Character Showcase

Profile #2: Dalek Sec
Home universe: The prime Doctor Who universe.
Image: vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/tardis/images/b/bf/Dalek_Sec_stalk.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131112211240
Trivia fact: Unlike most other Daleks who have armour shells made of 'Dalekanium', Dalek Sec's armour is made of Metalert.

"No, Dalek Thay. If we are supreme, why are we not victorious?"

The Daleks are a genetically engineered alien species created by a mad scientist named Davros. Their whole purpose in life is to exterminate all other life forms, which they deem to be genetically inferior. They live their whole lives inside cold, metal shells. At first, they were rather weak and unable to live outside of their city on the planet Skaro. But over time, they became the most effective killing machines in the universe, and feared by all. Today, I will showcase an individual Dalek, and arguably the most iconic one of the lot discounting the Emperor of the Daleks himself.

Dalek Sec was the commander of Seventh Incursion Squad. His mission was the oversee the extermination of another alien species known as the Mechanoids. When he reported back to the Dalek Emperor, Dalek Sec was given a very special promotion. He was appointed to be the leader of a new group of highly intelligent Daleks known as the Cult of Skaro. According to the Tenth Doctor, the Cult's mission was to imagine new ways of killing other life forms, or to 'think as the enemy thinks', with the enemy being the rest of creation.

Dalek Sec, like the rest of the Cult, had a number of qualities and traits that most Daleks did not possess. He possessed imagination, and some hints of emotion that are usually suppressed in other Daleks' minds. His armour was black, which distinguished him from other Daleks and denoted him as the leader, as per Dalek tradition. Also, he and the other Cult members are the only Daleks seen so far with names. Their name tags can be seen beneath their eyestalks.

The Cult of Skaro were among the few Daleks who survived the end of the Last Great Time War, in which the Daleks and their opponents, the Time Lords, were both seemingly decimated. They all survived by the use of a Void Ship, which allowed them to travel in the white space between parallel universes. Their ship was captured by Torchwood One, an organisation founded by Queen Victoria to capture alien technology, and more importantly, a man called the Doctor.

Visually, Dalek Sec is of course meant to stand out amongst other Daleks and his brethren in the Cult, who all look identical save for unique ID tags. Paying homage to the classic era where Black Daleks were typically seen in a position of great power over the others, Sec is always meant to look like he is in charge, best seen when he lead his unit out of the Void Ship to descend upon Rose and Mickey, and when he was instantly giving commands to the entire Dalek army formerly sealed within the Genesis Ark. Even the mutant blob within the casing is unique. Instead of being pink, Sec is luminous green for whatever reason.

Now here's where things get a little complicated, and it may seem like I'm going off on a bit of a tangent here, but this stuff all ties in later. In a parallel universe quite different to the prime one in which Dalek Sec resides, a genius named John Lumic created what he believed to be the next step in human evolution. He created the Cybermen, walking suits of armour with transplanted human brains. These Cybermen managed to break into the prime universe so that they could 'upgrade' the humans there. When the Cybermen revealed themselves from the Void, the Void Ship containing the Daleks opened, revealing Dalek Sec and his comrades. Much to the Doctor's horror, the Daleks and Cybermen encountered one another in the Torchwood One base (which turns out to be inside Canary Wharf).

Instead of joining forces, the Cybermen and Daleks declared war, or as Sec called it, "pest control", on one another, as they both had completely different goals. The Cybermen wanted to conquer Earth so that they could upgrade humanity, while the Cult of Skaro wanted to release the imprisoned Daleks held within a mysterious object called the Genesis Ark so that they could continue their war with the rest of the universe. The Genesis Ark was, in fact, a prison ship created by the Time Lords, and the Cult needed a the hand of a time traveller to open it. During a scuffle, a man named Mickey Smith accidentally touched the Ark, resulting in millions of Daleks escaping and flying around London. However, due to the Doctor's meddling, all of the Cybermen and Daleks were banished into the Void, with the exception of the Cult of Skaro, who escaped the chaos with an 'Emergency Temporal Shift'.

During the Battle of Canary Wharf, Dalek Sec displayed some rather odd traits not associated with typical Daleks, namely emotions other than hatred. He showed great anger at the revelation of the Dalek Emperor's death, as well as extreme arrogance when he declared that only one Dalek could destroy all of the Cybermen on Earth. Perhaps what's strangest of all is the fact that Dalek Sec had something of a sense of humour, as he mocked the Cyber-Leader by saying that the war with the Cybermen was more like pest control, and that Cybermen are only superior in one respect: "(they) are better at dying."

Due to the Emergency Temporal Shift, Dalek Sec and his comrades were sent back in time to 1930s New York City, where they actually played a part in the construction of the Empire State Building. No joke. Sec realised that the Daleks were flawed, hence why they were never truly victorious, and needed to come up with a way to ensure his species' survival. He believed that the solution was to mix human and Dalek DNA together, using the Empire State Building's spire as a lightning rod to power his experiments. Dalek Sec himself merged himself with a businessman named Mr. Diagoras as part of the experiment. When the fusion was done, Sec emerged from his armour casing... As probably one of the worst looking monster designs ever seen in Doctor Who history. Basically, he had a humanoid body with a one-eyed octopus for a face. Ew. Just... Ew.

