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coldbluestar · 5 days ago

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Persona Teams Dynamics

This began as a way to determine what the second-in-command in each Persona team said about the team's priorities, but I ended up ranting about team dynamics in each game instead.

Warning: This ended up longer than expected.

P1 - Class 4

P1 felt less like an organization with a leader and more like "group project where the members were chosen at random by the teacher but luckily you got some friends with you. For some reason the teacher keeps handing you the info to give to the rest of the team and calling it 'Team Y/N'". I don't know if that was a good description, but its 2 AM and that's the best way I could describe it. I read the manga since I don't have a way to play the game, but it didn't feel like Naoya was the designated leader. More like they were all equals in the team but he was the one who already knew everyone and had more knowledge about the subject the teacher assigned them to do (what with Maki, Kazuya, and Philemon all revolving around him), so he ended up introducing them during the presentation.

You got all kinds of people in your team. The drama waiting to happen (Mark and Nate), the weirdgirl (Elly), the love decahedron (Naoya, Maki, Mark, Elly, Yuka), the kid who you have to forcefully drag to do his part but turns out to be good at it (Reiji), the ones who never comment on the groupchat nor attend team meetings but always manage to do their part in time (Yukki, Yuka, and Reiji), and the literal class clown (Brown). The kind of team project where you ended up either as "good acquaintances" or "close friends" in the end. Would choose them again if the teacher let them choose teammates for future projects. This makes the team really flexible to leadership changes. If Naoya isn't available (and he literally isn't in P2), then Nate, Elly, or Yukki step in, quickly followed by Maki, Reiji or Mark. In fact, some of them might go off to do their own thing without informing the others and no one will get mad.

P2:IS - OG Masked Circle

It was a series of circumstances that led to Tatsuya being the leader. Putting aside the subconscious "Red Hawk has always been the leader" thing, Lisa is bound to follow him because of her crush and because the note from the Kasu guys that caused all this was directed to him. Michel seems to already have had some degree of admiration for the "cool Sevens kid", nevermind that he awoke to his Persona way after Michel. Both Lisa and Michel realized Joker was focused on Tatsuya and began to defer to him. By the time Maya and Yukki joined, the team dynamics were already established, though the two newcomers didn't follow it as throughly as the others. Why should they? Tatsuya is literally a kid. That's why now and then it might seem like Maya or Yukki call the shots on something or the other. He's a leader the way the soccer team you formed over recess is the leader.

And so, it ends up with Tatsuya being the one who they allow to unofficially represent them, with Maya and Yukki being the ones they go to for actual advice. As the game progresses and Yukki becomes less and less involved in the general plot and backstory, Maya loses some of that leadership owed to her as one of the two adults. She doesn't have Yukki's supernatural knowledge, helpful contacts nor level-headness. And so, Tatsuya fully becomes the leader. Jun, who admires Tacchi, only helps to reinforce this dynamic. With their rediscovered memories Maya could shake up the dynamic a bit, fully reclaiming her role as the Big Sis who looks after the kids, but she's happy to let someone else take the lead. It's important to notice that at this point whenever she proposes or comes up with a plan, it's almost always guaranteed to be followed through. Maybe Tatsuya does feel like she should be the leader. Like he's expecting recess to end at any moment and the teacher to take over again.

And this directly leads us to...

P2:EP - Maya's Team

Honestly, the closest thing I can compare them to is the Crew of Light from Dracula. Everyone in the team agrees she's good and pure and want to protect her, despite her being one of the keys to stopping the Big Bad. She also has a timer that everyone is racing against (vampirification vs the Oracle of Maia). The entire team revolves around her, while having enough agency to go off and do side-quests on their own.

Now that I think about it, a Dracula AU for P2:EP sounds like a good idea...

Aside from that, there's no clear leader. At first it has the vibes of going on a magical adventure with your coworkers (only two of them are friends 😭), though by the end they are one of the teams with the deeper understanding of each other (really helps that they are already adults). They each take the lead depending on their area of expertise. Yes, this includes Tatsuya. If they had to choose a leader, it would be Maya, then Katsuya and Baofu would be tied, then Tatsuya with Ulala at the end. Tatsuya would be higher if he wasn't a teenager and it shows. Everyone asks him questions about this or that and he's got the NG+ stats, but at the same time you can't buy him alcohol 😂. Hard to take the lead when your big brother is on the same team.

