OOC Entry
Yeah, I know! I know! I've gotten HORRIBLE about updating this thing! But then, look at my actual livejournal. I'm just not good about journal entries in general.
And now, whyfore the OOC entry? Just a general ramble. I would do it in my regular journal, but it's an extended ramble about...
Long Haul!
Wooo!
So anyway, it seemed to make a weird sort of sense, if I was going to do a long ramble on the character of Long Haul, to do it in Long Haul's journal rather than my 'official' one.
As many of you folks know, I roleplay Long Haul on the Transformers: 2005 MUSH. This was, in fact, part of the reason for me getting a Long Haul LJ to begin with. Now, Long Haul is very, very much against my usual character type. I normally play clever characters who aren't particularly violent and use their intelligence and skill to get themselves out of tricky situations. I still tend towards towards thoughtful characters. But then I got on the MUSH, and I found I roleplayed with the guys who had Constructicons already. So I started considering a Constructicon. They played Hook and Mixmaster, two of the three smarter characters, and while I did consider Scrapper for a bit, well, lunatron was playing on the MUSH, and if anyone on this planet is right for the character of Scrapper, she is. Besides, I felt that she'd get a lot more enjoyment out of playing Scrapper than I would. I like the Constructicons, and I like the character, but I don't love them like she loves them. I don't regret my decision at all. Luna does a kick-ass Scrapper, although she runs him much better when she's not worrying if other people think she's running him right and just runs him instead. Yes, Luna, that's right, I'm talking about you, but since I know you can see this thing, I'm talking about you in front of your back, not behind it! And yes, I said you do a kick-ass Scrapper. I keep bragging about your Scrapper to other people, after all!
It was more whim than anything else that lead me to take Long Haul instead of the other two, and I'll be honest, it took me a good while to wrap my head around him. Toy specs have him as dead average intelligence while the MUSH, as it turns out, has him as slightly below average (just slightly). While slightly below average intelligence isn't generally that bad, poor Long Haul's in a team that consists largely of genuises, which makes him seem that much dumber by comparison. He's strong, he's tough, he's slow, he's dim, he's violent. He's not pretty, and doesn't have a face to speak of. No mouth, no optics to narrow. No nose. Nadda.
In other words, he's a thug.
Now, mind you, he's not just a thug. You can check his entry at Seibertron.com for his full write up, including what came on the toybox plus a little extra. Basically, Long Haul's a slightly dim guy stuck in a really annoying, monotonous job who longs to make something of himself. In a way, he's a lot like a lot of everyday people. Except he's large and made of metal and can transform into a dump truck.
He's also, if you read his description, almost terminally depressed. I mean, seriously. Look at his weaknesses section: "Long Haul is slow and sometimes his unhappiness reduces his effectiveness. He's sensitive to teasing about the mundane nature of his job and can often be goaded into fights in which he may be clearly overmatched." The poor guy's been stuck in a crummy job for millions of years, and it's making him miserable. Add to the fact that he's constantly surrounded by people much smarter than he is, not to mention people who have no problem pushing his buttons (and you're note that his buttons are very obvious and very easily pressed).
So yes, ultimately, he is a thug. But it's possible to run him so that he's not just a thug, to make him, in fact, a very interesting character. This, by the way, was another breakthrough for me. The idea that thug != boring, if handled right.
But what's really interesting is seeing how other people on the MUSH react to the way I run him.
Apparently, I play the character well enough that other people seriously feel sorry for my Long Haul. I mean, I'll get pages or have conversations over the OOC channels on a semi-regular basis with people who want to try to work out plots where Long Haul gets to prove himself at a warrior or something like that. Shockwave's player even mentioned trying to make him an honorary military operations member (since, as a member of the Constructicons, he's technically stuck in Medical, Sciences, and Engineering, despite not being good at any of those topics). This is kind of funny to me. Apparently I play poor little Long Haul well enough that other people want to cheer him up.
Of course, the only problem here is that if he were to have a permanent change of station that would allow him to live his dream, then he wouldn't be Long Haul. Oh, sure, he might get the occasional short term victory, but even if he manages to save the day today (and keep in mind, he's a Decepticon, so him 'saving the day' for the Empire's gotta mean something rather bad for the forces of good), tomorrow he has to buckle down and get back to his crummy day job. With feature characters, certain things have to remain static, or if they do change, at the end of the week they have to return to normal. The stuff in his bio, for example. So no matter what happens, in the end his function will always be heavy transport, not warrior. Besides, he wouldn't be as much fun if things actually went his way. Right now he's got the whole 'lovable loser' vibe going for him. If he started winning, he would totally lose that. And then he really would be just a thug.
Eh. Just some strange thoughts that popped into my head tonight as yet another person tried to come up with a plot for me that would let Long Haul 'prove himself.' Exiting ramble-mode now.
