed, all things considered. Only likely to come up when there's nothing for them to do but shoot the breeze, and they all have plenty to talk about with each other.
• Fawriel, Ironeye, Korg
• Fawriel, Ironeye, Matrix
• Fawriel, Ironeye, Murky
• Fawriel, Jinxed, Kara: Horrible (for Jinxed) She can't get away with anything. Will result in Jinxed trying to run away if possible whenever she sees Kara and Faw together.
• Fawriel, Jinxed, Korg
• Fawriel, Jinxed, Matrix
• Fawriel, Jinxed, Murky: Effectively a nuclear family.
• Fawriel, Kara, Korg
• Fawriel, Kara, Matrix
• Fawriel, Kara, Murky
• Fawriel, Korg, Matrix: It's time for fun!
• Fawriel, Korg, Murky
• Fawriel, Matrix, Murky
• Gabriel, Hikari, Ironeye
• Gabriel, Hikari, Jinxed
• Gabriel, Hikari, Kara
• Gabriel, Hikari, Korg
• Gabriel, Hikari, Matrix
• Gabriel, Hikari, Murky
• Gabriel, Ironeye, Korg: Manly conversations will result.
• Gabriel, Jinxed, Korg
• Gabriel, Jinxed, Murky: Gabriel feels conflicted. On the one hand, it's a chance to get to know Murky better by gauging her reaction to someone else. On the other hand, he feels awkward being around Jinxed.
• Gabriel, Kara, Murky
• Gabriel, Korg, Murky
• Hikari, Ironeye, Jinxed
• Hikari, Ironeye, Kara: A very dynamic triple, especially over the course of Season 1 and surrounding the Code White incident.
• Hikari, Ironeye, Korg: Powderkeg.
• Hikari, Ironeye, Matrix: This might just get Ironeye to unwind a little.
• Hikari, Ironeye, Murky
• Hikari, Jinxed, Kara
• Hikari, Jinxed, Korg: Korg does his damnedest to make sure this one never happens. (On so very many levels)
• Hikari, Jinxed, Matrix: All three are immature kids. No good can come of this.
• Hikari, Jinxed, Murky
• Hikari, Kara, Korg: Hikari is nearly smothered by the two people who most want him not to do things. Very good for Korg and Kara, however.
• Hikari, Kara, Matrix: The two boys run Kara ragged, shortening her temper.
• Hikari, Kara, Murky
• Hikari, Korg, Matrix Korg's blood pressure will be going in an unpleasant direction as he attempts to keep things from going into chaos.
• Hikari, Korg, Murky
• Hikari, Matrix, Murky
• Ironeye, Jinxed, Korg: These are the three character defined by intellect—perhaps they have an interesting technical conversation at some point.
• Ironeye, Kara, Korg: Probably the three most practical and mature members of the outfit. Also all highly opinionated and not necessarily in agreement with each other. A Freudian Power Trio with Kara as the Superego, Korg as Ego, and Ironeye as the Id.
• Ironeye, Kara, Matrix: These three act like the original three members of the team even if Cody technically joined before Matrix—they're just that close.
• Ironeye, Kara, Murky: These three probably put their heads together a lot in Season 1 in order to discuss battle strategy. Fortunately, they all get along well and willingly defer to each other's expertise.
• Ironeye, Korg, Matrix: It's a Ho Yay storm!
• Ironeye, Korg, Murky: It's Serious Season down at the ol' TV Tropes Ranch.
• Ironeye, Matrix, Murky: Triang Relations Type 5
• Jinxed, Kara, Korg: Kara is usually the go-between for Jinxed and Korg. Kara and Korg take distinctly different approaches to dealing with Jinxed, but this is one of the more unambiguously functional triples from Season 2 on.
• Jinxed, Kara, Matrix
• Jinxed, Kara, Murky: The only all-female triple. Bound to have some potential. Perhaps Murky and Kara need to give Jinxed The Talk?
• Jinxed, Korg, Matrix: Korg feels like he has to babysit the two younger ones. He likes them both well enough, but the two of them together are more than he wants to deal with.
• Jinxed, Korg, Murky
• Jinxed, Matrix, Murky
• Kara, Korg, Matrix: Could go one of two ways: either Kara and Korg are being The Grownups and Matrix is severely bored, or Korg is turning his Leisure Suit Larry act Up To Eleven, flirting outrageously with Matrix, specifically for Kara's irritated reaction. And it works. Once in a great while, Kara and Korg might both play with Skitty!Matrix.
• Kara, Korg, Murky: Murky's presence inclines Kara and Korg to be more subdued around each other than they usually are. The discussion will be dominated by strategic planning.
• Kara, Matrix, Murky: Kara is normally closer to Matrix, but in this situation she is more inclined to defend Murky against unwanted advances. Not that Murky really needs the help, but two women saying "Knock it off" is more convincing than one. Consequently, Matrix feels like Kara is being a buzzkill.
• Korg, Matrix, Murky

