More Commonly Known As The Rabble-rousing Journalist Who Whipped The Populace Into Murderous Frenzies

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.

04 - Belle Starr - Rogue A rather famous outlaw from the Midwest, Belle Star was actually referred to as the “female Jesse James.” Which is bizarre, but it gets the point across. She was stylish, a crack shot, and from what I can tell, kind of violent, all of which feeds together to create a character who ends up feeling rather legendary. In RPGs, there tend to be two outlaw-style classes; Rogues and the more ubiquitous Thieves. Though similar in many respects, these classes have distinctly different focuses. The Thief’s main interest is in items, specifically relieving enemies of as many of them as possible. Conversely, the Rogue uses the same basic techniques, but with a focus on dealing damage. Where the Thief would dart behind an enemy in order to pick their pocket, the Rogue would simply plant a knife in the enemy’s back. Given Belle Starr’s violent criminal record, she seemed a better candidate for Rogue.

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.

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.”

15, 16 and 17 - The Marx Brothers - Mime Something big and fancy for the midpoint of the challenge, ladies and gentlemen! The Marx Brothers are, without reservation, my favorite comedians of all time. They use a brilliant mixture of slapstick, wordplay, and atrocious, paint-curling puns to create some of the most hilarious movies known to man. Their influence on comedy can hardly be overstated; I find it hard to believe that there is a comedian on the face of the planet who has not been influenced in some way by the Marx Brothers. Though mostly seen as slightly creepy, silent clowns in real life, Mimes in role-playing games tend to be massively powerful, very sought-after classes. The root of their strength lies in their ability to copy the moves of other characters, often without paying the costs associated with those moves. In fact, a popular tactic with the Mime is to have all of the characters in a party become Mimes, then have one of them cast a huge, costly, powerful spell, and then have the whole party mimic the attack turn after turn, dealing huge amounts of damage. This is the main reason I felt the Mime class was so appropriate for these three: given their huge influence, there are a vast number of comedians that could be said to be Miming the Mime. Incidentally, I based their designs on the three games which use Mimes most prominently. Groucho is based on the FFV Mime (probably the most boring Mime - they just stuck shoulderpads and a cape on the Freelancer and called it a day!), Harpo is a FFT Mime, and Chico is a FFVI Mime (aka, Gogo).

14 - Orson Welles - Orator I have to admit, there was a fair amount of competition for the Orator class. The ability to speak well has been the cornerstone of a large number of famous careers, both political and for entertainers. Orson Welles, shown here in his later, huskier years, eventually clinched it for his sheer range. Mr. Welles is perhaps best known for his broadcast of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds which made half the country crap their pants, but he also lent his voice to such bizarre endeavors as The Jack Benny Show, Macbeth, and commercials for jelly. He was even the voice of a world-eating robot in Transformers: The Movie! Flexibility tends to be the hallmark of the Orator class. Capable of a wide variety of strategies and abilities, the Orator usually uses unusual voice-based skills with effects no other class has. For example, in Final Fantasy Tactics, the Orator is the only class that can convince an enemy to permanently join your side. The Orator is actually pretty rare, with most games running out of space long before they reach this humble chatterbox. It’s a bit of a shame, as I believe the Orator brings a bit of class to any game.