[OOC: Application]
Series: Scott Pilgrim
Series' Medium: Graphic novels
Character: Scott William Pilgrim (commonly referred to as just Scott Pilgrim)
Role in Canon: The dashing hero. Rating: awesome.
Age: 24
Gender: Male
"Real Name": Bryan Michaels
Personal History:
[NOTE ON SETTING: The Pilgrimverse is in most respects a normal Earth. The geography, place names, brands, and most media are all recognizable. However, reality is slightly skewed, allowing for the real-world existence of certain video game concepts such as levels, personal statistics, items with bonus-granting properties, subspace highways (more on these later), save points (though these are extremely rare and prone to disappearing quickly), 1-Ups (though it has yet to be seen in canon what, if any effect these actually have), and certain kinds of magic and/or psychic abilities.
Despite these oddities, little mind tends to be paid to them by characters who are not hardcore gamers, suggesting that most of this is background data that one has to really focus on to notice. The only thing that keeps me from attributing this all to Scott Pilgrim's imagination is the fact that some of the reality hacks just can't be ignored and do affect other characters (e.g.: the other characters all see both the save point and Scott's 1-up when they appear; evil ex-boyfriends explode into coins when they are defeated; Matthew Patel has summoning abilities; Todd Ingram has psychic powers; Scott's levelling up in volume four grants him a sword that he uses to defeat Roxie Richter).]
[NOTE ON SPECULATION: Most of this section is explicitly supported in canon. The exception is the first paragraph, which contains a few tidbits that are based on educated guessing, most notably the bit about why Scott Pilgrim is a good fighter. It has not been explained yet in canon where Scott acquired his fighting prowess, and the most the author has said on the subject is that Scott was not formally trained.]
Scott Pilgrim was born on September 27, 1981 in a small town in Northern Ontario, where he grew up with his mother, father, younger brother (Lawrence), younger sister (Stacey), and a dog. He grew up as a normal middle class boy from the suburbs, his mother packing school lunches for him all the way from kindergarten through to high school. He was very much a part of the Nintendo generation, growing up with a strong love for video games such as the Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Brothers, Metroid, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Bomberman. He did semi-decently in school; his best subject was Physical Education, in which he proved to have an extremely respectable level of latent physical ability. This turned out to come in handy, because like many children with small, scrawny-looking frames, he often found himself the target of larger, meaner children. Years of having to fight off kids who were bigger and stronger than him forced him to improve/level up his fighting skills, allowing him to compensate for his somewhat smaller size. This is possibly why he opted out of picking a skateboarding proficiency in grade five in favour of taking a long-sword proficiency instead.
When Scott was 16, his family moved to a new town, leading him to transfer to St. Joel's Catholic High School. On his first day, he was immediately set upon by school hoodlums, and a fight ensued. Fifteen minutes later in the principal's office, he met a girl named Lisa Miller who immediately took a liking to him. She began hanging out with him and visiting him at home despite his initial protests, and eventually the two started talking about forming a band together. The only major roadblock to their idea was their lack of a drummer.
Scott was paired up for a geography project at one point with a smart girl named Kimberly Pine, on whom he quickly developed a crush. At a school performance, it was revealed that Kim could play drums. Naturally, Scott and Lisa decided to get her to join their band. Before they could talk to her on the following Monday, however, students from a rival high school, Benvie Tech, attacked St. Joel's and kidnapped Kim. Scott, who had missed the bus and thus the attack, fought his way through the hordes at Benvie Tech all the way to where the final boss, Simon Lee, waited with a trapped Kim. Scott eventually brought Simon to his knees and kicked him clean out of town. This was promptly followed by Scott asking Kim to join his band and go out with him. She agreed and the two kissed in the rain.
If you're thinking that this experience sounds too strange to be true, then you're probably right; it is entirely likely that the Benvie Tech encounter as we see it in canon is very embellished in Scott's mind. This wouldn't be surprising, given Scott's general memory problems and the encounter's similarity to the game River City Ransom. Kim mentions in a later volume that she actually dated Simon for a while, but their relationship was fizzling before Scott came along. However, the above description reflects how Scott now remembers the incident when pressed to think about it, and this is how he will recount it to people if asked.
Following the incident, Kim, Scott and Lisa formed the band Sonic & Knuckles. Scott and Kim started dating and soon became very close. They stayed together until the end of their second year of high school when Scott's family moved again, this time far south to Toronto. Scott would not see Kim again until after university, much to Kim's hidden disappointment.
Scott somehow gained admission to the University of Toronto after high school. There he met several people who would become long-time friends to him, including Stephen "The Talent" Stills, Wallace Wells (fun fact: he is gay!), and Julie Powers (questionable in her "friend" status). He also met Julie's nerdy roommate, Natalie V. Adams, who would soon become his new girlfriend. Scott eventually formed a band with Stephen Stills and Natalie called Kid Chameleon, and life was pretty sweet for a while. The group of friends was having fun, and Natalie was a wonderful girlfriend as far as Scott was concerned.
Unfortunately, this happy state did not last forever. Natalie slowly began to change over the months, selling her anime and other nerd paraphernalia for CDs and expensive clothes. She eventually lost interest in what her friends liked altogether and started acting more coldly toward them. She asked Scott if he could start calling her "Envy" (taken from her first and middle initials), and didn't respond when he got up the courage to tell her that he loved her. With Kid Chameleon, she recruited more talented new members and forced Scott to switch from drums to bass. The band became larger, and in Scott's last year of university, they found themselves being courted by record labels. When Scott refused to sign with a label, Envy kicked him out of the band; Stephen Stills quit along with him.
Finally, everything crashed at a New Year's party that Scott can't remember very well due to emotional trauma. Envy told Scott flat-out to get out of her life and that she was moving to Montreal to be closer to her old friend, Todd Ingram. It wasn't long before he heard that the two were sleeping together. Envy went on to create the band The Clash at Demonhead with Todd and another girl, and they became very popular over the course of the next year.
Scott's year did not fare nearly so well. He moved in with Wallace Wells, and other than that, his memory of specific events during that year became very hazy. He couldn't even remember later on if he graduated from university or not. At some point, Kim Pine moved to Toronto and helped form a new band with Scott and Stephen Stills called Sex Bob-omb. The possibility of getting back together with Kim never crossed Scott's mind in the wake of Envy. It didn't help that Kim had become a good deal surlier in the time since he had last seen her, either.
The first very clear memory Scott formed during that year involved a nouveau-Mexican restaurant called The Gilded Palace of Flying Burritos. He tried to get a job there for months before finally landing one. Sadly, he only worked there for about a week before the restaurant was shut down by the Department of Justice for "selling drugs, or money laundering, or some other type of bad thing" (quoth Scott). Losing this job only served to deepen his existing depression.
Months later, Scott was still looking for an easy way to move past his pain. He found one on the bus home one day in the form of a 17-year-old girl named Knives Chau. He started talking to her about her life in high school over the course of several days and bus rides, and decided that she was nice enough to go out with. The relationship was safe and uncomplicated, which was what Scott thought he needed.
Barely days after he started dating Knives, however, Scott began having dreams involving a mysterious rollerblading delivery girl. She stuck out in his mind, though he couldn't quite place why. A few days later, he spotted the girl in real life delivering a package to the library. Knowing then that she was real, Scott became obsessed with finding out who she was. Eventually, he found out from an acquaintance that she was Ramona Flowers, recently moved from New York and working as a delivery girl for Amazon.ca.
Wanting to meet Ramona face-to-face, Scott ordered CDs from Amazon and waited for their delivery. Sure enough, one night he saw the girl rollerblading through his dreams again, and not a minute after seeing her, she was ringing his doorbell in real life. Ramona explained that she used subspace highways to speed up her delivery routes, and that a very convenient shortcut just happened to run through Scott's head. After further awkward conversation, Scott succeeded in persuading Ramona to go on a date with him. Despite complications with a blizzard, the date went well. The only problem with moving further ahead after that was that Scott wasn't sure how to break up smoothly with Knives Chau. Thus, he kept Knives and Ramona secret from each other for a little while.
Meanwhile, Sex Bob-omb was set to play a show at the Rockit Club. It was there that Scott found out he had bigger problems than just figuring out how to break up with Knives. When the band went onstage, Scott was suddenly attacked by a man named Matthew Patel, who claimed to be the first of Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends. To continue dating Ramona, Scott would be required to defeat all these ex-boyfriends in battle. Patel went down easily; Scott's fighting prowess had not diminished since his grade school days.