Notes on the triples:

• Anything that's bolded is a full category that we'll be returning to later
• etc. means "someone else who is listed later in the alphabet". Hence Hikari, etc., etc. is the category of all triples where Hikari is the first name (listed in alphabetical order).
• Anything that's not listed and not in a bolded category is something that arks, Kyler, Matrix, Korg, and I could not come up with anything interesting for (ie it's just the three paired relationships playing out). If you have an idea for something that has been deleted (or for any of the others, really), please post it.
• Not every triple needs something interesting. Hell, not even all the pairs have something interesting—some characters just don't have a particularly deep relationship, if a relationship at all.

edited 13th Mar '10 1:42:53 AM by Ironeye

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

Hmm, interesting.

Anyway, I've thought about Kat and her over the topishness, so I've decided to take her down a few notches. First of all, she's now just an average aspiring Gadgeteer Genius who, unfortunately, has a demon within her who can cause things to rot and decay. And there are various fictites who would like to use her power to do harm and when the tropers first come across her, she's being held captive with a restraining collar but the fictites have to keep replacing it because it keeps breaking down due to the decay.

How's that?

♥♥II'GSJQGDvhhMKOmXunSrogZliLHGKVMhGVmNhBzGUPiXLYki'GRQhBITqQrrOIJKNWiXKO♥♥

Here's this:

• What Murky thinks of Cody: dependable in combat but otherwise sort of annoying; disproves of his bullying tendencies
• What Murky thinks of Hikari: thinks of him as a potential threat at first but slowly comes to like him, while still recognizing his demon poses a threat; thinks he’s goofy and reckless
• What Murky thinks of Jinxed: needs to be nice to her for Faw; encourages her skills in thievery since it can come in handy
• What Murky thinks of Korg: respects him as a strategist and official leader but otherwise indifferent

People are mirrors. If you smile, a smile will be reflected.

I've added Murky's bits to the list. What about Murky/Faw?

Anyway, as a reminder to everyone, please add appropriate tropes for your character (and favorite confirmed fictites) on the character page.

edited 13th Mar '10 1:43:08 AM by Ironeye

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

That one took a bit more thought than the others.

What Murky thinks of Faw: competent fighter; dependable; sweet personality; his lack of understanding social norms is adorable and amusing

People are mirrors. If you smile, a smile will be reflected.

Is Terrence really going to have more than one appearance?

Not that I'd necessarily object, but I thought he was down as a Villain of the Week.

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I was thinking he might appear twice, albeit in a very reduced role the second time around.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

Well. Certainly no complaints from me.

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Fellow members of the Over-Committee, all evidence points to this project being dying. Do we give it a merciful death? Do we let it drag on until it is well and truly expired? If we want to save it, what are we going to do to ensure that:

• The project has consistent "vision"? (Compare each iteration of the project to the others. Hell, compare different elements of a given iteration with each other.)
• The project has sufficient energy? (ie forward momentum)
• The project has contributors with requisite skills?
• The project doesn't seem like it's "locked out" from new people? (Let's face it—sometimes people will have to drop out, and we simply are incapable of replacing them with quality contributors.)

