#Video Game Characters That Never Were

[captainfreelance1]

Harold Henry Hazard was born March 9, 1900 in Mobile, Alabama. Coming from a poor family Harold or Hap as he was more commonly known, worked nights as a school janitor while concentrating on his studies by day; Hazard's hard work would pay off as he soon received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy. Hazard would graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering and was commissioned as an Ensign in 1921, he was soon assigned to the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps were he would be posted to various ships and bases over the course of next six years. Hazard grow tired of the military life and resigned his commission leaving the Navy at the rank Lieutenant, he soon took a marketing executive job with the Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit , Michigan.

Hazard would work for Packard from 1927-1931 before being laid off due to the Great Depression, He would work various odd jobs over the next five years before moving to the United Kingdom. In 1936 Hazard arrived in Canterbury, Kent with hopes of starting a new business selling used farm equipment called Hazard Supply & Engineering, the company would do well for three years turning a small profit until the outbreak of the second world war in 1939.

After Britain declared war against Nazi Germany Hazard joined the Canterbury Home Guard eager to fight the supposed coming invasion, Hazard built a wide variety weapons out of worn out farm equipment he could not sell. Many of his fellow Home Guard volunteers thought him mad but welcomed his ingenuity nonetheless, Hap was ahead of his time with several of his ideas such a Mini Smoke Machine and a Hand Held Rocket launcher. He was often seen at Home Guard meetings wearing his Makeshift Suit of Armor, Hap took great pride in his contribution to British defense. When the United States enter the War Hazard rejoined the U.S. Navy and served as an aide to the Commander of Naval Forces in Europe Admiral Harold Stark; Hazard was disappointed not to have a frontline assignment but was proud to wear a U.S. Navy Uniform once again. After the war Hazard was discharged with the rank of Captain, he returned to Canterbury were he continued to run his business until his death from stomach cancer in 1983.

After seeing several posts with the #Influenceindiechallenge which was started by the folks at NRGComics, I decided to throw my own hat into the preverbal ring with listing off influences for my original character Hap Hazard.

Hap's physical appearance without his armor is modeled off that of famous NASCAR driver Bill Elliott, as you can see they both have curly red hair, blue eyes and both possess a tall slim build; However that's were similarities the end as Elliott is more down to earth then Hazard and has much more soft spoken personality; Awesome Bill from Dawsonville holds several records in NASCAR too numerous to mention here.

Two historical figures from the actual time period who played a small role in helping me create his backstory were British military engineer Percy "Hobo" Hobart and American architect C. Howard Crane; Major General Sir Percy Hobart came up with several ideas for specialized tanks, dubbed 'Hobart's Funnies' the vehicles which proved to play a key role in the D-Day landings; Hobo and Hap both served in the Home Guard before returning to full time military service, but his story shares more parallels with fellow American C. Howard Crane; He was the architect who designed both the Fox Theatre and the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, Crane's Career was sadly effected by the Great Depression and he moved to London, England to find work; During World War 2 Crane served in the 1st American Squadron of the Home Guard, a unit made up of several Americans who lived in Britain at the time; Hazard's key different is that he's younger then both Crane and Hobart, nevertheless both men inspired me to create the character.

The United States Navy Civil Engineering Corps plays a key role building and maintaining several of Naval Bases, since their formation in 1867 during the 1920s and 1930 they played a key role in the Navy's Airship program; it is possible that Hazard worked in the constitution of at least one these Airships during his time in the Navy from 1921-1927; During World War 2 Admiral Ben Moreell modernized the Civil Engineering Corps by forming the Naval Construction Battalions or Seabees these units were mobilized to deal with a variety engineering tasks often during heavy combat; Hap would have tried to get a command assignment to one of these units, He was passed over likely due to being the Engineering Advisor to Admiral Stark's staff.

Mick Jagger's portrayal of real life 1870s Australian Outlaw Ned Kelly in titular 1970 film, Jagger gives strong subtle performance in the role considering he's normally a singer rather then a full time actor; Ned like Hap created his own suit of armor out of used Farmer equipment, thought his goals were much less heroic then Hazard's were.

Two fictional characters also inspired the creation of Hap Hazard were Tony Stark and Angus MacGyver, Tony Stark or Iron Man created his own suit of armor to escape his captive in Vietnam during his first appearance Tales of Suspense #39; Iron Man's armor he wore in his first appearance was not the slick red gold look we know today but rather a grey bulky utilitarian no thrills design, it was this version that gave me the idea for Hazard's own suit of armor; MacGyver is the titular character of the American action television series, MacGyver is secret agent who is well known for his scientific abilities; MacGyver like Hazard often uses improvised gadgets to get him out of tricky situations.

Finally the setting I was largely Influenced by the hit British television series Dad's Army which told story of a fictional Home Guard unit, the series was set during the early days of World War 2 and was partially based on co creator Jimmy Perry experiences in the Home Guard; I also used the 1964 film The Americanization of Emily were James Gardner played an aide to American Admiral on the eve of the Normandy Landings, the film was loosely based off a novel written by William Bradford Huie who also served as an Naval Officer during World War 2.

Well that's story behind my latest creation I hope didn't bore y'all too much hearing about it, this was a lot of work to write down but it was also a lot of fun thanks for reading.