Skipping ahead a bit, Scott eventually did break up with Knives (which devastated her), introduced Ramona to all his friends (finding out in the process that she already knew a few of them), and later defeated the second evil ex-boyfriend (Lucas Lee) after training with Wallace. Also, Knives attacked Ramona over Scott at one point, though didn't reveal explicitly that Scott had been cheating. Apart from that, things seemed to be going well until Scott received a phone call from Envy Adams. She told him that The Clash at Demonhead would be playing a show at Lee's Palace, and that she wanted Sex Bob-omb to open for them there.
Just talking to Envy again shook Scott up badly. Somehow, though, he forced himself out to a Clash at Demonhead show with Ramona and his friends so that they could all talk about the upcoming gig. There they realized that the bass player for the band, Todd Ingram, was Ramona's third evil ex. Backstage, after taking some smug talk from Envy, Scott made a move to attack Todd, blaming him for the change in Envy. He was forced back, however, by the strength of Todd's vegan powers (don't ask; long story). Scott and Ramona headed home together afterward, Ramona slightly annoyed with the whole situation but still willing to stick by Scott.
Scott and Todd agreed to have another challenge the next day at Honest Ed's. Whoever could survive the longest inside and make it out alive would be the winner. This, however, ended in a tie after Todd accidentally blew the store up with his powers. Scott and Ramona ended up shirking the next challenge due to Ramona's continued annoyance with Envy, and the two talked for a little while about Scott, Envy, and Scott's previous relationship with Kim. Nothing much came of it, but it seemed a little odd that Ramona suddenly seemed more interested in hearing about Kim than Envy.
The day of the show at Lee's Palace arrived. Lots of things happened, to make a big understatement. For one thing, Scott's friends discovered that Todd was cheating on Envy with The Clash at Demonhead's drummer, Lynette. For another, Scott and Envy had a private talk in the alley before the show where they attempted to talk to each other like normal people. This worked to a degree, but was still incredibly awkward. He also managed to get in a talk with Knives, apologizing for breaking up with her so suddenly. Knives accepted that she couldn't be with Scott, but still proclaimed her love for him quite cheerfully.
The most important bit, however, didn't involve Scott to start. Later in the evening, while Sex Bob-omb was getting ready backstage, Envy revealed to Ramona that she knew something about Ramona's mysterious past in New York. In particular, she knew something related to the mysterious man called "Gideon" that Ramona had mentioned a few times before in the story (assumed to be the last of the evil ex-boyfriends/final boss).
This reveal sparked a fight between Ramona and Envy. Despite Ramona's "+2 against girls" hammer and some later help from Knives Chau, Envy proved faster and gained the upper hand. Sex Bob-omb came onstage just as Envy was about to smash the two with Ramona's hammer, and Scott rushed across the room to save them. He landed a poke to Envy's secret weak point (the back of her knee), which caused her to flop over in pleasure.
Ramona told Envy about Todd and Lynette. Envy denied it (involving backstory I won't get into) but was forced to accept it when she saw Todd coming out of a bathroom with Lynette's panties on his head. Todd and Envy fought, leaving Envy incapacitated. Seeing this set off Scott, who took Todd on head-to-head for the last time. Todd's vegan powers in combination with the raw power of his bass playing seemed overwhelming at first, but thanks to some help from the band Crash and the Boys (fun fact: they've been in the story before but weren't important enough to mention!), the odds were evened a little.
At the last minute, two members of the Vegan Police arrived, busting Todd for cheating on his vegan diet. Stripped of his vegan powers, Todd was taken out by one last headbutt from Scott. The night finished with Sex Bob-omb performing to a halfway-satisfied reception. Scott and Envy settled things a little more nicely the next morning, and Scott was better prepared move on with his life.
The months leading into summer were relatively quiet, with no new ex-boyfriend encounters. Scott and Ramona's relationship kept chugging along nicely, despite a few hiccups along the way (including one related to Scott not being able to explain entirely why he liked Ramona). On a particularly hot summer day, Scott found himself hanging around a mall and ran into his friend from high school, Lisa Miller. Lisa had since become a minor actress on a Canadian television show and was in Toronto for a few weeks before her big move to Hollywood. This was just enough time to catch up with Scott and Kim and meet all the new people in Scott's life, including Ramona.
The happy reunion was overshadowed soon by the reminder that Scott and Wallace's lease would be up soon, and that Scott needed to get a job and start contributing to the rent. With help from Kim, he got a job working with Stephen Stills at a vegetarian restaurant, the Happy Avocado. Almost immediately after he landed the job, however, Scott was attacked by a silent Asian man with a sword sharp enough to slice a streetcar clean in half. Thankfully, he escaped with Kim through a nearby subspace doorway, but the encounter left Scott wondering what exactly had just happened.
Walking home from work the next day, Scott had an encounter with a different person: a fat blonde girl wielding a katana and claiming to be a half-ninja. She retreated quickly after being punched in the breast, but promised that he would see her again soon. The next day, Scott saw the girl eating lunch with Ramona and he demanded to know what was going on. Ramona introduced the girl as Roxanne Richter, the fourth evil ex. Scott refused to fight Roxie on the grounds that she was a girl (and had a sword to boot), and Roxie left in a huff of offence.
Later, after Ramona agreed to let Scott move in with her (remember the lease?), she asked about Lisa. When Scott was unable to provide a satisfactory answer about whether he had a thing for her in high school, Ramona stormed off. He tried going to stay with Wallace for the night, but found him in the middle of sex with his new boyfriend. He found Lisa's phone number in his pocket after that and called her.
The next morning, Scott woke up on Lisa's sister's couch, not remembering much of the previous night. Lisa assured him that nothing had happened. She had tried to make some advances, but Scott had refused and started crying about how much he loved Ramona. Scott knew what he had to do then; he raced out of the house toward Ramona's place.
Along the way, he was attacked again by the Asian man. He turned out to be Knives Chau's father, angry over his daughter having dated a white boy. Scott fled to another subspace corridor and found himself in Ramona's dreams. There, he saw her wearing lingerie and sitting at the foot of a throne next to a shadowy figure (probably Gideon). Ramona forced Scott out of her head and Scott revealed that he had spent the night at Lisa's, assuring her that nothing happened. Scott then saw Roxie coming down the stairs in Ramona's house in her underwear, causing him to have a minor brain meltdown. He wandered out into the street in a daze until he came face-to-face with a vision of a dark Scott. He yelled at the figure, telling it that he didn't need it, then charged through it and ran back for Ramona.
On returning, he found Ramona and Roxie being attacked by Mr. Chau. For a while, Scott let Roxie do the fighting due to her having a sword. Roxie accused Scott of being a pussy, and Ramona added that she thought he could be less of one. Sparked with determination by this, Scott told Ramona with conviction that he was in love with her.
With that admission, Scott gained 9999 EXP and levelled up, gaining a new ability: the Power of Love. Conveniently, the Power of Love came in sword form, putting his grade five long-sword proficiency to good use. He defeated Roxie Richter, but before she disappeared, she made an ominous warning that Scott would never beat "the twins".
Mr. Chau left, satisfied after witnessing Scott's confession and his victory over Roxie. Ramona apologized for Roxie and explained to Scott that she had just been staying over while her art exhibition was in town. Scott again told Ramona that he loved her, and Ramona returned the sentiment. Scott and Ramona moved in together following that, and a going away party was held for Lisa.
Volume four ends with Scott and Ramona sharing their birthdates with each another. Scott's 24th birthday is coming up in a little over a month. After going to sleep on the night before that birthday, he will wake up to find himself in Landel's institute.
Personality:
"If your life had a face, I would punch it in the balls." - Stephen Stills on Scott Pilgrim
On the surface, Scott Pilgrim is a dopey slacker extraordinaire who loves sleeping in, garlic bread, hanging out, geek media, rock music, and video games, with major emphasis on the video games. He is such an avid gamer that he often confuses real world logic with video game logic. For example, when asked once if he and Ramona were "an item" or not, Scott's only thoughts were of mushrooms, stars and fire flowers. Thankfully for Scott, his world seems to operate at least in part on video game logic, so such thinking hasn't hurt him too much thus far (how far he gets in Landel's with such an attitude will be another story).
