#(The only character with people skills in the Stingray cast is Phones

[riallasheng]

Oh Captain, my Captain!!

Happy Birthday, Troy Tempest ^^

you ridiculous, kind hearted, short-tempered, well-meaning bundle of Hero!! (with zero-people skills)

[riallasheng]

I don't remember if I already asked one. 🤷‍♀️

How about Wasted Potential for the character ask?

Thanks!

You had not, and I thank you most happily for asking!! ^_^

Wasted potential, huh? this one's gonna be fun! XD

Fireball: Venus in the Century 21 / TV21 comics is the easy one, as she (like most of the female characters, sadly) basically was non-present in the comics. Which is an absolute crime because I ADORE how competent, calm, and capable (and kind!) Venus is.

BUT ignoring that for the moment to instead look at the show proper... Lt. Ninety I think. He was a TON of fun, I loved how he bounced off Zero and the XL5 crew, and the few times he got to be in the spotlight were absolute gems. (also, only Bereznik character in any of the SHOWS and one VERY old unofficial interview said that he and Penny were cousins! Which I totally made use of for my fics XD I can't FIND the darn interview again though, and I'm not even sure if it was audio or text, it's been so long. )

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Stingray: Rather like Venus, Marina and Atlanta got written out of the comics (although Marina at least got a fairly long running solo comic in the Lady Penelope comics!) so honorable mention for two wonderful characters who done got done dirty.

In the show PROPER.... Phones. No debate. Oh my giddy aunt I love Phones so much that he became the KEYSTONE member of my 'T.I.A.M.A.T. War time destruction crew' for fics that I sadly don't think can be recovered. He's as laid back as Virgil, but he's got SO MUCH HEART. Gentle, kind, level-headed (only member of the Stingray cast with people skills....) and fiercely protective of those he cares about. The guy was a MERC (which is freaking awesome! Imagine if instead of the 3 dream episodes we'd gotten flashbacks to 'before Stingray'! Show us Phones finding out about the WASP operation getting ambushed by Bereznik forces in South America!! Show him managing to save Troy and the two becoming friends! ) He's also damn smart. He apparently was a high school or college drop out, yet still managed to become a WELL KNOWN communications and hydrophone expert, then graduated as a Lewie from the WASP Academy (which is basically college courses for naval officers) in a YEAR. That is really impressive!!

He balances hot headed impetuous Troy (and Atlanta... and Commander Shore) beautifully, always willing (and ABLE) to pull his skipper out of whatever he's gotten them all into this time. We don't get to SEE it often, but he's a skilled mechanic (Emergency Marineville should have been HIS episode dangnabit), and it's implied he's also a decent cook. Both of which are VERY much the opposite of Troy (Mr. I could set a pot of water on fire and can't tell an oven from a radio). He isn't a super genius like pretty much every tech character has been since Supercar... he's... more a jack of all trades who happens to excel at sound related matters.

I like that he has no DESIRE to be in the spotlight, in fact he seems happier in Troy's shadow... but I do wish we could have seen him get to be kickass a bit more often. He DOES get to be a bit more of a badass in the comics and annuals (Troy gets his hot headed butt captured in Bereznik and Phones just battles his way in to rescue him! In Marinevill Traitor (last comic story for Stingray) Troy gets framed for a bunch of shit and goes AWOL and Phones eventually catches up with him and HELPS HIM prove his innocence! There's a comic about... halfway? through Stingray's run where a (Bereznik it's implied) assassin tries to kill Phones and Phones KICKS HIS ASS.

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Lady Penelope: hmmm.... Richard Lyon I think. He gets to do SOMETHING in the first Penny Novel (Cool for Danger) but outside of that he borders on a cameo, which is too bad because he comes across as a rather interesting character, and we always learn a lot about Penny herself and her past when he's around.

TAG Penny: not sure I have one here. ^^

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Thunderbirds: TinTin and Grandma get honorable mentions for the once again absolute CRIME of being written out of the comics. Seriously, comics, why must you have done that?! i love so many of your stories and characters but still!!! In the show proper. John. Poor John. I know WHY it happened (heck, I even can understand it) but he was still such a fun character with what little screen time he got. As dry in wit as Scott, SNARKY as all hell, a communications expert, a bit shorter of a fuse in temper than most of the Tracy boys (not as short as Alan, but not as laid back as Scott and Virgil) and also a bit impatient and VERY stubborn. He's smart, well AWARE of the fact that he's smart, and at times seems like he doesn't like waiting for others to catch up with him. He cares deeply and feels strongly about things, and is VERY honest and forthright. He doesn't mince words, just says what he thinks clearly and plainly, no word games. He really only got cameos in all media until TAG, but we do get to see and learn a lot about him in Danger at Ocean Deep and honestly his snark, impatience, and just... EVERYTHING really made me fall in love with his character - there's a reason he's been my second favorite of the bros since I was a kid XD

TAG: Hmmmmm... still only on my first watch through of the series, but I'm gonna go with the Mechanic. I think he had the potential to be quite interesting and he (like EOS) just kinda... seems to vanish and not be used much after Season 2? ...Also I STILL think there is a MASSIVE wasted opportunity to have had him be KYRANO. I mean he SEEMS to be an adult instead of a teen/young adult (to me at least) and the way the Hood was controlling him to threaten the Tracy family could ahve been a cool evolution of the TOS AND it could have carried the Kayo / Hood interactions forward out of S1 and added a new dimension! Auuuuugh. Just. IT COULD HAVE BEEN AMAZING!!!

04 film: Scott, Virgil and Gordon. You literally could replace EVERY ONE of their scenes by having one of the other characters doing it (Jeff and John mostly). Hell it's actually a bit confusing which one is which. (Actually there were rumors that originally Jeff was missing / killed by the Hood and Jeff's role was SCOTT'S, explaining his much more active role and why he was DRAMATICALLY younger and... I kinda would have liked to have seen that)

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Captain Scarlet: (At least the Angels aren't written out of the comics all that much! Plus they had their own rather fun solo run over in the Lady Penelope comics). Hard pressed between Grey and Magenta, and gonna go with Grey just becuase I love him in Winged Assassin and afer that episode he just... basically cameos, i think he only really gets lines again in Manhunt and he only SHOWS UP in like 12 episodes in total, most of that non speaking cameos. :/ (although I do have a point of umbridge with his and Green's bios. ...both say 'newly formed WASP' when Wasp was formed sometime in 2040. That is NOT newly formed. Also Stingray makes it clear that the sub is still fresh and untested and Phones and Troy are refered to as her first crew, so Grey being Stingray's original captain doesn't... work. (Which is sadly a bit of an issue with more than one CS bio. ...Dianne has a funny one as a result of a mixup that had the CS bio writers thinking TBs were set in the 2020s, as Dianne was TRAINED by a 'retired' Penny... even though the two are only 3 or so years apart in age.)

New Captain Scarlet: ooooo another tough one. ....I ADORE nOchre and nGrey and wish they'd gotten more screen time and narrative focus! nHarmony was also fantastic and just tons of fun whenever she was on screen. I guess I'd probably go with nOchre if I had to choose just one. She's this fiesty little gung-ho rambo and I love every second she's got on screen (Harmony and Grey are in REALLY CLOSE COMPETITION THOUGH)