This is partially Bandana's fault

[Mightymosy]

After all this talk about Andi and Bandana I have finally realised why I never really got warm with the character (although she is absolutely cute as a kid ).
She is somewhat cast into the wrong role.
What I mean by that is that she would an amazing fit for an aspiring pilot story. I can easily see her as a replacement for Tom Cruise in Top Gun, or Luke Skywalker in Starwars Episode 4, or Paris in Star Trek Voyager, or anything like that, where her role is the naive (as in: young and inexperienced) hotshot who tries to become a hero.

When thinking of Pirates of the Carribean, she is just much more William than Jack Sparrow.

What I am missing is the pirate thing. Nothing about Bandana screamed "pirate! arrr!" to me.
Julio was somewhat of a stretch, because he would be too "nice" and altruistic for a RL pirate, but he got the fantasy "dashing swordsman pirate who had a girl in each port" thing going just fine. Plus the chaotic, hilarious pun dueling thing.

Bandana, however, is a character you'd wish as a real, captain, on your real ship. She is trying to be good, responsible, sensible, and most of her actions seem to be more along the lines of lawful good transport ship captain, than chaotic neutral/evil pirate ship captain.

So, ironically, the reasons why I would like her person much more in RL, seems to be the reason why the character in the story somehow just never really "clicked with me", if that makes sense.

Yet ironically, one thing she does (twice) is something Jonny Depp does repeatedly in Pirates of Carribean: insisting to be called "Captain". Unfortunately, that is a character trait I cannot stand if done in a non-comedic way, in situations she does it in, so it didn't help her in this case with me

[Mightymosy]

How about an
OotS cast based pirate story?

That is something Rich should consider as a bonus pdf! The way the Mechane bonus story turned out, I think he could make that one pretty swell as well.

As discussed in the previous post, I don't think Bandana is the perfect fit for the ("prot"-)agonist pirate. Instead, let me give you:

Pirate Queen Haley Redbeardhead!
Known for her unsatiable greed for gold and incredibly clever ruses, she roams about the carribean as if there's no tomorrow. Like Jack Sparrow, she is never at a loss of words, can weasle herself out of almost all situations and enjoys everything the lush tropical paradise has to offer - even if that means bending the rules a bit

Blackwing
is Haley's most trusted familiar and sits on her shoulder doing a best impression of a parrot. Fitting for a pirate bird, he too longs for anything shiny.
Of course he alone knows the secret that Captain Haley secretly has a crush on the the governor's princess son:

Elan
the nice and friendly and handsome young man who is unfortunately a little less intelligent, and drives his father mad with his naive questions and stupid ideas. His father is, of course

Governor Roy Bluebottom
a benevolent if bit sarcastic port leader who fights pirate attacks, smuggler rings, corruption, and the sheer stupidity of his subordinates. (hey, why not let Elan have his dream of making Roy an older relative he can look up to, while we are at double fantasy? Haleo and Julelan had a more egregious break from family relations than that one...). He is happily married to

Governor Celia Bluebottom, formerly Celia Cellophan
a loving mother who wishes nothing more than finally getting her precious little boy married - but it needs to be with the right woman! And such is hard to find. Unfortunately, most wedding proposals have been made by "ladies" as morally questionable as

Sabine Vanderhell,
a duchess who schemes to take over the island one day, and would take the young prince as two-time-gift: beauty to behold and key to power in one nice little package (I'd cast her more like a civil schemer than the bloodthirsty killer that she is, though - hey, it's my double fantasy as well). Her dreams will not come to fruition, though. Of course she might have Elan for a while until he realises that he deserves better, but in the end she gets someone more fitting for her:

Nale Nailingson,
an ambitious officer in Bluebottom's navy, who looks a bit like Elan, but is clever and efficient, if slightly ruthless in his quest to rise through the ranks of the navy. Unfortunately for Governor Roy, he is one of the only capable soldiers he has, and he often compares his son Elan to him and tries to motivate Elan to become a little bit more like him - until he finally realises what good he has in the good character of his son.

Durkon Drunkenbeard
Is actually another competent member of Roy's Navy. Unfortunately, he is from Scotland and speaks with a heavy accent, so no one ever understands what he is saying. So Roy ignores him often like he does NPCs.