Scott has some other problems of the mind aside from warped logic. For one thing, he has a lousy memory, long-term and short-term. Even if you count out the lost year right before the start of the series (mainly because I have a sneaking suspicion that this particular memory loss is plot-related), his memories tend to get very vague the farther back they go, with a few odd exceptions that he remembers in incredible detail. His university years aren't too bad yet, but a lot of his memories from high school and earlier are starting to become either fuzzy or blended in with his game-based memories (e.g.: he forgot what his own younger brother looked like after not seeing him for a while). His short-term memory isn't quite as bad as his long-term, but he still has been known to forget things and get confused easily. This is especially true when his mind is focused on things he perceives as more important, such as mysterious rollerblading ninja delivery girls. Or Sonic 3.
Speaking of which, Scott Pilgrim is very prone to obsession, and not just with his hobbies. When something catches his interest, it really catches his interest, whether it's a new game, a cool tune on his bass, the process of picking out drinks, or a girl. He won't really snap out of his obsession until either one of two things happen: 1) someone or something forcibly snaps him out of it (sometimes physically), or 2) the obsession meets its natural conclusion and perhaps turns into something healthier (in the case of a girl, say, a relationship). The former works for smaller things like games and food, but when it comes to girls, forcing Scott out of an obsession will cause massive damage that takes a long time to recover from.
On the flip-side of the same coin, the traits that make him prone to obsession also make him pumped up for and dedicated to a lot of the tasks he takes on. It may take some serious pushing to get him going, but once he's rolling, he will attack a task with a "Hell yeah, let's do this thing!" attitude. An example would be his taking the job at the Happy Avocado; it took him ages to work up the will and energy to go out and get a job, but when he was actually presented with a potential job offer, his words were, "I can do it! I can do ANYTHING! Just give me a chance!" Looking at the job as a requirement for EXP building, he followed up on this by actually working as required and not skipping out randomly. Well, except for that one time in volume four, but I think "ninja attack" is a valid excuse for skipping out on work.
Despite what you might think from the strong statement he made in the last paragraph, Scott is not always the most eloquent speaker. In fact, he is often derided jokingly by his friends for his less-than-creative ways of expressing himself. His tact could use some work as well, especially when talking to girls. This is probably due to his being a bit on the dumb side (this is the person who didn't realize that not all Second Cup exteriors lead to the same Second Cup interior). He also just wasn't gifted with the ability to translate his thoughts into words very effectively. Case in point, his song lyrics are right from the heart, but they're all terrible. The song he wrote for Ramona goes like this: "Ramona Ramona Ramona Ramona Ramona Ramona Ramona [insert breakdown that sounds kind of like "dun DUN daahh -- NNNNINININI!"] Ramona Wicked Ramona Ramona Ramona OOOOOOHHH RAMONA!" He has his moments sometimes; he hurled a nice string of insults at Wallace in volume two. For the most part, though, uh, yeah.
One of Scott's biggest problems in the series (at least in the first three volumes) has been the way he handles change. He was always at least a little resistant to change (e.g.: resisted Lisa's friendship initially; has always hated getting haircuts), but after witnessing Envy's slow, unpleasant transformation, Scott became extremely wary of change. Losing his job at the Gilded Palace of Flying Burritos after trying so hard to get it probably helped to cement this feeling. This is what kept him living with Wallace and doing nothing for so long, keeping his life in a stagnant, childlike state. The only reason Scott started dating Knives was that he thought it would assure his friends he was doing well, hiding that he was just as unsure about advancing as he was before. He knew that Knives was too much like a friend to work her way into his heart, and thus he knew that she couldn't break it. In fact, it's very likely that part of what drove Scott further away from Knives (aside from liking Ramona) was that Knives suddenly cut her hair, started wearing cooler clothes, and lowered her inhibitions. No doubt this set off Envy warning bells in Scott's head.
In addition to that, being a young twenty-something male, Scott hasn't been the best about being considerate and mature about other people's feelings. He can be incredibly selfish at times, even if he doesn't consciously realize it. Again, this is probably best shown in his early treatment of Knives Chau. He initially started dating her just so that he could have a crutch relationship, not because he actually cared about her. He lied to her and Ramona about each other just because he found it hard to break up with her. When he did break up with her, it was swift, sloppy, and even downright douchey when you look at it. He felt bad about it for a few minutes after it happened, but soon enough he was back to his normal self, as though nothing had happened. He only went about trying to redeem himself for this behaviour in volume three when they talked in the alley, and this was partially spurred by the harsh treatment Knives had received from Envy earlier in the volume. If you need an example other than Knives, look at the warehouse fight in volume five. That entire scene is about Scott focusing on his own feelings and desires and completely ignoring Kim Pine's cries for help.
Thankfully, he has been getting better in regards to both change and maturity, mainly thanks to his relationship with Ramona. She was the first girl to really capture his attention after Envy, and she has been helping him to better himself in small ways ever since they started going out. She suggested that he find out more things about her rather than just settling for liking her because she was pretty and "mysterious." She nagged him to stop sleeping in until 11:30 AM and get an actual job. She helped him move out of Wallace's place and made him start paying rent like a responsible person. Also, even though it wasn't her doing directly, having to fight Ramona's evil exes has made Scott work for his happiness in a way he hasn't for a long time. He's still prone to leaning back on old ways and darker thoughts, but as shown by his driving away of the dark Scott in volume four, he has a better chance of bouncing back from that state of mind now. The warehouse fight in volume five shows a serious lapse in his consideration, but he eventually made a mature decision and apologized for both that incident and for himself in general.
On that more positive note, let's mention a few more good things about Scott Pilgrim. He very much wants people to like him and the things he does, and thus is generally friendly with everyone he meets unless they give him reason to do otherwise. He has an easy-going attitude around others and likes to hang out and joke around. Even considering his dopier or more annoying moments, most decent people can't help but like him in the end. Ramona describes him as "the nicest guy [she's] ever dated".
Very serious types are the people most likely to find Scott annoying or unlikable. To them, only the inscrutable game references, unpolished speech, and slacker lifestyle will stand out. It's also around these types that Scott is more prone to really losing his temper, especially if they do/did something to hurt him or someone he knows.
Finishing on one last, small note: Scott has a vague belief that smoking and drinking are evil, not to mention "yucky." He never smokes, and only drinks either when he's pressured to or when he's seriously stressed/wrecked. According to some flashbacks showing Scott drunk, this might not have always been the case, but we won't be sure if this is important or not until volume 6 comes out. He also doesn't like swearing much, and when he does, it's usually less serious words like "damn", "hell", "crap", and occasionally "ass." Words like "shit", "fuck", "bitch" and the like are right out.
Physical Description: Scott is a little shorter than average height with a lanky build. His skin tone is a little pale - gamer's skin, if you will. His hair is light brown and he recently had it cut to ear-length. He has a small, snub nose, large mouth, dark, bushy eyebrows, large-ish ears, and round, expressive eyes. In the comic's art style, his eye colour is not shown (even in most colour pictures). Conflicting pieces of official colour artwork put his real eye colour as either brown, olive, or green, so I'm going to say his eyes are hazel (the middle ground between brown and green). He has a fondness for ringer t-shirts with simple, geeky designs on the front, and will often wear cloth wristbands because they "keep him cool" (no they don't). In the winter, he wears a navy blue coat with a fur-lined hood and custom-made X-Men patches on the upper arms.
When?: Scott will be taken just before volume five, on the night before his 24th birthday.
Original Powers: Scott doesn't technically have many "powers" in the context of his world, but his world is one that allows for the trivial performance of certain feats that would normally defy physics, such as jumping very high (reduced gravity in general, really), slicing through metal, and punching/kicking with enough power to make people burst into coins. Scott has become very good at maximizing the potential of these extra physical allowances, making him appear even more impressive in comparison to the average fighter. One of his specialities is air juggling, meaning he hits his opponents hard and fast enough in succession to keep them up in the air. His personal record is a 64-hit combo, achieved during the Matthew Patel fight. I'll get more into his physical fighting abilities in the next two sections. For now, I'll focus on things that would still count as "powers" within the context of the Pilgrimverse.
Scott has displayed the ability to form invisible, domed barriers capable of reflecting some types of energy attacks. This appears to require the combined force of a group of friends, though, as he has only used this power once in canon and he performed it with Stephen Stills, Kim, Wallace, Stacey, Young Neil, and Knives backing him up. It likely does not work against psychic attacks either, as no one offered to help him deflect Todd Ingram's vegan powers.