Sec began to realise that maybe, just maybe, trying to kill everything else in the universe all of the time was not the best way for the Daleks to survive. The other Cult members, Thay, Jast and Caan, all started to doubt Sec's leadership, and eventually betrayed him by chaining him up like a dog. Sec was eventually shot dead after he gave a speech to his former comrades about how their ruinous actions would eventually lead to their destruction.

After the Time War, the Doctor had pretty much given up on any hopes of redeeming the Daleks from their racist and destructive ways. He did believe that they had caused the deaths of the Time Lords, after all. But after Sec began feeling even more human emotions thanks to the merging experiment, the Doctor began to believe that there might be hope for the Daleks. However, since the Daleks are among the most iconic characters in Doctor Who and incredibly merchandisable (not to mention the fact that the BBC are contracted by the Terry Nation Estate to use them once per series or they would lose the rights to the characters), it is unlikely that the Daleks will be truly redeemed any time soon. Sec truly did develop as a character somewhat. The Doctor's comment about how the Daleks are incapable of touching anything outside of their metal shells struck a nerve within Sec as he was most eager to leave the confines of his destructive mobile prison.

Interestingly, a Dalek with the same casing as Sec's appears in the premier episode of Series 9, The Magician's Apprentice, though it doesn't seem to have any connection with the Cult, or leadership at all.

Overall, Dalek Sec was very different from other Daleks, and that is what made him so interesting. It's never explained why he possessed personality traits, and perhaps that is for the best. His witty banter with the Cybermen was surprisingly hilarious, though his sense of humour was unfortunately lost after his transformation into a human-Dalek hybrid. The Daleks overall would be better if they interacted with each other more often in the same way that Sec interacted with Thay, Jast and Caan in Daleks in Manhattan. There are no more evil Daleks with individual personality anymore, but if there were, the uniqueness of Sec and his comrades would probably be lost.

Profile #4: Edward Nashton/Nygma, aka The Riddler
Home universe: Batman Arkhamverse
Trivia fact: Edward once claimed to have an eidetic memory.

"Has your primitive mind finally given up and accept that I, the Riddler, am better than you?"

In most incarnations, Edward Nashton is an antagonist to Batman and a well-regarded member of his famous 'Rogues Gallery', which consists of Gotham's most heinous costumed criminals. His usual modus operandi is that he leaves riddles behind for police to find after committing his crimes, hence his nickname, 'The Riddler'. His penchant for leaving riddles everywhere soon became an obsession, as no matter how hard he tried, Edward could not commit a crime without leaving a riddle behind afterwards, and secretly grew to despise his obsessive compulsion. Most Riddlers found throughout the DC multiverse are also generally narcissistic, but still regard their worlds' Batmen as worthy opponents.

The 'Arkhamverse' Riddler is not like his alternate counterparts in many ways. Whereas other Riddlers dislike the fact that they can't commit any crimes without giving Batman or the GCPD riddles to solve which tend to inevitably lead to them foiling whatever plans they may have, this Riddler revels in giving his arch nemesis riddles (which generally can't be called 'riddles' at all) to solve and tends to put innocent people in danger to ensure that Batman does solve them properly.

As said previously, most Riddlers are arrogant and narcissistic, but the Arkham Riddler practically redefines those terms, believing that he is the absolute smartest and most ingenious person on Earth, and refuses to regard Batman as an intellectual equal even though Batman always managed to solve Edward's puzzles in the end. As Batman's constant victories over him took a toll on his psyche, Riddler's need to reassure himself continued to escalate in each new Batman: Arkham game; by the time of the events of Batman: Arkham Knight, Edward can barely say more than a few sentences without insulting Batman or praising himself as he broadcasted videos of himself all over Gotham in the same way as Dr. Jonathan Crane, aka Scarecrow did.

Despite all of these extremely negative qualities that he would go on to gain, when 'Enigma' showed his face in Batman: Arkham Origins, he wasn't nearly as bad, insulting or narcissistic. In a sense, the Riddler is one of the most notable villainous characters in the game series to go through noticeable character development that progresses with each instalment. With each defeat at Batman's hand, the Riddler gets more unstable and vain (his obsession to defeat Batman gets progressively worse also) and this can be clearly shown in the series. In Arkham Origins, Edward is just a hacker with a slightly vain streak who is more interested in revealing other peoples' secrets than tormenting Batman. Chronologically later in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City which takes place several years later, Riddler generally acts more like his comic counterpart. Come Arkham Knight, and the Riddler is utterly dedicated and obsessed with humiliating and destroying Batman, as he actually somehow creates an entire robot army and a specialised mecha suit to kill Batman. It could be said that each time Batman bruises Edward's face and ego, the worse the Riddler gets.