[caycanteven]

shakes rapidly

...c'mere pap lovers, I brought you food~! /j

(I will make headcannons for the Papy's soon I promise)

Big love to the creators of Swapfell and Fellswap 🫶

[ovegakart]

Hello yes I adore your Hylia design could we get more of it? (Skyward Sword is my favorite game) Also what are your thoughts on Fi?

we'll see about the more hylia content, depends on my mood.

My thoughts on Fi? Great character, in concept, poor execution in game. I played the wii version when it came out and while i liked her, i wish she would stop me less to tell me very obvious things in the game. Probably would have worked better as a voiced character so she can ramble about whatever without completely interrupting the player. I think they fixed a lot of that in the switch version.

[front-facing-pokemon]

[loppy-darii]

Hot dogs

[leupagus]

Say what you will about Martin's writing style (and I've said plenty) but I do think he's got the White Walkers' mythos worked out for a future book and IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO NICE IF THE SHOWRUNNERS HAD DONE 1/100TH OF THAT WORK SETTING THEM UP

Gus: I am mad all over again that there was absolutely zero explanation given as to why/how the Night King operates or how his powers work or why he chose now to attack or ANYTHING ELSE

Gus: on the plus side it means I get to make up a whole subplot that, not to brag, I'm comfortable saying is at least as good as anything D&D could've made up IF THEY HAD EVER EVEN BOTHERED

Gus: but like - okay so craster's infant sons get sacrificed to the Night King, who them magics them into White Walkers as babies

Mardia: Yep yep

Gus: so does that mean there's a white walker nursery

Mardia: Omg

Gus: do they have to change diapers

Mardia: LOOOOOOOL

Gus: is there a white walker daycare center

Gus: how does the night king TEACH his lil adopted monster babies

Gus: is there like storytime around the - well not fire

Gus: does the Night King remember what it was like to sit around a fire?

Gus: does he miss being a human and all his rage at the spell the Children of the Forest put on him to kill the First Men has curdled his brain?

Gus: what was he DOING for like 8 millennia, just hanging out?

Gus: did he get really good at ice fishing?

Gus: DO THEY EAT?

Gus: where the fuck do they get their snazzy outfits from

Gus: are there white walker tailors

Gus: what's the currency situation

Mardia: Lololololololol

Gus: I'M JUST SAYING

[broken-clover]

Regularly frustrated by the fact that most of my fixations aren't mainstream enough to have much in the way of official merch, but for the sake of both my sanity and my wallet, that's probably a good thing

[tearlessrain]

I mean years ago I really hoped that we might get some coherent dalish lore in this game that actually treated them with some measure of respect, and I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt that maybe people were right and the weird handling of their culture and beliefs thus far was a setup that would pay off when the veil crumbles and shit goes down and we see more of both the dalish and tevinter, and then we'd get some cool deconstruction of both the dalish gods AND the maker/andraste.

but that was years ago and by roughly the third time they re-announced the game I was starting to suspect that development had passed out of the hands of anyone who would give a shit about lore and setting and story payoff long ago.

and based on what people are saying so far it looks like that's true.

[greatgoddyke]

some bobbles (+ two unfinished things)

[raven]

astarion really exemplifies every issue with modern fandom. in the game, he is an interesting character with a complicated relationship with sex that is deeply tied to his backstory and not often seen in video game romance options, imo. and then on a metatextual level, because of the way he's a white twink, he is given a million times more content than everyone else in the game, which is frustrating at best. and of course because he's a white twink the fandom is absolutely insane and oversexualizing, when a major point of his romance arc is not wanting to have sex with you even though he's attracted to you because of how he's been treated in the past-- and fans are doing the exact same thing, treating him like an object-- so thats literally how people who don't know the game see him-- UGH.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Apparently I can meet my goal of roughly 400,000 words in 6 months if I just somehow write at least 2,200 words a day ghbjh... Almost 2,500 today... huzzah...

[yikes-ajax]

Found some old RimWorld art I made that I thought fellow warcrimers would enjoy :)

[echidnana]

fuck offff just cried watching a still wakes the deep playthrough

[bl4ckbox]

as a veteran of the media opinions website I have to respect the right to varying media opinions but one thing I will not compromise on is that diegetics as a serious form of literary analysis or critique is largely fucking stupid and just straight up wrong

[bitchesgate3]

I will always be in favor of playersexuality. Until the day game designers have more nuanced understandings of sexuality.

Game designers still only understand flamboyant gay, mean lesbian, slutty bisexual, and quirky queer. Any identities not those are not even recognized. And any complex characterizations are only afforded to "normal" straight characters.

While Larian gave us a step in the right direction, they are still coming from the above framework and trying to reiterate upon that. And you have to understand that framework in order to recognize why their implementation is still somewhat shallow while still being the best offered compared to other games in the genre.

In the past, every time I encountered a woman in a romanceable video game who correctly represents my own experience of bisexual/pansexual identity, she was only romanceable by male characters.

These are women who have tough exteriors on a spectrum of "bitchy femme", a midpoint of "aloof androgynous", to "tough masc". All points that are gnc in some way, but all are women who also have a soft interior that is interpreted as conventionally feminine.

Game designers interpret these two traits (outward gnc and inner softness) as a nullification to heterosexual woman. Time and time again. Falling into the stereotype of being a woman for a man to tame.

Will they ever understand? Or do people as a whole just don't understand the many ways bisexuality can take shape?

[soupy-sez]