It is unknown what "level" Scott is currently at, but the last time we saw him level up, he gained +2 Guts, +3 Heart, +1 Smarts, +1 Will, and the Power of Love. This is a literal power that takes the form of a katana with a heart symbol at the end of the hilt. The sword is produced from Scott's chest and it burns hot with Scott's love for Ramona, making it easy to slice enemies clean in two. This power only appears usable in situations where Scott is feeling love very, very intensely, as he does not use it against the Twins or their robots in volume five.
In volume three, Scott gained a 1-Up. Thus far, it hasn't been shown in canon whether this will actually come into play or whether it was just a joke. If it does come into play, it willmost likely allow him to resurrect from the dead with full health exactly once.
He may or may not have some vague sense of the fourth wall, as he says things like "read the book sometime," "maybe in volume three" and "I think it's time we finished this volume" off-handedly sometimes. However, it's easy enough to write this off as him joking in the context of his world. If he does have any real awareness of the fourth wall, it is so vague that it does not otherwise affect his progression through the story.
Modified Powers at Landel's: Scott's ability to defy physics will be drastically reduced. He will still be able to exceed what should be possible for a human just slightly to maintain the dynamic of the way he fights, but things like jumping close to high ceilings, twisting off robot heads with his bare hands, and punching people so hard that they explode will no longer be possible. For jumping up and leaping across distances, he will be able to go 10% beyond the optimal adult distance on average, 25% beyond at maximum in extreme emergencies. He will be able to perform a maximum of two of these big jumps a night. For hit strength, his best punches and kicks will be able to knock opponents back about four feet and to the ground. If that space isn't available, the opponent will crack the wall or floor behind them a little bit. He will only be able to achieve hit strength like this a maximum of two or three times a night. He will no longer be able to air juggle, but he will still pack a pretty impressive uppercut. For pulling, pushing, lifting and twisting strength, he will demonstrate optimal ability for his size and body type, but not anything beyond possible human levels. The same will be true for his speed.
Scott will have virtually no access to any non-physical powers mentioned in the Original Powers section. He will not be able to create barriers and any power that his 1-Up may or may not have will be nullified. It will still be possible for him to summon the Power of Love, but this will only be possible if by some miracle Ramona ever shows up in the institute. Thus, this power effectively still does not exist for now. If Ramona does appear one day, Scott will only be able to summon this power in instances where his love is a particularly overpowering emotion of the moment. Scott's love for Ramona is constant, but flares strong enough to summon the physical Power of Love are extremely rare. As well, I will add a new rule: once the sword is summoned, Scott will get one chance to land a hit, and regardless of whether he hits or misses, the sword will disappear after that, unusable for at least two more nights.
Non-magical Skills/Abilities: Unrealistic physics aside, Scott is incredibly agile and knows how to maximize the power behind his punches and kicks. Despite not being formally trained, he is known to be "the best fighter in the province," able to beat even trained martial artists with some effort (e.g.: Roxie Richter, Ken and Kyle Katayanagi). However, he doesn't often win without receiving damage; not being trained, he leaves holes in his defences that smart fighters can take advantage of. Several of the fights in canon show Scott getting pummelled before he wins. Part of Scott's advantage in fights lies in the sheer amount of endurance he possesses. The rest lies in his "run the hell away" ability, which he often uses in the face of opponents he fears are too strong for him.
He doesn't fight with swords often, but he does have some latent talent for using them due to having picked up a long-sword proficiency in grade five. However, because he took that proficiency, he missed out on taking a skateboarding proficiency instead. Thus, Scott Pilgrim is a terrible skateboarder.
Scott mentioned thinking that he was a jock in his high school flashback/dream, but it wasn't mentioned what (if any) sports he actually played. I'm going to assume he didn't play any and just based his statement on his fighting abilities. The only specific sport he is known to have played in the past is hockey, and that was in grades 1 and 2.
Scott has learned to play a few instruments by being in bands. In canon, he has been seen playing guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Unfortunately, he kind of sucks at all three of those. He plays bass well enough to get by in an amateur band like Sex Bob-omb, but he is nothing in the face of truly competent bass players like Todd Ingram.
Being an obsessive video gamer, his gaming ability is top notch. He's evenly matched when up against other hardcore gamers, but up against casual gamers and not-quite-as-hardcore gamers, he will massacre the screen with the pixelated corpses of his opponents. The only exception is in the PC gaming arena. Based on what we see in canon, Scott is much more of a console gamer, so while he probably could game pretty well if sat down in front of a PC, he probably wouldn't be able to match the skill level of dedicated PC gamers.
Surprisingly, Scott has some modicum of talent for cooking. It doesn't come into play often as it's not a huge area of interest for him, but he did make Ramona a surprisingly decent pasta dish with garlic bread in volume two. He also does semi-decently learning prep at the Happy Avocado with Stephen Stills.
Lastly, Scott can draw totally awesome sheep. But only sheep. Nothing else.
Improbable Appendages?: Does the Love Sword count? (NOT THAT LOVE SWORD. GOD.)
Please give us an idea of where you'd like to take your character within the scope of the Landel's Damned RP: Scott will probably start out in Landel's being very, very confused. He may think that he's dreaming or in the middle of a really immersive game for a while, and in this state of mind, he will be talking to as many people as he can. It's necessary to talk to as many important-looking NPCs as possible in games, after all; some of them might have useful items, side quests, clues to the main storyline's objective. This would especially be the case during his first nightshift. He will be exploring as much as he can and seeking out low-level monsters so that he can "level up."
After a while, though (a day at maximum, probably shorter), the persistent state of the world and the lack of interruptions by Ramona or his friends will make him realize that the world of Landel's is real. When he accepts this, he will still try to get by on his video game logic somewhat, but he will take the situation more seriously and treat other patients more like real people. He will want to do whatever he can to get out so that he can get back home to Ramona, and in his mind, the way to do this will be to find the final boss (Martin Landel) and defeat him head-on. He may also suspect that Martin Landel is actually Gideon, and that the institute is an elaborate trap set up to keep him from winning Ramona.
What kind of psychological effect do you see Landel's Institute having on your character?: The longer he spends in the institute after realizing that it's not a game, the more lost and frustrated he will feel. Scott was just starting to figure out the real world, and suddenly having to adjust to a whole new kind of existence will make him feel as though he's been thrown several steps backward, especially when combined with his lowered power levels and the decreased frequency with which his usual video game logic pays off. He may start feeling more vulnerable to the dark Scott inside after long enough if he feels his efforts to escape and beat Martin Landel are futile.
Obviously, it's going to be very hard for him to be without Ramona or any of his other friends as well. The longer he spends without Ramona in particular, the more alone he will feel, no matter how many new friends he makes in the institute. He may find himself falling into dazes when he lingers on her absence and may try to distract himself with other things to avoid the pain (won't spoil in detail, but the last chapter of volume five gives some pretty good examples backing up how Scott thinks and behaves with Ramona gone).
Also, anyone with short, dark hair and glasses that approaches him while his mind is focused on Ramona may find themselves a target briefly, as the only thing he knows about Gideon is that he has short, dark hair and glasses.
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?: Scott has more than enough physical ability and fighting skill to handle himself during nightshift. The existence of monsters and such likely won't bother him either, as he will treat them like video game enemies. The only thing that likely would bother him somewhat would be the potential gore. He may be able to make his opponents explode in canon without a second thought, but they explode without leaving their internal organs splattered everywhere. He can probably filter some of the gore through the lens of a survival horror game like Silent Hill or Resident Evil and deal with it that way, but he's not a huge fan of games like that, so it will still make him a bit queasy.
The prospect of friends dying will also bother him, so in order to maintain his sanity, he will likely tell himself that *cough*they'll be resurrected in the sequel*cough* they've been given a Game Over and transported back to their own worlds. The fact that some patients return to the institute with no memory of their time there will likely be enough to convince him of this. This may make him consider offing himself just so that he can get back to his own world, but in the end he won't go for it on the suspicion that Martin Landel is Gideon. If he gives up, then he will lose Ramona. Even if he concedes that Landel isn't Gideon, he would still suspect that death and transportation back to one's own world would come at some cost.
Final Note - Canon Puncturing: EDIT: Up-to-date information on canon puncturing can be found in this Lounge post!
