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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    May 2007

    Default The Characters: An Analysis

    Parson Gotti: The protagonist. He's us...well some of us. That is, I think most readers empathize with Parson and want him to win. He's how we see the story.

    Stanley: Color-coded BBEG. You gotta love'im...if you're not from Erf. I think he's the foreshadower...everything he says I think foreshadows something like what he said about the Arkenplier, "Ansom...is bringing it to me." Of course, we don't believe him but BBEG's are right 99% of the time.

    Wanda: She always tells the truth on-screen...er on-panel...but we don't want to believe her. We can't handle the truth?

    Ansom: He's the ultimate good guy...too good. We know his side has to win and he's the only who loves Jillian but we don't want to believe it.

    Jillian: We love her. We want her to be the uber-bad but kinky modern day woman in medieval fantasy and no that's not just a BFS heroine. But she's at the center of the story...of the bad things. We don't want to believe it not even now when everything hinges on her. I bet her dark mysterious past is somehow related to Stanley's ascendancy and Ansom joining the war. She reacts to the characters in many of the same ways we react. She's like the emotional mirror. She's how we feel the story.
    Last edited by ag30476; 2007-08-17 at 12:32 PM.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Magnificent Boop in the Playground
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    Default Re: The Characters: An Analysis

    Hmmm....

    Sizemore: The nerdboy. Bright, curous about everything, but stuck in a lousy rut in his daily life (kind of like Parson, pre-PLOT).

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: The Characters: An Analysis

    Quote Originally Posted by SteveMB View Post
    Hmmm....

    Sizemore: The nerdboy. Bright, curous about everything, but stuck in a lousy rut in his daily life (kind of like Parson, pre-PLOT).
    Good one. Hadn't seen the parallel before.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Titan in the Playground
     
    PirateCaptain

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    Default Re: The Characters: An Analysis

    Quote Originally Posted by ag30476 View Post
    Good one. Hadn't seen the parallel before.
    I think Sizemore will get summoned to our earth to be CEO of kinkos.
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  5. - Top - End - #5
    Troll in the Playground
     
    DwarfClericGuy

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    Default Re: The Characters: An Analysis

    Quote Originally Posted by ag30476 View Post
    Wanda: She always tells the truth on-screen...er on-panel...but we don't want to believe her. We can't handle the truth?
    She always tells the truth on-panel... her version of the truth, of course; the one she thinks it the best for those In Power to act on to further HER aims (which may or may not coincide with theirs).

    Her devotion? Herself. Her allegiance? Her own. The Bad Girl Foil to Stanley.

    He's powerhungry, compelled to lead, dumber than a bag of rocks and as shallow as a kid's wading pool.

    Her? Content to let someone else lead, quietly manipulative (so even if things go wrong, someone else gets the blame), enough smarts to be a double PhD and always ready for The Surreptitious Disappearance.
    May you get EXACTLY what you wish for.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: The Characters: An Analysis

    Quote Originally Posted by sihnfahl View Post
    She always tells the truth on-panel... her version of the truth, of course; the one she thinks it the best for those In Power to act on to further HER aims (which may or may not coincide with theirs).

    Her devotion? Herself. Her allegiance? Her own. The Bad Girl Foil to Stanley.

    He's powerhungry, compelled to lead, dumber than a bag of rocks and as shallow as a kid's wading pool.

    Her? Content to let someone else lead, quietly manipulative (so even if things go wrong, someone else gets the blame), enough smarts to be a double PhD and always ready for The Surreptitious Disappearance.
    Indeed. But on Wanda's truthiness...she told the thruth to Stanley, to Sizemore, to Parson, even to Jillian. Of course she's not above covering up the truth by putting a spell on a guard or on Jillian or "distracting" the the Overlord? But she does not lie. She's been saying for several panels now that Jillian won't attack to Stanley, Parson, Sizemore, and us...but we have not wanted to believe her.
    Last edited by ag30476; 2007-08-17 at 12:33 PM.

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Magnificent Boop in the Playground
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    Default Re: The Characters: An Analysis

    Quote Originally Posted by ag30476 View Post
    Indeed. But on Wanda's truthiness...she told the thruth to Stanley, to Sizemore, to Parson, even to Jillian. Of course she's not above covering up the truth by putting a spell on a guard or on Jillian or "distracting" the the Overlord? But she does not lie. She's been saying for several panels now that Jillian won't attack to Stanley, Parson, Sizemore, and us...but we have not wanted to believe her.
    I'm inclined to think that she's sincere in her confidence, because she isn't doing anything toward a backup plan in case Jillian does attack (either to mitigate the fiasco or to insure that she doesn't get blamed for it).

    Of course, that's a separate question from whether or not she's right....
    Last edited by SteveMB; 2007-08-17 at 12:37 PM.

