15, 16 And 17 - The Marx Brothers - MimeSomething Big And Fancy For The Midpoint Of The Challenge, Ladies

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).

So after the first couple designs I posted, it occurred to me that I really wasn't flexing much art muscle. That was partially intentional - when I have to do one design every day, I don't want to have to get too involved - but it did bug me. But the other reason for going more complex this time was... Well, this is King Christina of Sweden. She's quite possibly my favorite person ever.

Christina's birth was a bizarre affair. As she was born, the wetnurse declared her to be a boy, which caused no end of embarrassment when it was discovered that she was in fact a girl. Her father basically said screw it, and raised her as a prince, and when Christina eventually rose to the throne, she took the oath of a king, not a queen. She eventually abdicated her throne, but remained a prominent figure, sponsoring many artists and philosophers, and just generally being awesome.

My design of her was heavily influenced by Final Fantasy Tactics, especially Meliadoul. And indeed, the class I imagined for her was one of a Divine Knight, a class known for near game-breaking power, flexibility, and the ability to shatter enemy weapons and armor. Given Christina's absolute inability to be restrained, it seemed appropriate.

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.

19 - Josephine Baker - Dancer Though best known as a depression-era dancer, Josephine Baker was also a civil rights advocate, member of the French Resistance, and adoptive mother to no less than twelve children. She had one heck of a life; she was born into poverty and ended up on the streets at age 12. At age 15, she joined a vaudeville act in St. Louis before moving to New York and performing in various Broadway revues during the Harlem Renaissance. By the time Ms. Baker was 19, she was the highest-paid chorus girl in vaudeville, and that was far from being the most amazing thing that happened during her life. Ms. Baker moved to France and hung out with Ernest Hemmingway and Pablo Picasso. Ms. Baker owned a cheetah with a diamond collar. Ms. Baker invented the banana dance. Ms. Baker was unaccountably badass. In RPGs, the Dancer is sort of an upside-down and backwards Bard. Where Bards can heal and support, Dancers can damage enemies and reduce their stats, or even cause status effects from a distance. Usually an exclusively female class, Dancers tend to be a little rare, and useful Dancers are even more uncommon, but its always nice to see them as an option just to have something to balance out the Bard. And why did I pick Dancer for Josephine Baker? Well, besides the obvious, her danse banane hit me with some serious debuffs.

Now that it's November, we can start the 30 Characters challenge properly. Our first contestant is Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, pretty much the grand high llama of the inflexible position. He started out as a soldier and worked his way up to commander, gaining the nickname, “Old Hickory.” In the War of 1812, he led a group of militiamen - really, a group of pirates and slaves and anybody else that could be grabbed off the streets - to victory in the Battle of New Orleans. Really what I am trying to say is that Andy Jackson was kind of a badass, and I’d have nothing but respect for the man if he only hadn’t treated native americans like crap. Aaaand that’s where we get to Old Hickory’s character class. There are some Paladins whose only interest is in serving the greater good. And there are some Paladins who only fight in service of their god. Andrew Jackson would not have been one of those Paladins. Andrew Jackson would have been the kind of Paladin who runs screaming into a group of Goblins, foaming at the mouth. Possibly the phrase, “Inhuman monsters” would be used. Because for all that I love Andy, he really did love holding a grudge.

Nikola Tesla - Wizard

Thomas Edison - Sorceror

A big part of history is context, and this is even more true when it comes to the great figures of history. Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison were huge competitors, to the point where neither really makes sense without the other.

I chose the character classes for these two men based primarily on their approach to the scientific method. Tesla was educated, methodical, and based most of his work on established scientific principles; conversely, Edison's work tended to be based just on whatever he thought would work, with his huge number of failures being attributed, by Tesla, to Edison's lack of theoretical background. So even though Tesla was the more wildly emotional man -- he was obsessed with cleanliness, for example, and was neurotic about the number 3 -- it's actually Edison that fits the Sorceror title better.

When designing these two, I tried to reflect their personality more than their class in their costume. Wizards are generally seen as the more ostentatious group, but Tesla's personality would brook no clutter, so Tesla's outfit is streamlined and practical. Conversely, Edison's outfit is full of gimmicks and clutter, basically anything he thought would be helpful at the time. It's also designed to make him look bigger, which I thought was appropriate given Edison's penchant for self-promotion.

In RPGs, the Wizard and the Sorceror are both magically-based character classes that focus on elemental attacks. The functional differences between them are usually fairly minor, but the Wizard is generally seen as being the more methodical of the two. It's usually the Wizard that ends up cloistered in their tower, researching new spells, and having to be enticed out for adventure. Conversely, the Sorceror's power generally comes from instinct and emotion, leaning on magical talent rather than education.