Jumping on the Bandwagon

RP Retrospective time! *dance*

SHUMA-GORATH
Shuma-Gorath is probably the only proper 80's character in my roster. I'm not sure if the Dr. Strange comics were still popular back then, or if any big plot arcs revolved around Shuma-Gorath at the time, but there he is.

Shuma was originally meant to be pompus yet eccentric - a comic relief character that went against his usual canon "I-Am-Aeons-Old-Fear-Me" persona. He said silly things, his powers messed up occasionaly and he loved ice-cold cider. In short, a silly blob of green tentacles that loved a laugh. He got Heavy Metal powers for a time, but that's not important.

Then the Big Bar Brawl happened.

Hot damn.

With his Metal powers gone and a huge grudge on his mind, I set about trying to make Shuma-Gorath an actual threat. I changed his manner of speaking to make him closer to his canon personality. I had him hire Eddie Riggs as a prophet - not a smart move on Shuma's part, I'll grant you that. He formed nasty plots with the Necronomitron that got scuppered when Alex beat Jaxx in FYM. Then, after Eddie axed James the Squirtle, he tried to re-manifest into the world through the poor turtle's body. That last one was not orchestrated by me, but by other posters. Damn you, saberwulf.

Now, he only makes guest appearances, drinking cider in a corner and making snide remarks. He's closer to his cranky, uppity self shown in Marvel vs. Capcom, and while that's not much in the way of character development, it highlights that while eldritch abominations can also be played for laughs, it's also a good case of what happens when your plotting gets foiled. Shuma's gone the David/Jaxx route of being "that drunk guy in the corner", and I'm not pulling him out of there any time soon.

EDDIE RIGGS
Eddie gets into Zoofights because of Glam Metal being popular in the 80's. While Eddie normally hates Glam Metal, any reason will do to basically put Jack Black into the bar.

Apart from being used by Shuma-Gorath, Eddie hasn't changed much over the course of the tournament. He's still an enthusiastic half-demon roadie, he still looks after a band called Ironheade, he still help out occasionaly and he is still Jack Black. Not much to say, really, except METAL!

RAIN (Nicola Winter)
Rain.

Sweet Merciful MacGuyver, Rain.

Where shall I even begin with this guy, a character who only barely makes it into Zoofights by basically being a huge musical in-joke between the guys at Midway?

Let's start from when he emerged from Gezora's washing-up water. I had originally intended him to be something of a goofy, hilarious douche, kind of the way I wrote him in my old fanfic "Stupidity in a Red Robe". Yet at the same time, Rain was meant to be the straight man to Eddie, the one who kept his enthusiasm in check and pointed out the flaws in his various "brilliant" schemes. He would also be a pompous brat on the side.

Then Ilsaria fell in love with Red Spy.

This happened because I was intending to have Rain impress her somehow. But then a weekend at London happened, and I was unable to post owing to no internet connection. So Rain pretty much sat in a corner for three days while a backstabbing Frenchman and a hired hunter got cosy, dashing all of my hopes and dreams. I tried to compensate by making him murderously angsty about it all, because when you come from a world where ripping out spines is normal you respond to things not going your way by, well... ripping out people's spines. But that plan got foiled, too, and so Rain entered a phase where he was a creepy stalker one minute and then was Eddie's drinking bud and fall guy the next.

For a while, I wondered if I'd written him into a corner.

And then along came Stella.

Cue the diabetes.

I already covered what happened in that pairing in a previous post, but let's just say that Rain, or Nick, as we now call him, has gone from a stuck-up brat into Bizzaro Alex - kind, compassionate and considerate, except for betraying his country and working under Shao Kahn the Konquerer. And now he's an Emperor.

Welp.

On a side note, I'm also jumping on another bandwagon and examining various "What-If" situations with my characters. One situation I'm examining is, "What if Rain didn't go back inside the bar after his talk with Erebus?" A.K.A, Evil Rain. I'm sure that what I come up with will throw everyone for a loop, and have some unneccesary grim or dark thrown in.

I also may post some rejected characters and dplotline ideas later.