Series' Medium: Graphic novels
Character: Scott William Pilgrim (commonly referred to as just Scott Pilgrim)
Role in Canon: The dashing hero. Rating: awesome.
Age: 24
Gender: Male
"Real Name": Bryan Michaels
Personal History:
[NOTE ON SETTING: The Pilgrimverse is in most respects a normal Earth. The geography, place names, brands, and most media are all recognizable. However, reality is slightly skewed, allowing for the real-world existence of certain video game concepts such as levels, personal statistics, items with bonus-granting properties, subspace highways (more on these later), save points (though these are extremely rare and prone to disappearing quickly), 1-Ups (though it has yet to be seen in canon what, if any effect these actually have), and certain kinds of magic and/or psychic abilities.
Despite these oddities, little mind tends to be paid to them by characters who are not hardcore gamers, suggesting that most of this is background data that one has to really focus on to notice. The only thing that keeps me from attributing this all to Scott Pilgrim's imagination is the fact that some of the reality hacks just can't be ignored and do affect other characters (e.g.: the other characters all see both the save point and Scott's 1-up when they appear; evil ex-boyfriends explode into coins when they are defeated; Matthew Patel has summoning abilities; Todd Ingram has psychic powers; Scott's levelling up in volume four grants him a sword that he uses to defeat Roxie Richter).]
[NOTE ON SPECULATION: Most of this section is explicitly supported in canon. The exception is the first paragraph, which contains a few tidbits that are based on educated guessing, most notably the bit about why Scott Pilgrim is a good fighter. It has not been explained yet in canon where Scott acquired his fighting prowess, and the most the author has said on the subject is that Scott was not formally trained.]
Scott Pilgrim was born on September 27, 1981 in a small town in Northern Ontario, where he grew up with his mother, father, younger brother (Lawrence), younger sister (Stacey), and a dog. He grew up as a normal middle class boy from the suburbs, his mother packing school lunches for him all the way from kindergarten through to high school. He was very much a part of the Nintendo generation, growing up with a strong love for video games such as the Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Brothers, Metroid, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Bomberman. He did semi-decently in school; his best subject was Physical Education, in which he proved to have an extremely respectable level of latent physical ability. This turned out to come in handy, because like many children with small, scrawny-looking frames, he often found himself the target of larger, meaner children. Years of having to fight off kids who were bigger and stronger than him forced him to improve/level up his fighting skills, allowing him to compensate for his somewhat smaller size. This is possibly why he opted out of picking a skateboarding proficiency in grade five in favour of taking a long-sword proficiency instead.
When Scott was 16, his family moved to a new town, leading him to transfer to St. Joel's Catholic High School. On his first day, he was immediately set upon by school hoodlums, and a fight ensued. Fifteen minutes later in the principal's office, he met a girl named Lisa Miller who immediately took a liking to him. She began hanging out with him and visiting him at home despite his initial protests, and eventually the two started talking about forming a band together. The only major roadblock to their idea was their lack of a drummer.
Scott was paired up for a geography project at one point with a smart girl named Kimberly Pine, on whom he quickly developed a crush. At a school performance, it was revealed that Kim could play drums. Naturally, Scott and Lisa decided to get her to join their band. Before they could talk to her on the following Monday, however, students from a rival high school, Benvie Tech, attacked St. Joel's and kidnapped Kim. Scott, who had missed the bus and thus the attack, fought his way through the hordes at Benvie Tech all the way to where the final boss, Simon Lee, waited with a trapped Kim. Scott eventually brought Simon to his knees and kicked him clean out of town. This was promptly followed by Scott asking Kim to join his band and go out with him. She agreed and the two kissed in the rain.
If you're thinking that this experience sounds too strange to be true, then you're probably right; it is entirely likely that the Benvie Tech encounter as we see it in canon is very embellished in Scott's mind. This wouldn't be surprising, given Scott's general memory problems and the encounter's similarity to the game River City Ransom. Kim mentions in a later volume that she actually dated Simon for a while, but their relationship was fizzling before Scott came along. However, the above description reflects how Scott now remembers the incident when pressed to think about it, and this is how he will recount it to people if asked.
Following the incident, Kim, Scott and Lisa formed the band Sonic & Knuckles. Scott and Kim started dating and soon became very close. They stayed together until the end of their second year of high school when Scott's family moved again, this time far south to Toronto. Scott would not see Kim again until after university, much to Kim's hidden disappointment.
Scott somehow gained admission to the University of Toronto after high school. There he met several people who would become long-time friends to him, including Stephen "The Talent" Stills, Wallace Wells (fun fact: he is gay!), and Julie Powers (questionable in her "friend" status). He also met Julie's nerdy roommate, Natalie V. Adams, who would soon become his new girlfriend. Scott eventually formed a band with Stephen Stills and Natalie called Kid Chameleon, and life was pretty sweet for a while. The group of friends was having fun, and Natalie was a wonderful girlfriend as far as Scott was concerned.
Unfortunately, this happy state did not last forever. Natalie slowly began to change over the months, selling her anime and other nerd paraphernalia for CDs and expensive clothes. She eventually lost interest in what her friends liked altogether and started acting more coldly toward them. She asked Scott if he could start calling her "Envy" (taken from her first and middle initials), and didn't respond when he got up the courage to tell her that he loved her. With Kid Chameleon, she recruited more talented new members and forced Scott to switch from drums to bass. The band became larger, and in Scott's last year of university, they found themselves being courted by record labels. When Scott refused to sign with a label, Envy kicked him out of the band; Stephen Stills quit along with him.
Finally, everything crashed at a New Year's party that Scott can't remember very well due to emotional trauma. Envy told Scott flat-out to get out of her life and that she was moving to Montreal to be closer to her old friend, Todd Ingram. It wasn't long before he heard that the two were sleeping together. Envy went on to create the band The Clash at Demonhead with Todd and another girl, and they became very popular over the course of the next year.
Scott's year did not fare nearly so well. He moved in with Wallace Wells, and other than that, his memory of specific events during that year became very hazy. He couldn't even remember later on if he graduated from university or not. At some point, Kim Pine moved to Toronto and helped form a new band with Scott and Stephen Stills called Sex Bob-omb. The possibility of getting back together with Kim never crossed Scott's mind in the wake of Envy. It didn't help that Kim had become a good deal surlier in the time since he had last seen her, either.
The first very clear memory Scott formed during that year involved a nouveau-Mexican restaurant called The Gilded Palace of Flying Burritos. He tried to get a job there for months before finally landing one. Sadly, he only worked there for about a week before the restaurant was shut down by the Department of Justice for "selling drugs, or money laundering, or some other type of bad thing" (quoth Scott). Losing this job only served to deepen his existing depression.
Months later, Scott was still looking for an easy way to move past his pain. He found one on the bus home one day in the form of a 17-year-old girl named Knives Chau. He started talking to her about her life in high school over the course of several days and bus rides, and decided that she was nice enough to go out with. The relationship was safe and uncomplicated, which was what Scott thought he needed.
Barely days after he started dating Knives, however, Scott began having dreams involving a mysterious rollerblading delivery girl. She stuck out in his mind, though he couldn't quite place why. A few days later, he spotted the girl in real life delivering a package to the library. Knowing then that she was real, Scott became obsessed with finding out who she was. Eventually, he found out from an acquaintance that she was Ramona Flowers, recently moved from New York and working as a delivery girl for Amazon.ca.
Wanting to meet Ramona face-to-face, Scott ordered CDs from Amazon and waited for their delivery. Sure enough, one night he saw the girl rollerblading through his dreams again, and not a minute after seeing her, she was ringing his doorbell in real life. Ramona explained that she used subspace highways to speed up her delivery routes, and that a very convenient shortcut just happened to run through Scott's head. After further awkward conversation, Scott succeeded in persuading Ramona to go on a date with him. Despite complications with a blizzard, the date went well. The only problem with moving further ahead after that was that Scott wasn't sure how to break up smoothly with Knives Chau. Thus, he kept Knives and Ramona secret from each other for a little while.
Meanwhile, Sex Bob-omb was set to play a show at the Rockit Club. It was there that Scott found out he had bigger problems than just figuring out how to break up with Knives. When the band went onstage, Scott was suddenly attacked by a man named Matthew Patel, who claimed to be the first of Ramona's seven evil ex-boyfriends. To continue dating Ramona, Scott would be required to defeat all these ex-boyfriends in battle. Patel went down easily; Scott's fighting prowess had not diminished since his grade school days.