What say you all?

edited 5th May '10 3:15:14 AM by Ironeye

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

Oh dear. I hoped it wouldn't come to this.

• I think the project is reasonably consistent. Even when we've completely rebooted it, little has changed.
• Momentum could be a problem.
• Finding people with the requisite skills is a problem.
• I think the pages on the wiki ought to reduce Continuity Lockout as far as is possible.

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I still think about this project a lot and I don't think we should jump to the conclusion that we need to kill it just yet.

1. "Vision" doesn't seem to be a problem. The existence of this Over-Committee should ensure that.

2. Momentum is a problem at present. While waiting for the storyboard art (that is what we're waiting for, yes?), we've let ourselves get distracted with various other things. But see my first sentence.

3. You know, I keep asking for a set of standardized...um...standards for artists so that I can put out a call on my deviantART account, and somehow it hasn't happened yet.

4. As long as we keep the wiki pages up to date, lockout syndrome shouldn't be a problem.

My advice for the time being is to keep the project on the back burner, make note of any good ideas you spontaneously get, and maybe from time to time we can brainstorm some stuff for Season 1. I would at least like to finish Episode 1, so that we can get some sort of audience reaction and see whether this idea actually has any creative merit or is just a load of TV Tropes inside-joke wankery. But we can't finish it without the storyboards, which is why it's not much good us agonizing over anything else in the meantime. Hence the back burner.

Re: Storyboards, I posted over a week ago and Sooty still hasn't gotten back to me with even the slightest update, so I really have no clue what's going on there.

Anyway, late last night I had a crazy idea. Ironeye+crazy+late night means you shouldn't take this too seriously, but I figured that I would share anyway.

What we have now really isn't TV Tropes The TV Show—it's a TV Show where an organization called TV Tropes appears, some of its members have the same names as tropers (and in some cases, the same personality), and there are mandated trope references per episode (one for the title and one in the dialog). The TV Tropes of the show doesn't have that much to do with the real TV Tropes, the characters named after tropers only kinda act like the tropers in question (to varying degrees, of course), and the TV Tropes-based jokes are kept to a minimum unless they can fly under the radar, as we don't want to alienate non-troper viewers. Lady and gentlemen, gentleman, and Those Two Guys, I submit to you that this is not actually TV Tropes The TV Show, but a show made by tropers that happens to have a few TV Tropes references shoved in so that the name is only a little bit ridiculous. This is the first premise.

Premise the second: People outside of the inner core have been most productive when they think a character based on them has a chance of appearing. See: people quitting the show when the character based on them has been cut (averted exactly once, with SSOT), people refusing to work on an episode when it's made very clear to them that there's not even an outside chance that their character will have a cameo, much less a larger role, forum personalities ignoring the project once it was clear that they could not create a character for a major role, and so on.

Premise the third: Very few new people want to read five pages worth of plot and setting detail along with as many pages of FAQs just to start contributing.

Premise the fourth: This show still has problems with The Artifact. (For example, the Murky/Faw relationship—we've now had over a year to come up with a reasonable in-universe justification for it, not to mention a point, and we haven't had much success.)

It is from these four premises that my idea arose.

The Idea

Toss it all. I'm completely serious (within the context of the crazy idea). Rebuild it from the ground up based on the original premise and the title. So, yes, Fourth Wall comes down, ficitites devastate the world, TV Tropes fights back...except (as per original premise), TV Tropes already existed in its current form in the show's universe. Fast Janitor pull together a bunch of people due to their contributions to a wiki based on fiction, equip them with all sorts of toys bought with money from who knows where, and send them out to fight fitites with knowledge from the Database and the power of tropes. Accept the absurdity of the premise and run with it! Load the show with in-jokes! Throw in Loads And Loads Of Characters based on tropers, all subject to hilarious Flanderization of their forum personalities and traits. Why the weird names? It's that kind of show.