Belkar Bananaleaf
is the cook on Haley's pirate ship. He thinks he is Steven Seagal in "Under Siege", but is actually much more like clumsy comedic relief. But given how Captain Haley Redhead is enjoying the luxuries life has to offer, she puts up with this grumbly cynic guy because oh his cooking is sooo delicious!

Thog Tumblebarrel
Haley's crewman for the rough stuff -of course he never actually kills someone, because he is way to busy taking care for his pet "dog" Scruffy (no, he doesn't realise it's a cat). People are afraid anyway because he is so big and green and has fangs and stuff.


Bandana Bootstrap
is the young blacksmith who dreams of being Captain one day. She joins Bluebottom's Navy in the hopes of rising through the ranks, but unfortunately is tricked by Nale Nailingson who is using her competence to further his own goals. Later she is also played by Sabine Vanderhell (which may or may not include a romantic subplot, given her lesbian orientation and, well, Sabine) who is at that point secretly in liason with Nale Nailingson. After things escalate she ends up with Captain Haley and is an outlaw for the second part of the story, trying to find her way in the world. In the end she redeems herself to Bluebottom and his Navy in the story's finale, proves who was in the wrong the whole time, and is being promoted to admiral over Nale, who is degraded and forced to do latrine duty from then on.

Varsuuvius
is an unpronouncable Indian/Native American who lives on a lush carribean island where someone will get stranded in the story. (I can't think of a better reason other than finding it hilarious if V of all people would run around in a loincloth, yet speaking sophisticatedly as ever )

Tsukiko
is a voodo witch living on V's island. I am not sure about her role in the story, but I am sure a voodo witch will somehow come in handy in a pirate story. Maybe she can brew up some love potion Haley intends to give to Elan, but then it ends up with someone else who will fall in endless love? Yeah, that sounds right, actually
How about...

Therkla
another member of Haley's crew. People always think she will end up with Thog, because they look alike and that would fit - ignoring that Thog only likes puppies and finds girls icky, and Therkla has a bit more standards regarding mental capacity than that.
Of course then she ends up falling in love with Haley due to the stupid potion and hilarities ensue.
Also of course, in the end Haley realises she has to earn Elan's love by being a good character and does so without cheating with a potion, and Therkla gets rid of the potion's effect with anti-magic from

Hinjo
a gifted young healer and missionary from foreign lands who falls in love with this strong but troubled warrior. Being colorblind, he doesn't recognize Therkla's green skin, which makes for situations that appear as funny gags, but provoke deeper thoughts afterwards for the readers.



I don't know about you people, but I can think of a really enjoyable, light-hearted romantic pirate story that could be written with the OotS cast, slightly rebuilt as in the Haleo & Julelan bonus story, or the extra stories in ins Snips, Snales and Dragon Tales.

[atemu1234]

Yet ironically, one thing she does (twice) is something Jonny Depp does repeatedly in Pirates of Carribean: insisting to be called "Captain". Unfortunately, that is a character trait I cannot stand if done in a non-comedic way, in situations she does it in, so it didn't help her in this case with me

Eh, not to sound too lawful or anything, but the insistence to be referred to by rank is meant to be a reminder that she is in charge; the reason we have ranks, really. Andi was treating her like a young upstart when she's consistently shown to be good at her job, or at least passable. It's more about respect.

[Peelee]

:insisting to be called "Captain". Unfortunately, that is a character trait I cannot stand if done in a non-comedic way

Stay off ships, then. I'd imagine virtually any captain would do this to a crewmember calling them by name only.

[Mightymosy]

Stay off ships, then. I'd imagine virtually any captain would do this to a crewmember calling them by name only.

I have no problems calling people by rank - it's the context that matters:
- Bandana and Andi know each other for a long time. Of course Andi could call Bandana Captain - but insisting on being called by rank on Bandana's side is just childish in my opinion, especially if the other person is older (and she even was her babysitter)
- it doesn't do any good in both situations. People have talked about this in the recent threads a lot, so I don't want to repeat too much.

When people don't respect you and show this by not calling you by your rank, this respect won't come if you insist on this etiquette. You can try to earn their respect in whichever way possible, or you can discipline them, or fire them. But reminding them of the etiquette won't work, not in my experience (which includes ships, but not military, but most importantly life). I think the Giant actually did a very good job of how realistically he portrayed this issue.

[Peelee]

I have no problems calling people by rank - it's the context that matters:

The context is, Andi is serving on a ship where Bandana is the captain. End of context. Andi calls her captain. This isn't childish, this is how ships work.