  8. - Top - End - #8
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    DwarfClericGuy

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    Default Re: The Characters: An Analysis

    Quote Originally Posted by SteveMB View Post
    Of course, that's a separate question from whether or not she's right....
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  9. - Top - End - #9
    Orc in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

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    Default Re: The Characters: An Analysis

    Analysis? Well, I think it's a little too early to start on that just yet-

    (Immediately jumps on the bandwagon and begins analysis)

    Parson Gotti is a surprisingly deep character. He doesn't exactly resonate with me on account of being a "loser"- I radiate too much awesome to be driven by despair - but he does show interesting character traits. At the very least, the man is fast; the fellow catches on quick as a whip to this new, alien world, and it's very believable because he has a "I'm nuts, let's go with it" mentality.

    Actually, I think that right there demonstrates how much despair seems to drive Parson; he doesn't think " Wow, this could be real!"- instead, he automatically assumes something is wrong with him, personally. Parson is a character with a deep reserve of self-hatred and cynicism that is his primary motivator, but he has other sides to him as well.

    For one thing, he's relatively kind- Misty- and he's connected with at least one person in Erfworld. Namely, Sizemore. Sizemore is the closest thing to a real friend Parson has in Erfworld, mostly because they are both very geeky. Sizemore's a geek about magic, of all things, but it's geekery nonetheless, and it makes him and Parson connect. Parson is a surprisingly friendly man, nice to Sizemore- such as letting him talk when the fiery-tempered Wanda wants to shout him down, something Sizemore, who has a cringing, submissive personality type, would not do on his own.

    Parson is also strong-willed; remember the aforementioned Wanda? Wanda has a will of iron she is perfectly capable of reinforcing with whips; the spell on Julian, I'd argue, is based on nothing but sheer determination on Wanda's part. She wants the spell to work, the spell works.

    Parson? He just rolls his eyes and mentions how talking to her is kind of pointless when you want real information. I love how he so casually brushes off someone so fierce.

    I like Parson. I don't emphasize with his despair, but man, do I ever emphasize with his manner and his guts. Parson's pretty great.

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  10. - Top - End - #10
    Magnificent Boop in the Playground
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    Default Re: The Characters: An Analysis

    Quote Originally Posted by Silverlocke980 View Post
    Parson Gotti is a surprisingly deep character. He doesn't exactly resonate with me on account of being a "loser"- I radiate too much awesome to be driven by despair - but he does show interesting character traits. At the very least, the man is fast; the fellow catches on quick as a whip to this new, alien world, and it's very believable because he has a "I'm nuts, let's go with it" mentality.

    Actually, I think that right there demonstrates how much despair seems to drive Parson; he doesn't think " Wow, this could be real!"- instead, he automatically assumes something is wrong with him, personally. Parson is a character with a deep reserve of self-hatred and cynicism that is his primary motivator, but he has other sides to him as well.
    The question is to what degree Parson has started taking his situation in Erfworld seriously (i.e. "Can I die here for reals?") I think his comment that Wanda is "officially betting our lives" on her spell may be a hint that he's at least somewhat concerned.

    Revisiting Scientivore's analysis of various types of flaws in character self-will (Parson's being apathy and escapism), this is the key issue in Parson's character development. As long as he believes on some level that this is all a dream, then his choices don't matter, and he is simply engaged in a somewhat more immersive version of his escapist pasttimes and has no reason to care very much how it turns out. If he accepts it as reality, with real consequences, then his success at it (and deciding what to do in the aftermath) is a matter of taking control of his destiny.

    For one thing, he's relatively kind- Misty- and he's connected with at least one person in Erfworld. Namely, Sizemore. Sizemore is the closest thing to a real friend Parson has in Erfworld, mostly because they are both very geeky. Sizemore's a geek about magic, of all things, but it's geekery nonetheless, and it makes him and Parson connect. Parson is a surprisingly friendly man, nice to Sizemore - such as letting him talk when the fiery-tempered Wanda wants to shout him down, something Sizemore, who has a cringing, submissive personality type, would not do on his own.
    I agree that he's made a personal connection to Sizemore because they have a similar "geek" mindset. The library scene shows some connection with Wanda, but on a more intellectual level without the degree of personal comfort I see in Parson's conversations with Sizemore.

    That said, my read is that the main reason he backs Sizemore is that he's worried about missing some critical information.

    Parson? He just rolls his eyes and mentions how talking to her is kind of pointless when you want real information. I love how he so casually brushes off someone so fierce.

    I like Parson. I don't emphasize with his despair, but man, do I ever emphasize with his manner and his guts. Parson's pretty great.
    That also comes back to the question of how much he believes in the potential reality of the consequences of getting Wanda sufficiently angry at him.
    Last edited by SteveMB; 2007-08-22 at 12:11 PM.

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