Each episode follows a group of five (or maybe six) of these characters as they go fight the antagonist of the week. Hilarity Ensues. How are these characters chosen? That brings me to the incentive system:

• Whenever someone is significantly involved with an episode, they get points (ranging from 1 for the sort of work I do to 3 for animating the entire thing).
• Everyone who has contributed gets put on a list, ranked by points (with the newest person to have a particular point total at the bottom of their "tier").
• The episode features characters directly based on the five people with the highest point totals. They pay half of their points, round up, for this privilege, dropping them down the list quite a bit.
• Create a similar "cameo" list for people who make important suggestions but not major contributions, but which plays by different rules: making a suggestion merely bumps you up the list by some amount, and everyone is sent to the bottom after their cameo.
• Write the plot on the fly. Since the cast changes from episode to episode (for maximum hilarity), just let the plot develop as it goes. Now, this doesn't mean that we can't have the barest bones of a metaplot, but it'll be more of an Excuse Plot for the wacky adventures.
• Hilarity Ensues
• Hilarity Ensues
• Hilarity Ensues

Thus, in this version, Ironeye would be the junior M.o.D. (Master of Domains, or something silly like that), the organization responsible for keeping order at the troper base. He's an insecure 22-year old who shamelessly flirts with many of the male characters (even some of the straight ones), regularly fails to properly ham it up, and keeps his "kicking boots" handy at all times when he's over at Site V (a satellite facility that he's been overseeing for some time). The base has both a left side (business) and right side (recreation), with the divide between the two camps exaggerated for hilarity. The characters at some point or another encounter things like the Loli Rape Bunker. The only foes TV Tropes take seriously are the Data Vampires. I'm sure you get the idea.

Anyway, this will let us draw in people with the carrot of Flanderized them appearing as a character (in episode 2, for those who help us on the first episode). We'll get new momentum. The spirit of the original iteration can be recaptured in a structured environment. The great bit about this is that the early episodes can stand completely alone, and for even the later episodes, it will be hard to tell the difference between a Continuity Nod and Noodle Implements.

How serious am I about this? I don't know. But think of this: I proposed this idea despite putting most of my effort on this project into planning out the plot (which would not only be cut, but would also cease to be a major focus). Even though it cuts out my favorite part, I still thought this was worth bringing up. So yeah...

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

I don't like it. For one thing, it feels too much like giving up. For another, it reeks of Running the Asylum...no, scratch that, it is Running the Asylum. The Tropers most susceptible to the lure of self-aggrandizement will become the biggest contributors by definition. That's a recipe for getting nothing useful done at all.

For a third thing, I think a lack of visual talent has been our biggest obstacle to date. We've never had a shortage of idea people and script people, but even when we had a long roster of ego-driven contributors, we had few artists and no animators. This move will do nothing to solve that problem; it will just give us more and more increasingly chaotic material that we have no way to render.

For a fourth thing, anything worth doing is worth doing well. If suggesting that we alter the project into unrecognizable mush—just so that we can produce something, anything—is your way of saying you're no longer seriously interested in it, have the nuts to admit it.

Fine, you caught me. I hate being part of a project that's bogged down because people aren't contributing. Been there, done that (for several months, with only one of the other four contributors even making an effort) and I hate it with the fury of a thousand suns and something else even more hyperbolic. I hate being hamstringged by "canonical" elements from people who aren't contributing any more. I hate not being able to plot out the story because people complain that they don't get any input, only to contribute nothing when I hold myself back so that they can add something. I really hate this project.

At the same time, though, I like the story, I like the characters, and I really like working with the little over half dozen of you who meaningfully contribute. I would say more, but I have a midterm I should have left for five minutes ago. Ciao.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

The way I see it, our viable options are as follows:

• We let the whole thing go gently into that good night. Good night! (Note: I would prefer to do this only as a last resort.)
• We cut all the dead weight—lazy so-called "contributors," plot points that don't work for us anymore, anything that doesn't actually work, start scouting for new talent, and pick up where we left off.
• We continue in the current rut, occasionally surfacing to bitch about the lack of progress, only to settle back down and get on with our lives until the next time.