[Mightymosy]

Well, if you wish to ignore the people on the ship, fine. I got the impression that this story is about the relations between people.

[Peelee]

Well, if you wish to ignore the people on the ship, fine. I got the impression that this story is about the relations between people.

Part of the relations between people, when they're serving on a ship, is to adhere to ship protocol. Andi is not doing this, which shows that her relations with Bandana are poor, due to Andi's lack of respect for her.

[ReaderAt2046]

EDIT 02/23
I didn't expect this post to be as controversial as it ended up being, and so I didn't word it very carefully. Other than this I haven't edited it, but since posting it I've clarified what I personally meant in the ensuing discussion. It's long, but features a lot of good posts arguing both sides, most made by better writers than me!

-

People in the #1066 discussion thread are being pretty hard on Andi right now.

I'm going to go against the grain and defend her a little. This is Bandana's fault just as much as hers.

Yes, Andi obviously screwed up hugely here. Mutinying in the middle of a crisis is indefensible. But Bandana's the captain; motivation, inspiration and discipline are all part of her job description. Managing the crew's morale is her responsibility. Roy is pretty good at that part of being a leader; I haven't seen any evidence that Bandana's done that, or that she's effectively communicated to the crew what the stakes of this particular mission are. They know there's some vague apocalyptic threat, but we learned in #1028 that they tend to be pretty blasé about those, and as of that strip they weren't sure what the threat even was (And why exactly? It's not like being all secretive serves much purpose at this stage. You don't have to tell them EVERYTHING, but your team openly questioning the seriousness of the mission merits some kind of response beyond a hands-on-hips look.)

Yeah, the crew was willing to undertake the mission back in #1028 when they were promised payment, but that was before Bandana got three members of her crew murdered by giants and nearly wrecked the ship. This is an unusually dangerous mission. We've seen no evidence that she's instilled commensurately strong motivation in her crew, or even tried to. She's just barked orders at them and expected them to obey her the way they obeyed Julio.

But she's not Julio, and she's kidding herself if she expects them to treat her with that level of trust yet. So far, from her crew's perspective, she's gotten the ship seriously damaged in a storm, harbored a vampire on board (which, it turned out, was just as bad an idea as many of them suspected) and flown them into a giant-infested deathtrap. We, the audience, know that she's made all the right decisions based on the information available to her. Her crew doesn't. If they're questioning her leadership at this point, that's on her.

Making the right decisions is 50% of being a leader. She's flunking the other 50%.

I wouldn't say that this is as much Banana's fault as Andi's, but yes, I've been thinking for several strips that Banana was doing a horrible job at motivating the crew. She kept overruling the crew with nothing more than rank, and it's finally backfired on her.

[Keltest]

I wouldn't say that this is as much Banana's fault as Andi's, but yes, I've been thinking for several strips that Banana was doing a horrible job at motivating the crew. She kept overruling the crew with nothing more than rank, and it's finally backfired on her.

Why do people keep using "the crew" to mean "Andi"? She has not overruled "the crew" about anything. The one time the crew actually had an issue, she addressed it to the express satisfaction of everybody except Andi, who has flat out said that she considers anything Bandana does to be wrong.

[Peelee]

I wouldn't say that this is as much Banana's fault as Andi's, but yes, I've been thinking for several strips that Banana was doing a horrible job at motivating the crew. She kept overruling the crew with nothing more than rank, and it's finally backfired on her.

She kept overruling one person, and gave reasons for her decisions.

[Kish]

I really wonder why so many people apparently think Andi is somehow the avatar of The Crew.

[yldenfrei]

I have no problems calling people by rank - it's the context that matters:
- Bandana and Andi know each other for a long time. Of course Andi could call Bandana Captain - but insisting on being called by rank on Bandana's side is just childish in my opinion, especially if the other person is older (and she even was her babysitter)
- it doesn't do any good in both situations. People have talked about this in the recent threads a lot, so I don't want to repeat too much.

And... Andi insisting on calling the acting captain by her name (despite reminders) just for the sake of being difficult? Or does that particular context not matter?

I really wonder why so many people apparently think Andi is somehow the avatar of The Crew.

Why, because Andi is the senior of the entire crew! She speaks for everyone else, obviously. Shut up, Carol.

[Jasdoif]

I wouldn't say that this is as much Banana's fault as Andi's, but yes, I've been thinking for several strips that Banana was doing a horrible job at motivating the crew.

