Julie D'Aubigny - Fencer Class

Julie d'Aubigny - Fencer Class

Julie d'Aubigny's life would have worked wonderfully as a trashy bisexual romance novel. She was a wild young noblewoman who went to bars, got into swordfights, and kissed whichever dude she felt like, even if they were ladies. When one of Julie's lovers was sent away to a convent because of their relationship, our young noblewoman snuck in, picked her ladyfriend up, and set fire to the room to cover their escape. She would've made a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts.

In the world of RPGs, Fencers are usually defined by their well-balanced stats, with a tendency towards focusing on finesse and speed over brute force and strength. Fencers are a little uncommon in games that have actual job class systems, as the Warrior is usually the go-to standard for basic physical fighters, so the Fencer class tends to be rather strongly tied to a specific character. Good examples of Fencers in RPGs are Mitsuru Kirijo of Persona 3, Eclair of La Pucelle Tactics, and Leon Magnus of Tales of Destiny.

More commonly known as the rabble-rousing journalist who whipped the populace into murderous frenzies during the French Revolution, Jean-Paul Marat’s rise to power actually started based on his medical abilities. And indeed, throughout Marat’s life, he constantly believed himself to be working for the betterment of his fellow man, whether they liked it or not. It’s this aspect of Marat’s character that led me to cast him as a White Mage. The White Mage, or Cleric, is generally the go-to magically-based healing class. White Mages seal up wounds and use boosting spells to improve the efficacy of their allies in combat. Jean-Paul Marat was definitely interested in improving the people around him, but his main method was, essentially, to pick a target and point the populace at them. If anything, Marat is a great example of a sickly, manipulative White Mage.

21 - Johnny Ramensky - Thief These days, it seems like the ideal of the Gentleman Thief is a dying breed. And so we present Johnny Ramensky, Thief-y counterpart to Our Lady of the Rogue Shotgun miss Belle Starr. Johnny here was a career criminal back in Scotland during the early 20th century, and quickly garnered the nickname “Gentle Johnny,” as he never used violence, targetted only businesses, and never resisted arrest. Mr. Ramensky was pretty dang skilled, combining his talent for gymnastics with a knowledge of safecracking that made him a master catburgler of the old school. Johnny further proved his mettle during World War II, when he became -- and this is 100% true -- a parachuting safe-cracking commando. He’d drop below enemy lines, break through Axis defenses, steal their secrets and high-tail it back home. His most amazing caper involved breaking open no fewer than 14 safes in one day, a feat that earned him some impressive commendation. As I mentioned in the Rogue entry, the Thief is the more item-obsessed of the two outlaw-style classes. Thieves specialize in jumping behind the foe’s guard and stealing them blind, sometimes causing damage or status effects at the same time. The line between Thief and Rogue is often a bit thin, just like the line between Robin Hood and common cutpurse, but given Johnny Ramensky’s disavowal of violence and warm regard towards the people who were trying to catch him, I felt Thief was a good fit.

20 - Ferdinand von Zeppelin - the Cid In every Final Fantasy game, there is a Cid. Sometimes he’s a mechanic, sometimes he’s a warrior, but he’s usually connected to airships in some way. Personally, I think that’s half the reason Cid is such a well-liked figure in the series; seeing him means you’ll soon be able to skip over those obnoxious mountain ranges. But anyway, if I were to cast human history in the same light as a Final Fantasy game, Ferdinand von Zeppelin would be our Cid. The scion of a noble family, Ferdinand joined the army at a young age. His interest in airships was kindled when he fought in the American Civil War, acting as a balloon observer for the Union Army of the Potomac. The designs von Zeppelin later penned would lead to the construction of the first truly usable airships in human history. Von Zeppelin never lived to see the shutdown of Germany’s airship program due to the Treaty of Versailles, or the ultimate destruction of its PR in the Hindenburg disaster, but regardless of the fate of his particular inventions, Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s work brought forth the age of mass air transit, which was a huge factor in creating our modern world.

Where character design is concerned, I’m not against sexy. Heck, I’m a *fan* of sexy. But the main character of the upcoming 3DS RPG Code of Princess, a lady by the name of Solange, is a case where sexy more or less takes over the character. Sexy is the main driving force of Solange’s character design, and it gets downright demeaning. A lot of this comes from elements in the design which make the character appear awkward, elements which appeal to the “protect me” part of the hindbrain. Basically, instead of a functioning, believable warrior, this character is being presented as an object, something to defend rather than as a person in her own right. I have no doubt that the person who designed and illustrated this character is far more skilled than I am, but I hope that my redesign of her can help to show that a character doesn’t have to sacrifice their believability or dignity to be attractive. Anyway, let’s start by taking an in-depth look at Solange’s original design. A lot of the character is an attempt at a fairly straightforward type of sexy, using the sort of elongated proportions and oversized sexual elements you can see in characters like Bayonetta. For example, both Solange and Bayonetta use a fairly narrow torso, long legs, and wide hips to create an illusion of height. Where the two designs part ways can be seen most strongly in the poses they take. Where Bayonetta is shown to be in control and a force to be reckoned with, Solange is presented off-balance and awkward. She seems to be struggling to stay upright, hefting her oversized sword as though it were too heavy for her to use properly. Her expression is wide-eyed and upward-glancing, with the mouth open in an expression of surprise and uncertainty. Again, these elements are used to make her seem child-like and in need of defending. Combined with her outfit, which is basically a thong and two fleur-de-lis pasties, the overall impression is of a character used as a tool rather than presented as a person. My biggest interest in Solange’s redesign was imbuing her with a sense of competence, which would make the sexy that much more palatable. The excessive nudity was the first thing to go, as it was just destroying suspension of disbelief. There are arguments to be made for sexy outfits in semi-realistic combat, but just as you wouldn’t expect people watching a horror movie to ignore the zipper on the guy playing the monster, you can’t expect people to take a mostly-naked fighter seriously. After that, Solange needed a new pose. Where the old image had her awkwardly stumbling, the redesign has her standing erect and poised, looking the viewer in the eye. Rather than struggling to lift a sword that is obviously too large for her to use, Solange holds her weapon like a scepter of office. She’s still attractive, but she’s further from “Sexualized,” and closer (I hope), to “Heroically Idealized.”

13 - Jerry Thomas - Chemist There’s a lot of focus in history on the big players; your Generals, your Presidents, your Attillas the Hun. But history is full of people whose accomplishments never really made it out of their own subculture, but that doesn’t make them any less significant. Take Jerry Thomas, for example. A bartender in the mid-19th century, Mr. Thomas wrote a book called The Bar-Tender’s Guide, a work which more or less writes out the basic theory behind creating cocktails. That’s right, this doughy, middle-aged guy with the fancy vest basically invented the mixed drink. His inventions include the Tom Collins, the Martinez (a sort of proto-Martini), and the Blue Blazer, the precursor of all flaming alcoholic drinks. So even though Mr. Thomas never rode into war, never signed a treaty or ruled a nation, his impact on history is still felt today. The Chemist, sometimes known as the Salve-Maker or Alchemist, is one of the more basic classes found in RPGs today. Focused around creating and using items, Chemists tend to be the most basic of healing classes, with abilities that quickly outlive their usefulness. Still, in some games, with the right setups, the Chemist can become quite useful. Sometimes they even get a unique Mix command, which allows them to combine and use items in battle, boosting their healing or offensive abilities to useful levels. Though seldom a high-impact class, the Chemist remains a personal favorite of mine.