Let's get the Old Guard together at the earliest convenience to discuss it. While we're at it, we can pin down exactly what we would need from artists so that we can start putting out some calls for volunteers, if that's what we decide to do.

edited 5th May '10 2:07:24 PM by Karalora

My view is that we should just get a move on. What we have is good. It's nowhere near finished, but it ain't broke and don't need fixing.

At the very least, we should get a pilot episode made. We have a cast of characters created and an episode scripted; that was the easy part. Now we need to actually make it, and to do that, we need an artist.

Now, we can either decide beforehand what kind of style we're after and advertise that - maybe even to the wider Internet - or we can put up a thread in TC or VA/G  ^*

announcing that we are looking for artists.

If the latter fails, I say we go with the former. If that fails... I don't know, screw it all.

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So, as I see it, our tasks are (in order):

• Smack Sooty upside the head for ignoring us.
• Finish Pre-Production of the Pilot
  • Make sure all of the main characters have an accurate finalized profile in Concept Art Descriptions. Make sure that each character has a distinctive "look" that can carry over even when they do things like change their clothes. (eg Having someone in green pants all the time is probably silly, but giving each character a distinctive silhouette...)
  • Decide on an art style.
  • Recruit a concept artist by any means necessary.
  • Recruit a storyboard artist (or have a current contributor volunteer)
  • Recruit all necessary voice actors. We currently have Hikari as himself, Kara as herself, Matrix as himself, and arks as Ironeye. Still need: arks, Cody, Murky, waitress, the mayor, and two aides.
• Cut the unnecessary bits
  • Figure out where we're going with each major character in the medium term. Determine the "point" of that character in a meta sense. Alter character details accordingly.
    • ie What story are we telling with each character? Why is this important to the overall narrative? Many of the characters who have had that status for the past year have most of their "payoff" slotted in for the later seasons because that's where many of their character-critical events got moved so that the Dark Lodge could get introduced early.
    • Season 1 is the focus here. We can't have a character be dead weight for most of the season. Ideally, for each season we will be able to come up with a character arc for each of the main characters.
  • Slot in recurring fictites as appropriate (a job for me and Bobby)
• Produce the Pilot (concurrent with the last item)
  • Once the season 1 arcs for each character have been figured out (you know, just a few sentences necessary), do a rewrite on the script to foreshadow appropriately.
  • Record lines.
  • Recruit production artists and animators; make them our production slaves
• ???
• Profit (metaphorically speaking, of course)
• Use our new-found prestige to recruit more people.
• Finish Season 1
• Finish Show.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

What a good idea, Ironeye.

edited 5th May '10 4:08:16 PM by Karalora

Hey, I updated mine six weeks ago!

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

All I saw last time I checked was a link to that sketch.

Wait, what? I'm one of I think three people who have more or less continuously had a profile up since the week the page was created.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

Maybe it was a loading error, then. No matter—I see it all now.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

Given how (relatively) easy it is for us to generate ideas and plot, I believe the ultra-mega-high-priority tasks for us now would be:

• Decide on an art style.
  • Recruit a concept artist by any means necessary.
  • Recruit a storyboard artist (or have a current contributor volunteer)

Note the nesting. Deciding an art style comes first because that's how we'll pick which artist(s) to accept into the production staff, or what kind of artist we want to advertise to in the first place. I'm listing just these three because that's what seems to be getting us stuck—I feel that because we can't make any more progress with the pilot, we're only motivated to roughly sketch out the next few episodes at most. Seems (relatively) easy enough for us to generate ideas and plot if/when we need to start mapping out show content, and we're not having such a hard time with voice casting. (Or are we?) It's the art department that we need more focus on.

Of course, y'all probably know that by now, but... yeah, I ramble.

This "faculty lot" you speak of sounds like a place of great power...

A thought on the concept art descriptions...

Don't include any illustrations at this point, especially not ones made with a dollmaker program or anything like that. The style we end up choosing will definitely not be like the ones these programs typically use, and we don't want the artists to get the wrong idea or think they have to emulate existing images.