....should I be offended by that?

[Kish]

Yes. Absolutely.

[Peelee]

That wouldn't be very fruitful.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

....should I be offended by that?

I mean, I wouldn't take it too seriously. Despite some people that don't think you're doing a good job of holding the other fruit in line, really it's only one rotten person that's spoiling the rest of the bunch. The crew doesn't strike me as particularly ripe for mutiny in your case.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Why, because Andi is the senior of the entire crew! She speaks for everyone else, obviously. Shut up, Carol.

::thumbs up::

GW

[nmphuong91]

Not to mention that if you try to rule an airship filled with Chaotic Neutrals with an iron fist, they WILL very quickly toss you overboard and MAYBE soulbind you...Trying to lead a country with a highly authoritarian past and trying to lead a bunch of very Chaotic pirates are two very different things. Tarquin would be killed if he tried to lead the Mechane the way he leads the EoB. In an interesting fashion. After a while.

You overestimated the ship crew. He came to a Chaotic Continent as a nobody, rose to be a most powerful warlord. What is a chaotic neutral crew to a chaotic continent with hundred thousands of people? There are difference between country and ship, but I assure you that control milions, many are your former enemy always harder than control tens. We don't even know about how Western Continent work before Tarquin's rule, so what authoritarian past? Well, we know that it's a land riled with war, and kings come and go...so I doubt that.

What happened between them was that Tarquin's son killed Malak because Tarquin tried to get them to work together, even though they both wanted to kill each other. The reflection on his ability as a businessman and strategist is pretty bad, if you want this as an example.

I could argue that one failure, no matter how close-to-epic as his fighter level, could not invalidate decade of success he got. But, the point is, this is irrelevant to the topic. We will agree to disagree then.

Yes, a delusional totalitarian dictator would indeed likely be able to quash insurrection. Is this the only metric you have of being a good leader? Bandana is a poor leader because she didn't rule with an iron fist?

He ran a country, again, as a totalitarian dictator who effectively murders anyone who he even imagines slights him. Are you saying that this makes one a good leader? Because it really seems like you are.

Not getting overthrown while working with all different kind of people is my metric. Quash insurrection is one thing, able to keep it down is another problem entirely. Rebel would only grow if you quash them with brute force only. Iron fist + 3 kingdom scheme is what make him good. Most people don't even know about him, with Ian is the rare exception. See comic #758, the part about Empire of Sweat to see how he handle resistance.
Ah, I don't say that Bandana is a poor leader. She is fine as she is.

So, the only way this scenerio can be avoided is by bitch-slap Andi at the first chance, whip her, chain her to the mast....But then again, we would have another topic named "Bandana is so evil", so I guess people bitching about Bandana is an unavoidable fate.

To recap my point, because people are only seeing my argument, not my conclusion:
1. Tarquin would have been the only one able to avoid this scenario, with iron fist, genre savviness, manipulation.
2a. We are having this topic because Bandana can't prevent the munity.
2b. We will have another topic if Bandana prevent the munity with the only solution possible.
-> Forumist b*tch about it either way.

[Kish]

Tarkie was irrelevant to the topic from the word go. Who brought him in, anyway?

[Snails]

I really wonder why so many people apparently think Andi is somehow the avatar of The Crew.

It is particularly strange because we have every indication that Andi outright avoided talking over her "concerns" with the larger crew. How exactly can the crew agree with Andi about something she won't talk about, when the crew does not seem to care as best as we can tell?

We have good circumstantial evidence on this point because Carol the half-elf was quite confused by Andi's rant about age. That is doubly peculiar because Andi keeps going back to the age question, so much so she cannot explain herself to anyone, the crew, Bandanna, nobody.

[Darth Paul]

I have no problems calling people by rank - it's the context that matters:
- Bandana and Andi know each other for a long time. Of course Andi could call Bandana Captain - but insisting on being called by rank on Bandana's side is just childish in my opinion, especially if the other person is older (and she even was her babysitter)
- it doesn't do any good in both situations. People have talked about this in the recent threads a lot, so I don't want to repeat too much.

When people don't respect you and show this by not calling you by your rank, this respect won't come if you insist on this etiquette. You can try to earn their respect in whichever way possible, or you can discipline them, or fire them. But reminding them of the etiquette won't work, not in my experience (which includes ships, but not military, but most importantly life). I think the Giant actually did a very good job of how realistically he portrayed this issue.