Skipping ahead a bit, Scott eventually did break up with Knives (which devastated her), introduced Ramona to all his friends (finding out in the process that she already knew a few of them), and later defeated the second evil ex-boyfriend (Lucas Lee) after training with Wallace. Also, Knives attacked Ramona over Scott at one point, though didn't reveal explicitly that Scott had been cheating. Apart from that, things seemed to be going well until Scott received a phone call from Envy Adams. She told him that The Clash at Demonhead would be playing a show at Lee's Palace, and that she wanted Sex Bob-omb to open for them there.
Just talking to Envy again shook Scott up badly. Somehow, though, he forced himself out to a Clash at Demonhead show with Ramona and his friends so that they could all talk about the upcoming gig. There they realized that the bass player for the band, Todd Ingram, was Ramona's third evil ex. Backstage, after taking some smug talk from Envy, Scott made a move to attack Todd, blaming him for the change in Envy. He was forced back, however, by the strength of Todd's vegan powers (don't ask; long story). Scott and Ramona headed home together afterward, Ramona slightly annoyed with the whole situation but still willing to stick by Scott.
Scott and Todd agreed to have another challenge the next day at Honest Ed's. Whoever could survive the longest inside and make it out alive would be the winner. This, however, ended in a tie after Todd accidentally blew the store up with his powers. Scott and Ramona ended up shirking the next challenge due to Ramona's continued annoyance with Envy, and the two talked for a little while about Scott, Envy, and Scott's previous relationship with Kim. Nothing much came of it, but it seemed a little odd that Ramona suddenly seemed more interested in hearing about Kim than Envy.
The day of the show at Lee's Palace arrived. Lots of things happened, to make a big understatement. For one thing, Scott's friends discovered that Todd was cheating on Envy with The Clash at Demonhead's drummer, Lynette. For another, Scott and Envy had a private talk in the alley before the show where they attempted to talk to each other like normal people. This worked to a degree, but was still incredibly awkward. He also managed to get in a talk with Knives, apologizing for breaking up with her so suddenly. Knives accepted that she couldn't be with Scott, but still proclaimed her love for him quite cheerfully.
The most important bit, however, didn't involve Scott to start. Later in the evening, while Sex Bob-omb was getting ready backstage, Envy revealed to Ramona that she knew something about Ramona's mysterious past in New York. In particular, she knew something related to the mysterious man called "Gideon" that Ramona had mentioned a few times before in the story (assumed to be the last of the evil ex-boyfriends/final boss).
This reveal sparked a fight between Ramona and Envy. Despite Ramona's "+2 against girls" hammer and some later help from Knives Chau, Envy proved faster and gained the upper hand. Sex Bob-omb came onstage just as Envy was about to smash the two with Ramona's hammer, and Scott rushed across the room to save them. He landed a poke to Envy's secret weak point (the back of her knee), which caused her to flop over in pleasure.
Ramona told Envy about Todd and Lynette. Envy denied it (involving backstory I won't get into) but was forced to accept it when she saw Todd coming out of a bathroom with Lynette's panties on his head. Todd and Envy fought, leaving Envy incapacitated. Seeing this set off Scott, who took Todd on head-to-head for the last time. Todd's vegan powers in combination with the raw power of his bass playing seemed overwhelming at first, but thanks to some help from the band Crash and the Boys (fun fact: they've been in the story before but weren't important enough to mention!), the odds were evened a little.
At the last minute, two members of the Vegan Police arrived, busting Todd for cheating on his vegan diet. Stripped of his vegan powers, Todd was taken out by one last headbutt from Scott. The night finished with Sex Bob-omb performing to a halfway-satisfied reception. Scott and Envy settled things a little more nicely the next morning, and Scott was better prepared move on with his life.
The months leading into summer were relatively quiet, with no new ex-boyfriend encounters. Scott and Ramona's relationship kept chugging along nicely, despite a few hiccups along the way (including one related to Scott not being able to explain entirely why he liked Ramona). On a particularly hot summer day, Scott found himself hanging around a mall and ran into his friend from high school, Lisa Miller. Lisa had since become a minor actress on a Canadian television show and was in Toronto for a few weeks before her big move to Hollywood. This was just enough time to catch up with Scott and Kim and meet all the new people in Scott's life, including Ramona.
The happy reunion was overshadowed soon by the reminder that Scott and Wallace's lease would be up soon, and that Scott needed to get a job and start contributing to the rent. With help from Kim, he got a job working with Stephen Stills at a vegetarian restaurant, the Happy Avocado. Almost immediately after he landed the job, however, Scott was attacked by a silent Asian man with a sword sharp enough to slice a streetcar clean in half. Thankfully, he escaped with Kim through a nearby subspace doorway, but the encounter left Scott wondering what exactly had just happened.
Walking home from work the next day, Scott had an encounter with a different person: a fat blonde girl wielding a katana and claiming to be a half-ninja. She retreated quickly after being punched in the breast, but promised that he would see her again soon. The next day, Scott saw the girl eating lunch with Ramona and he demanded to know what was going on. Ramona introduced the girl as Roxanne Richter, the fourth evil ex. Scott refused to fight Roxie on the grounds that she was a girl (and had a sword to boot), and Roxie left in a huff of offence.
Later, after Ramona agreed to let Scott move in with her (remember the lease?), she asked about Lisa. When Scott was unable to provide a satisfactory answer about whether he had a thing for her in high school, Ramona stormed off. He tried going to stay with Wallace for the night, but found him in the middle of sex with his new boyfriend. He found Lisa's phone number in his pocket after that and called her.
The next morning, Scott woke up on Lisa's sister's couch, not remembering much of the previous night. Lisa assured him that nothing had happened. She had tried to make some advances, but Scott had refused and started crying about how much he loved Ramona. Scott knew what he had to do then; he raced out of the house toward Ramona's place.
Along the way, he was attacked again by the Asian man. He turned out to be Knives Chau's father, angry over his daughter having dated a white boy. Scott fled to another subspace corridor and found himself in Ramona's dreams. There, he saw her wearing lingerie and sitting at the foot of a throne next to a shadowy figure (probably Gideon). Ramona forced Scott out of her head and Scott revealed that he had spent the night at Lisa's, assuring her that nothing happened. Scott then saw Roxie coming down the stairs in Ramona's house in her underwear, causing him to have a minor brain meltdown. He wandered out into the street in a daze until he came face-to-face with a vision of a dark Scott. He yelled at the figure, telling it that he didn't need it, then charged through it and ran back for Ramona.
On returning, he found Ramona and Roxie being attacked by Mr. Chau. For a while, Scott let Roxie do the fighting due to her having a sword. Roxie accused Scott of being a pussy, and Ramona added that she thought he could be less of one. Sparked with determination by this, Scott told Ramona with conviction that he was in love with her.
With that admission, Scott gained 9999 EXP and levelled up, gaining a new ability: the Power of Love. Conveniently, the Power of Love came in sword form, putting his grade five long-sword proficiency to good use. He defeated Roxie Richter, but before she disappeared, she made an ominous warning that Scott would never beat "the twins".
Mr. Chau left, satisfied after witnessing Scott's confession and his victory over Roxie. Ramona apologized for Roxie and explained to Scott that she had just been staying over while her art exhibition was in town. Scott again told Ramona that he loved her, and Ramona returned the sentiment. Scott and Ramona moved in together following that, and a going away party was held for Lisa.
Volume four ends with Scott and Ramona sharing their birthdates with each another. Scott's 24th birthday is coming up in a little over a month. After going to sleep on the night before that birthday, he will wake up to find himself in Landel's institute.
Personality:
"If your life had a face, I would punch it in the balls." - Stephen Stills on Scott Pilgrim
On the surface, Scott Pilgrim is a dopey slacker extraordinaire who loves sleeping in, garlic bread, hanging out, geek media, rock music, and video games, with major emphasis on the video games. He is such an avid gamer that he often confuses real world logic with video game logic. For example, when asked once if he and Ramona were "an item" or not, Scott's only thoughts were of mushrooms, stars and fire flowers. Thankfully for Scott, his world seems to operate at least in part on video game logic, so such thinking hasn't hurt him too much thus far (how far he gets in Landel's with such an attitude will be another story).