Oh, and for anyone else who think they might also be up for the task of turning a thug into an interesting character, Bonecrusher’s still available for application on the MUSH, winkwinknudgenudge.
And now, whyfore the OOC entry? Just a general ramble. I would do it in my regular journal, but it's an extended ramble about...
Long Haul!
Wooo!
So anyway, it seemed to make a weird sort of sense, if I was going to do a long ramble on the character of Long Haul, to do it in Long Haul's journal rather than my 'official' one.
As many of you folks know, I roleplay Long Haul on the Transformers: 2005 MUSH. This was, in fact, part of the reason for me getting a Long Haul LJ to begin with. Now, Long Haul is very, very much against my usual character type. I normally play clever characters who aren't particularly violent and use their intelligence and skill to get themselves out of tricky situations. I still tend towards towards thoughtful characters. But then I got on the MUSH, and I found I roleplayed with the guys who had Constructicons already. So I started considering a Constructicon. They played Hook and Mixmaster, two of the three smarter characters, and while I did consider Scrapper for a bit, well, lunatron was playing on the MUSH, and if anyone on this planet is right for the character of Scrapper, she is. Besides, I felt that she'd get a lot more enjoyment out of playing Scrapper than I would. I like the Constructicons, and I like the character, but I don't love them like she loves them. I don't regret my decision at all. Luna does a kick-ass Scrapper, although she runs him much better when she's not worrying if other people think she's running him right and just runs him instead. Yes, Luna, that's right, I'm talking about you, but since I know you can see this thing, I'm talking about you in front of your back, not behind it! And yes, I said you do a kick-ass Scrapper. I keep bragging about your Scrapper to other people, after all!
It was more whim than anything else that lead me to take Long Haul instead of the other two, and I'll be honest, it took me a good while to wrap my head around him. Toy specs have him as dead average intelligence while the MUSH, as it turns out, has him as slightly below average (just slightly). While slightly below average intelligence isn't generally that bad, poor Long Haul's in a team that consists largely of genuises, which makes him seem that much dumber by comparison. He's strong, he's tough, he's slow, he's dim, he's violent. He's not pretty, and doesn't have a face to speak of. No mouth, no optics to narrow. No nose. Nadda.
In other words, he's a thug.
Now, mind you, he's not just a thug. You can check his entry at Seibertron.com for his full write up, including what came on the toybox plus a little extra. Basically, Long Haul's a slightly dim guy stuck in a really annoying, monotonous job who longs to make something of himself. In a way, he's a lot like a lot of everyday people. Except he's large and made of metal and can transform into a dump truck.
He's also, if you read his description, almost terminally depressed. I mean, seriously. Look at his weaknesses section: "Long Haul is slow and sometimes his unhappiness reduces his effectiveness. He's sensitive to teasing about the mundane nature of his job and can often be goaded into fights in which he may be clearly overmatched." The poor guy's been stuck in a crummy job for millions of years, and it's making him miserable. Add to the fact that he's constantly surrounded by people much smarter than he is, not to mention people who have no problem pushing his buttons (and you're note that his buttons are very obvious and very easily pressed).
So yes, ultimately, he is a thug. But it's possible to run him so that he's not just a thug, to make him, in fact, a very interesting character. This, by the way, was another breakthrough for me. The idea that thug != boring, if handled right.
But what's really interesting is seeing how other people on the MUSH react to the way I run him.
Apparently, I play the character well enough that other people seriously feel sorry for my Long Haul. I mean, I'll get pages or have conversations over the OOC channels on a semi-regular basis with people who want to try to work out plots where Long Haul gets to prove himself at a warrior or something like that. Shockwave's player even mentioned trying to make him an honorary military operations member (since, as a member of the Constructicons, he's technically stuck in Medical, Sciences, and Engineering, despite not being good at any of those topics). This is kind of funny to me. Apparently I play poor little Long Haul well enough that other people want to cheer him up.
Of course, the only problem here is that if he were to have a permanent change of station that would allow him to live his dream, then he wouldn't be Long Haul. Oh, sure, he might get the occasional short term victory, but even if he manages to save the day today (and keep in mind, he's a Decepticon, so him 'saving the day' for the Empire's gotta mean something rather bad for the forces of good), tomorrow he has to buckle down and get back to his crummy day job. With feature characters, certain things have to remain static, or if they do change, at the end of the week they have to return to normal. The stuff in his bio, for example. So no matter what happens, in the end his function will always be heavy transport, not warrior. Besides, he wouldn't be as much fun if things actually went his way. Right now he's got the whole 'lovable loser' vibe going for him. If he started winning, he would totally lose that. And then he really would be just a thug.
Eh. Just some strange thoughts that popped into my head tonight as yet another person tried to come up with a plot for me that would let Long Haul 'prove himself.' Exiting ramble-mode now.
Oh, and for anyone else who think they might also be up for the task of turning a thug into an interesting character, Bonecrusher’s still available for application on the MUSH, winkwinknudgenudge.