I serve in law enforcement, and am used to training new employees 30 years younger who then, with 10 or 15 years less time on the job, are promoted to be my boss. And I rightfully call them "Sergeant" or "Lieutenant", whether I think they've earned it or not; because our bosses put them in that position. So, Andi, as much as she claims to want Julio back, doesn't really respect him either, or she would respect his decision and call Bandana "Captain"- since her ultimate commander Julio promoted Bandana as such.

[Peelee]

I could argue that one failure, no matter how close-to-epic as his fighter level, could not invalidate decade of success he got. But, the point is, this is irrelevant to the topic. We will agree to disagree then.

You may, but I refuse to agree with you on anything you've written so far, that included.

Ah, I don't say that Bandana is a poor leader. She is fine as she is.

Then what were you saying here?

Concidentally, Very Serious Talk is what I favor as well. But one has to consider the time, place, and setting.
When we are talking about authority on pirate ship, then just imagine if Jack Sparrow, Barbossa, Davy Jones hold Very Serious Talk with crew...(a master shipwright in particular).
"Physical discipline is just one way of many and always the last resort." Tarquin disagrees, and that is why he is the best leader.

Because it sounds like "Bandana is a poor leader, and is not fine as she is."

Tarkie was irrelevant to the topic from the word go. Who brought him in, anyway?

See above.

[Mightymosy]

Part of the relations between people, when they're serving on a ship, is to adhere to ship protocol. Andi is not doing this, which shows that her relations with Bandana are poor, due to Andi's lack of respect for her.

And... Andi insisting on calling the acting captain by her name (despite reminders) just for the sake of being difficult? Or does that particular context not matter?


Why, because Andi is the senior of the entire crew! She speaks for everyone else, obviously. Shut up, Carol.

I serve in law enforcement, and am used to training new employees 30 years younger who then, with 10 or 15 years less time on the job, are promoted to be my boss. And I rightfully call them "Sergeant" or "Lieutenant", whether I think they've earned it or not; because our bosses put them in that position. So, Andi, as much as she claims to want Julio back, doesn't really respect him either, or she would respect his decision and call Bandana "Captain"- since her ultimate commander Julio promoted Bandana as such.

Sure Andi and other ship crewmembers generally have to adhere to ship protocoll.
Just keep in mind that
- this is not a law enforcement vessel. Quite the opposite
- we don't know this ship's protocoll
- this is a fantasy pirate airship

I did never say people should not adhere to ship protocoll when appropriate. I said that Bandana's way of trying to enforce it was

A) ineffective. Here's what I wrote:
"When people don't respect you and show this by not calling you by your rank, this respect won't come if you insist on this etiquette. You can try to earn their respect in whichever way possible, or you can discipline them, or fire them. But reminding them of the etiquette won't work, not in my experience (which includes ships, but not military, but most importantly life). I think the Giant actually did a very good job of how realistically he portrayed this issue. "

B) inappropriate. You just don't force former co-workers, or even people who cared for you, to do this. You just don't.

All of this doesn't justify Andi's actions either way, by the way.
If you leave your door open and your house is robbed, you're not guilty. The burglarer is.
Still wouldn't you reconsider locking the door next time, when you live in a neigborhood where things aren't so safe?
Bandana saw an open door and decided to put a sign next to it which said "No trespassers". She isn't guilty, she certainly didn't deserve being hit with a wrench, but she certainly didn't take the most effective course of action - not the way I see the relation between these people as painted, coupled with RL experience I have.
Now, if anyone of you has served on a pirate airship, they are welcome to overrule me with superior experience, but until then I wouldn't know why anyone's opinion on how to handle insubordination (by a former babysitter of yours!) is more valid than mine.

Tell me, people: Who among you has had a case like this where the Bandana method ("call me by rank!") has actually worked to establish a good working relationship?

[Mightymosy]

[...]

To recap my point, because people are only seeing my argument, not my conclusion:
1. Tarquin would have been the only one able to avoid this scenario, with iron fist, genre savviness, manipulation.
2a. We are having this topic because Bandana can't prevent the munity.
2b. We will have another topic if Bandana prevent the munity with the only solution possible.
-> Forumist b*tch about it either way.