Scott has some other problems of the mind aside from warped logic. For one thing, he has a lousy memory, long-term and short-term. Even if you count out the lost year right before the start of the series (mainly because I have a sneaking suspicion that this particular memory loss is plot-related), his memories tend to get very vague the farther back they go, with a few odd exceptions that he remembers in incredible detail. His university years aren't too bad yet, but a lot of his memories from high school and earlier are starting to become either fuzzy or blended in with his game-based memories (e.g.: he forgot what his own younger brother looked like after not seeing him for a while). His short-term memory isn't quite as bad as his long-term, but he still has been known to forget things and get confused easily. This is especially true when his mind is focused on things he perceives as more important, such as mysterious rollerblading ninja delivery girls. Or Sonic 3.
Speaking of which, Scott Pilgrim is very prone to obsession, and not just with his hobbies. When something catches his interest, it really catches his interest, whether it's a new game, a cool tune on his bass, the process of picking out drinks, or a girl. He won't really snap out of his obsession until either one of two things happen: 1) someone or something forcibly snaps him out of it (sometimes physically), or 2) the obsession meets its natural conclusion and perhaps turns into something healthier (in the case of a girl, say, a relationship). The former works for smaller things like games and food, but when it comes to girls, forcing Scott out of an obsession will cause massive damage that takes a long time to recover from.
On the flip-side of the same coin, the traits that make him prone to obsession also make him pumped up for and dedicated to a lot of the tasks he takes on. It may take some serious pushing to get him going, but once he's rolling, he will attack a task with a "Hell yeah, let's do this thing!" attitude. An example would be his taking the job at the Happy Avocado; it took him ages to work up the will and energy to go out and get a job, but when he was actually presented with a potential job offer, his words were, "I can do it! I can do ANYTHING! Just give me a chance!" Looking at the job as a requirement for EXP building, he followed up on this by actually working as required and not skipping out randomly. Well, except for that one time in volume four, but I think "ninja attack" is a valid excuse for skipping out on work.
Despite what you might think from the strong statement he made in the last paragraph, Scott is not always the most eloquent speaker. In fact, he is often derided jokingly by his friends for his less-than-creative ways of expressing himself. His tact could use some work as well, especially when talking to girls. This is probably due to his being a bit on the dumb side (this is the person who didn't realize that not all Second Cup exteriors lead to the same Second Cup interior). He also just wasn't gifted with the ability to translate his thoughts into words very effectively. Case in point, his song lyrics are right from the heart, but they're all terrible. The song he wrote for Ramona goes like this: "Ramona Ramona Ramona Ramona Ramona Ramona Ramona [insert breakdown that sounds kind of like "dun DUN daahh -- NNNNINININI!"] Ramona Wicked Ramona Ramona Ramona OOOOOOHHH RAMONA!" He has his moments sometimes; he hurled a nice string of insults at Wallace in volume two. For the most part, though, uh, yeah.
One of Scott's biggest problems in the series (at least in the first three volumes) has been the way he handles change. He was always at least a little resistant to change (e.g.: resisted Lisa's friendship initially; has always hated getting haircuts), but after witnessing Envy's slow, unpleasant transformation, Scott became extremely wary of change. Losing his job at the Gilded Palace of Flying Burritos after trying so hard to get it probably helped to cement this feeling. This is what kept him living with Wallace and doing nothing for so long, keeping his life in a stagnant, childlike state. The only reason Scott started dating Knives was that he thought it would assure his friends he was doing well, hiding that he was just as unsure about advancing as he was before. He knew that Knives was too much like a friend to work her way into his heart, and thus he knew that she couldn't break it. In fact, it's very likely that part of what drove Scott further away from Knives (aside from liking Ramona) was that Knives suddenly cut her hair, started wearing cooler clothes, and lowered her inhibitions. No doubt this set off Envy warning bells in Scott's head.
In addition to that, being a young twenty-something male, Scott hasn't been the best about being considerate and mature about other people's feelings. He can be incredibly selfish at times, even if he doesn't consciously realize it. Again, this is probably best shown in his early treatment of Knives Chau. He initially started dating her just so that he could have a crutch relationship, not because he actually cared about her. He lied to her and Ramona about each other just because he found it hard to break up with her. When he did break up with her, it was swift, sloppy, and even downright douchey when you look at it. He felt bad about it for a few minutes after it happened, but soon enough he was back to his normal self, as though nothing had happened. He only went about trying to redeem himself for this behaviour in volume three when they talked in the alley, and this was partially spurred by the harsh treatment Knives had received from Envy earlier in the volume. If you need an example other than Knives, look at the warehouse fight in volume five. That entire scene is about Scott focusing on his own feelings and desires and completely ignoring Kim Pine's cries for help.
Thankfully, he has been getting better in regards to both change and maturity, mainly thanks to his relationship with Ramona. She was the first girl to really capture his attention after Envy, and she has been helping him to better himself in small ways ever since they started going out. She suggested that he find out more things about her rather than just settling for liking her because she was pretty and "mysterious." She nagged him to stop sleeping in until 11:30 AM and get an actual job. She helped him move out of Wallace's place and made him start paying rent like a responsible person. Also, even though it wasn't her doing directly, having to fight Ramona's evil exes has made Scott work for his happiness in a way he hasn't for a long time. He's still prone to leaning back on old ways and darker thoughts, but as shown by his driving away of the dark Scott in volume four, he has a better chance of bouncing back from that state of mind now. The warehouse fight in volume five shows a serious lapse in his consideration, but he eventually made a mature decision and apologized for both that incident and for himself in general.
On that more positive note, let's mention a few more good things about Scott Pilgrim. He very much wants people to like him and the things he does, and thus is generally friendly with everyone he meets unless they give him reason to do otherwise. He has an easy-going attitude around others and likes to hang out and joke around. Even considering his dopier or more annoying moments, most decent people can't help but like him in the end. Ramona describes him as "the nicest guy [she's] ever dated".
Very serious types are the people most likely to find Scott annoying or unlikable. To them, only the inscrutable game references, unpolished speech, and slacker lifestyle will stand out. It's also around these types that Scott is more prone to really losing his temper, especially if they do/did something to hurt him or someone he knows.
Finishing on one last, small note: Scott has a vague belief that smoking and drinking are evil, not to mention "yucky." He never smokes, and only drinks either when he's pressured to or when he's seriously stressed/wrecked. According to some flashbacks showing Scott drunk, this might not have always been the case, but we won't be sure if this is important or not until volume 6 comes out. He also doesn't like swearing much, and when he does, it's usually less serious words like "damn", "hell", "crap", and occasionally "ass." Words like "shit", "fuck", "bitch" and the like are right out.
Physical Description: Scott is a little shorter than average height with a lanky build. His skin tone is a little pale - gamer's skin, if you will. His hair is light brown and he recently had it cut to ear-length. He has a small, snub nose, large mouth, dark, bushy eyebrows, large-ish ears, and round, expressive eyes. In the comic's art style, his eye colour is not shown (even in most colour pictures). Conflicting pieces of official colour artwork put his real eye colour as either brown, olive, or green, so I'm going to say his eyes are hazel (the middle ground between brown and green). He has a fondness for ringer t-shirts with simple, geeky designs on the front, and will often wear cloth wristbands because they "keep him cool" (no they don't). In the winter, he wears a navy blue coat with a fur-lined hood and custom-made X-Men patches on the upper arms.
When?: Scott will be taken just before volume five, on the night before his 24th birthday.
Original Powers: Scott doesn't technically have many "powers" in the context of his world, but his world is one that allows for the trivial performance of certain feats that would normally defy physics, such as jumping very high (reduced gravity in general, really), slicing through metal, and punching/kicking with enough power to make people burst into coins. Scott has become very good at maximizing the potential of these extra physical allowances, making him appear even more impressive in comparison to the average fighter. One of his specialities is air juggling, meaning he hits his opponents hard and fast enough in succession to keep them up in the air. His personal record is a 64-hit combo, achieved during the Matthew Patel fight. I'll get more into his physical fighting abilities in the next two sections. For now, I'll focus on things that would still count as "powers" within the context of the Pilgrimverse.
Scott has displayed the ability to form invisible, domed barriers capable of reflecting some types of energy attacks. This appears to require the combined force of a group of friends, though, as he has only used this power once in canon and he performed it with Stephen Stills, Kim, Wallace, Stacey, Young Neil, and Knives backing him up. It likely does not work against psychic attacks either, as no one offered to help him deflect Todd Ingram's vegan powers.