P3 - SEES & Shadow Ops

Everyone give SEES a golden star for verbally assigning team roles. This is a strike team on a mission. Mitsuru is the team leader while Minato is the field leader. Answer to them depending on the situation, and if the usual one isn't available, go to their team/field counterpart. They were also the first ones to assign someone specific the role of navigator and support and play on their strengths outside of the player's preferences. As a more formalized team, their relationships in and out of the battlefield are the most different. This rigid dynamic would naturally give way to seniority in the case Minato AND Mitsuru were missing.

Yukari: Oh, no! What should we do?

Everyone: (Looks at Aki)

Akihiko: Why are you staring?

Bless Aki's heart. If we're talking about the timeframe where Ikutsuki was still the adviser, then he would have been the one to step in. Despite being an adviser, it's clear that he was an unofficial leader, mostly due to being there from the very beginning. RIP, one more adult gone from their lives.

In any case, the Answer really changed SEES' rules. The role of field leader may have started as the one who seemed to have their shit together the most during battle, but it evolved into being synonymous with Minato. So when he Doored, it was Minato's Power that made everyone subconsiously decide Aigis was the new field leader. During their Shadow Ops days, the role of field leader is probably shared between her and Mitsuru. And with Akihiko coming and going between world training and school, the next ones to take charge would be Yukari (rule of seniority) and Fuuka (the navigator with all the knowledge).

P4 - Investigation Team

We're back to tomfoolery, but this time its organized tomfoolery... more or less. Yu became the leader as soon as he awakened to his Persona. At first it was because he was the only one with the power, but then he saved Yosuke who probably went "hey, this guy's the leader" to anyone who joined. Yu is the quiet kid who everyone assumes to be super smart and capable because he's very good at this one thing while internally he has as little a clue of what's going on as the rest of them. Unlike Tatsuya, Yu accepts the title and makes the most of it: he calls the shots on when they're going to the TV World, he buys all the weapons, they meet only at his house, etc. After some time they also began to follow Yu due to his kindness and help in their personal lifes. He's also hyper-competent at some things, which adds to the "capable, quiet kid" reputation, even after they get to know the dork underneath.

For anything Yu misses as the leader, Yosuke covers him. After all, he's his best friend, the second one to awaken to a Persona, the one who "owns" their only other HQ (Junes), the one who organizes most of their outings and the one who speaks what Yu can't put into words. They assume that (when the investigation is concerned) Yosuke speaks with Yu's voice. That's also why it was so powerful when Yu went against Yosuke on whether they should throw Namatame into the TV.

Aside from those two, the IT doesn't care for seniority much. Naoto is a strong contender for the next leader, followed by Chie and Teddie (trust me, bro), then Rise and finally Kanji and Yukiko. Depending on what stage of his character arc Teddie is, he might take on more responsibilities. It's hard to argue about the Expanse against a literal shadow. In general, the IT is the most friends to ever friend.

P5 - Phantom Thieves

These guys looked at the villain teams and rogue groups from TV and movies and said "I want to be like that". Their dynamics are also different both inside and outside the field. They are theatre kids doing their best Evil Pokémon Team impression, even playing into their stereotypes. But outside they are casual friends who diss people in their group chat. Same with Yu, Akira initially became the leader on account of being the first one with the power (and being human-shaped) and later became a true leader due to his charisma.

Being in the PTs would be a lot of fun, because they let be each other be as unhinged as they want in battle, else someone would have called Haru out way earlier. Like all Morally-Grey-Teams from TV, they assign vague roles to each member: Joker is the leader, Mona is the mascot and exposition guy, Skull is the brawn, Panther is the femme fatale, Fox is the cool one who does the skill cards, Queen is the tactician, Oracle is the support and Noir is the trigger-happy one. Roles vague enough to be flexible that also don't cover all they really do for the team, but it certainly makes them feel more official, so they keep it that way. The first rule of Phantom Thievery is to have fun and be yourself. The second rule is to help the weak and dethrone the mighty.

By those self-imposed roles, Makoto would be the one they would follow if Akira wasn't around, though Morgana would be the best option. After them, they would follow Futaba (perks of being the hacker), and then go for the two others who were there when the PTs were founded, with Yusuke and Haru at the end.

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