Here you are:
I don't think Tarquin would be the only one who could have avoided this situation. I'll give you a couple more:
- Roy
- Hinjo
- Eugene
- Haley
- the Oracle
- Argcloak

All on account of not having Andi as a former babysitter, so she wouldn't have any grudge towards them.

You are right that Tarquin was scarily effective - I am one of the ones who agrees that his so-called "incompetence" was either overestimated by forumites or ineffectively portrayed in the comic, whichever way you choose - but saying that his brutal methods were the only way to avert this crisis? Just no!

[hamishspence]

Why "inappropriate"? Bandanna isn't forcing anyone to do anything - she's politely reminding Andi.

If I remember rightly - Julio was generally referred to by rank "Captain" - so it's reasonable to surmise that "Captain" is what the standard protocol demands.

[Matt620]

Why "inappropriate"? Bandanna isn't forcing anyone to do anything - she's politely reminding Andi.

If I remember rightly - Julio was generally referred to by rank "Captain" - so it's reasonable to surmise that "Captain" is what the standard protocol demands.

The fact that Bandana demands to be called Captain speaks more to her ego than to any sort of reminder. A Captain that is hung up on titles is not a very good one. Particularly when you get three of your crew killed just like that.

The difference, at least the one I can see, between Julio and Bandana is that Julio commanded Andi's respect. Bandana has not. All the titles in the world don't mean squat if you can't command the respect they imply. And from what I've seen, Bandana hasn't earned any respect. She's irresponsible, immature, doesn't pay her crew unless forced, and demands meaningless protocol. Andi doesn't either, but she's also not in charge.

I think Burlew has an overt fascination with the character for some reason he hasn't put down in the story. Only he can answer that.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Why "inappropriate"? Bandanna isn't forcing anyone to do anything - she's politely reminding Andi.

If I remember rightly - Julio was generally referred to by rank "Captain" - so it's reasonable to surmise that "Captain" is what the standard protocol demands.

Agreed. Also, I dispute too that it is ineffective. It is, by all accounts, an effective means to remind people of the chain of command, which is why ranks exist in the first place. Mightymosy, present evidence for your position: something other than your word that using ranks does not enforce the concept of chain of command, and that in this ship - which called the previous leader captain - it is no longer valid to do the same with his duly appointed successor.

GW

[Matt620]

Agreed. Also, I dispute too that it is ineffective. It is, by all accounts, an effective means to remind people of the chain of command, which is why ranks exist in the first place. Mightymosy, present evidence for your position: something other than your word that using ranks does not enforce the concept of chain of command, and that in this ship - which called the previous leader captain - it is no longer valid to do the same with his duly appointed successor.

GW

What good is rank if you don't respect the chain at all? Bandana was put into a position she really was unprepared for. Call her captain, or don't. It doesn't change that.

[Nightcanon]

It is indeed a fantasy pirate airship, rather than an Earth law-enforement organisation. However, it's the Giant's fantasy pirate airship, and his portrayal of Andi is increasingly unsympathetic. Attempts to pin the blame on Bandana and/or exonerate Andi meanwhile are increasing relying on assumptions about how B interacted with the crew off-panel, i.e. in the imaginations of Andi supporters. One of the most enlightening contributions to the recent debate is the tangent that discussed whether Nero really did fiddle while Rome burned, or whether in fact he organised disaster relief, and later enemies attempted to discredit him. Because Nero was a real historical figure, there is an actual historical truth here, even if we can't know it at this distance: Nero did or didn't fiddle while Rome burned, and did or did not do an effective job in dealing with the aftermath of the fire. We can legitimately argue about the reliability and motives of the sources for the various claims regarding what happened. Andi is currently displaying the kind of personality flaws that the Giant has previously called out in the comic (consider how Andi outright stating that she doesn't respect B because she was a naughty 8 year-old, and thus axiomatically always considers her to be wrong on any subject, fits in with 'evolve or die'). Insisting that Andi is right because we can imagine circumstances which might make her so, and that the portrayal of Andi in the comic is unreliable because the Giant is anti-intellectual or has a thing against Engineers in leadership positions is slightly crazy. There isn't some unreachable historical truth about Andi that we can only guess at because of the Giant's unreliability as a source; Andi exists primarily in his imagination and is a flawed character because a flawed character is required at this point in the story. If Bandana is the bad guy and Andi the hero in your Headcanon, then that's fine, but there isn't much evidence to support that in the story we are reading (as opposed to your largely unpublished fanfic).