It is unknown what "level" Scott is currently at, but the last time we saw him level up, he gained +2 Guts, +3 Heart, +1 Smarts, +1 Will, and the Power of Love. This is a literal power that takes the form of a katana with a heart symbol at the end of the hilt. The sword is produced from Scott's chest and it burns hot with Scott's love for Ramona, making it easy to slice enemies clean in two. This power only appears usable in situations where Scott is feeling love very, very intensely, as he does not use it against the Twins or their robots in volume five.
In volume three, Scott gained a 1-Up. Thus far, it hasn't been shown in canon whether this will actually come into play or whether it was just a joke. If it does come into play, it willmost likely allow him to resurrect from the dead with full health exactly once.
He may or may not have some vague sense of the fourth wall, as he says things like "read the book sometime," "maybe in volume three" and "I think it's time we finished this volume" off-handedly sometimes. However, it's easy enough to write this off as him joking in the context of his world. If he does have any real awareness of the fourth wall, it is so vague that it does not otherwise affect his progression through the story.
Modified Powers at Landel's: Scott's ability to defy physics will be drastically reduced. He will still be able to exceed what should be possible for a human just slightly to maintain the dynamic of the way he fights, but things like jumping close to high ceilings, twisting off robot heads with his bare hands, and punching people so hard that they explode will no longer be possible. For jumping up and leaping across distances, he will be able to go 10% beyond the optimal adult distance on average, 25% beyond at maximum in extreme emergencies. He will be able to perform a maximum of two of these big jumps a night. For hit strength, his best punches and kicks will be able to knock opponents back about four feet and to the ground. If that space isn't available, the opponent will crack the wall or floor behind them a little bit. He will only be able to achieve hit strength like this a maximum of two or three times a night. He will no longer be able to air juggle, but he will still pack a pretty impressive uppercut. For pulling, pushing, lifting and twisting strength, he will demonstrate optimal ability for his size and body type, but not anything beyond possible human levels. The same will be true for his speed.
Scott will have virtually no access to any non-physical powers mentioned in the Original Powers section. He will not be able to create barriers and any power that his 1-Up may or may not have will be nullified. It will still be possible for him to summon the Power of Love, but this will only be possible if by some miracle Ramona ever shows up in the institute. Thus, this power effectively still does not exist for now. If Ramona does appear one day, Scott will only be able to summon this power in instances where his love is a particularly overpowering emotion of the moment. Scott's love for Ramona is constant, but flares strong enough to summon the physical Power of Love are extremely rare. As well, I will add a new rule: once the sword is summoned, Scott will get one chance to land a hit, and regardless of whether he hits or misses, the sword will disappear after that, unusable for at least two more nights.
Non-magical Skills/Abilities: Unrealistic physics aside, Scott is incredibly agile and knows how to maximize the power behind his punches and kicks. Despite not being formally trained, he is known to be "the best fighter in the province," able to beat even trained martial artists with some effort (e.g.: Roxie Richter, Ken and Kyle Katayanagi). However, he doesn't often win without receiving damage; not being trained, he leaves holes in his defences that smart fighters can take advantage of. Several of the fights in canon show Scott getting pummelled before he wins. Part of Scott's advantage in fights lies in the sheer amount of endurance he possesses. The rest lies in his "run the hell away" ability, which he often uses in the face of opponents he fears are too strong for him.
He doesn't fight with swords often, but he does have some latent talent for using them due to having picked up a long-sword proficiency in grade five. However, because he took that proficiency, he missed out on taking a skateboarding proficiency instead. Thus, Scott Pilgrim is a terrible skateboarder.
Scott mentioned thinking that he was a jock in his high school flashback/dream, but it wasn't mentioned what (if any) sports he actually played. I'm going to assume he didn't play any and just based his statement on his fighting abilities. The only specific sport he is known to have played in the past is hockey, and that was in grades 1 and 2.
Scott has learned to play a few instruments by being in bands. In canon, he has been seen playing guitar, bass guitar, and drums. Unfortunately, he kind of sucks at all three of those. He plays bass well enough to get by in an amateur band like Sex Bob-omb, but he is nothing in the face of truly competent bass players like Todd Ingram.
Being an obsessive video gamer, his gaming ability is top notch. He's evenly matched when up against other hardcore gamers, but up against casual gamers and not-quite-as-hardcore gamers, he will massacre the screen with the pixelated corpses of his opponents. The only exception is in the PC gaming arena. Based on what we see in canon, Scott is much more of a console gamer, so while he probably could game pretty well if sat down in front of a PC, he probably wouldn't be able to match the skill level of dedicated PC gamers.
Surprisingly, Scott has some modicum of talent for cooking. It doesn't come into play often as it's not a huge area of interest for him, but he did make Ramona a surprisingly decent pasta dish with garlic bread in volume two. He also does semi-decently learning prep at the Happy Avocado with Stephen Stills.
Lastly, Scott can draw totally awesome sheep. But only sheep. Nothing else.
Improbable Appendages?: Does the Love Sword count? (NOT THAT LOVE SWORD. GOD.)
Please give us an idea of where you'd like to take your character within the scope of the Landel's Damned RP: Scott will probably start out in Landel's being very, very confused. He may think that he's dreaming or in the middle of a really immersive game for a while, and in this state of mind, he will be talking to as many people as he can. It's necessary to talk to as many important-looking NPCs as possible in games, after all; some of them might have useful items, side quests, clues to the main storyline's objective. This would especially be the case during his first nightshift. He will be exploring as much as he can and seeking out low-level monsters so that he can "level up."
After a while, though (a day at maximum, probably shorter), the persistent state of the world and the lack of interruptions by Ramona or his friends will make him realize that the world of Landel's is real. When he accepts this, he will still try to get by on his video game logic somewhat, but he will take the situation more seriously and treat other patients more like real people. He will want to do whatever he can to get out so that he can get back home to Ramona, and in his mind, the way to do this will be to find the final boss (Martin Landel) and defeat him head-on. He may also suspect that Martin Landel is actually Gideon, and that the institute is an elaborate trap set up to keep him from winning Ramona.
What kind of psychological effect do you see Landel's Institute having on your character?: The longer he spends in the institute after realizing that it's not a game, the more lost and frustrated he will feel. Scott was just starting to figure out the real world, and suddenly having to adjust to a whole new kind of existence will make him feel as though he's been thrown several steps backward, especially when combined with his lowered power levels and the decreased frequency with which his usual video game logic pays off. He may start feeling more vulnerable to the dark Scott inside after long enough if he feels his efforts to escape and beat Martin Landel are futile.
Obviously, it's going to be very hard for him to be without Ramona or any of his other friends as well. The longer he spends without Ramona in particular, the more alone he will feel, no matter how many new friends he makes in the institute. He may find himself falling into dazes when he lingers on her absence and may try to distract himself with other things to avoid the pain (won't spoil in detail, but the last chapter of volume five gives some pretty good examples backing up how Scott thinks and behaves with Ramona gone).
Also, anyone with short, dark hair and glasses that approaches him while his mind is focused on Ramona may find themselves a target briefly, as the only thing he knows about Gideon is that he has short, dark hair and glasses.
Given that this RP takes place in an unsettling and outright horrific environment, how do you justify your character as being appropriate in both body and mind for this kind of setting?: Scott has more than enough physical ability and fighting skill to handle himself during nightshift. The existence of monsters and such likely won't bother him either, as he will treat them like video game enemies. The only thing that likely would bother him somewhat would be the potential gore. He may be able to make his opponents explode in canon without a second thought, but they explode without leaving their internal organs splattered everywhere. He can probably filter some of the gore through the lens of a survival horror game like Silent Hill or Resident Evil and deal with it that way, but he's not a huge fan of games like that, so it will still make him a bit queasy.
The prospect of friends dying will also bother him, so in order to maintain his sanity, he will likely tell himself that *cough*they'll be resurrected in the sequel*cough* they've been given a Game Over and transported back to their own worlds. The fact that some patients return to the institute with no memory of their time there will likely be enough to convince him of this. This may make him consider offing himself just so that he can get back to his own world, but in the end he won't go for it on the suspicion that Martin Landel is Gideon. If he gives up, then he will lose Ramona. Even if he concedes that Landel isn't Gideon, he would still suspect that death and transportation back to one's own world would come at some cost.
Final Note - Canon Puncturing: EDIT: Up-to-date information on canon puncturing can be found in this Lounge post!