As noted previously, most of Eddie's 'riddles' can't actually be classed as riddles at all. Considering how much importance Edward places on his beloved riddles, it's puzzling for him to do things like leave weird glowing trophies in random places or make Batman drive through racetracks. It could be a case of Riddler getting desperate to beat Batman and needing to stretch the definition of 'riddle' to its maximum leniency.

What's also notable is that while most other Riddlers consider themselves part of Batman's gallery of rogues and like interacting with the other villains, the Arkhamverse Riddler hates interacting with anyone, and isn't interested in helping out any other villains in their plans, especially Scarecrow. He even freely admits that he has no friends. The other villains just tend to either ignore him or treat him as an irritating nuisance as a result. However, the Riddler seemed to get, for whatever reason, more admiration from the other villains in Batman: Arkham Knight, as a random goon will occasionally say sincerely that "Riddler's definitely funnier" than Scarecrow, and believe that he, alongside Two-Face and Penguin, is the true ruler of Gotham. The Joker even seems to acknowledge Riddler as a potential equal, or at least that manifestation of the Joker living in Batman's mind does, as he seems to believe that Harley Quinn will move on from him and get with the Riddler.

The Riddler's design changes slightly with each game he physically appears in. In his chronological debut, Nigma looks like an ordinary white guy with spectacles. The heavier emphasis of the colour blue in his first outfit indicates that while he may be using scumbag-tactics, he still believes that what he does is just. However, the green trousers foreshadowed his eventual change into the Riddler. His costume in Arkham City is probably my favourite as its puts a couple of unique twists on the classic Riddler look such as the addition of a completely green cane and glasses instead of a domino mask while still keeping it faithful. His look in Arkham Knight is also good. His continuous defeats have left a great mark on his appearance as well as his sanity, making him look very gaunt. The filthy tank top makes it seem like Nigma is so obsessed with victory that he simply forgot to buy more clothes, and the green jacket covered in scribblings of question marks make it look like Nigma is desperately clinging to this manic persona no matter what.

Overall, the Arkhamverse Riddler made a big impression upon gamers who were accustomed to seeing the Riddler as an ineffectual nuisance to Batman in a ridiculous outfit with a rubbish modus operandi, and were surprised to see Rocksteady's remarkably sinister version of the character. The Arkhamverse Riddler also proves that words can harm, as his constant insults towards Batman and the player controlling him throughout the story can quite easily get under one's skin. One of the most cathartic things in all of the games, however, is hearing the Riddler get more and more nervous and panicky as Batman solves his riddles one by one until there are no more to solve. It's practically become a trademark of the series.

Profile #6: Balrog, aka Boxer
Home universe: Street Fighter video game universe
Trivia fact: Balrog is known as M. Bison in Japan, hence why he is commonly referred to simply as "Boxer" to avoid confusion during competitive fighting game tourneys.

"MY FIGHT MONEY!"

Balrog first appeared in Street Fighter II, in 1991. Compared to the rest of the freakish, outlandish cast of Street Fighter II, Balrog did not stick out very much. He couldn't shoot fireballs from his hands, he couldn't breathe fire, and he couldn't propel himself forward headfirst like an airborne torpedo. Balrog is just a boxer, but he's very good at what he does.

Balrog is one of the Four Shadaloo Divas, and one of Master Bison's most respected enforcers. Balrog was kicked off of the boxing circuit for his overly violent and aggressive behaviour, and turned to a life of crime and shameless hedonism almost instantly. Money is Balrog's sole motivation in literally anything he does, and can hardly go for a few seconds without either thinking or talking about them green, green Bison Dollarz. When confronting another warrior, Balrog often hands out straight-up death threats to his opponent.

His fellow Shadaloo boss characters, Vega, Bison and Sagat all had gimmicks and unusual, fantastical designs. Vega was a cage-fighting Spanish matador-ninja with a china mask, a claw on his fist, and a narcissistic personality. Bison was a flying, superpowered dictator who could steal people's bodies. Sagat was a hulking, fire-throwing Muay Thai badass with an eyepatch and gnarly, burning scar across his chest. Balrog had no such gimmicks, and hardly any variety in his moves (close to all of his moves and special moves, including the kick attacks, are instead just punches). He could punch people really, really hard and snarl a lot, and that was it. Despite being apparently uninteresting and bland, Balrog still has his fans, perhaps because he is a character far more grounded in reality than the others. He's my dad's favourite SF character, and my dad doesn't even like Street Fighter very much.

Balrog's design was obviously meant to imitate "Iron" Mike Tyson's. He looks practically identical to him. Like Tyson, Balrog uses dirty tactics in the ring in his later appearances, with one of his ultra combos in Super Street Fighter IV essentially being a long string of illegal boxing moves. But considering that the World Warrior tournaments are no-holds-barred, Balrog's nasty techniques aren't actually cheating at all. His gloves, however, have the Shadaloo skull logo emblazoned onto them, showing his alignment in the story of the games. Balrog has always been associated with buffalo and bisons (a leftover from his Japanese name), and as such his moves tend to have him simply charge at his opponent like a stampeding bull. Fittingly, his wild costume is makes him look like an actual bison.

Character development in the Street Fighter games tends to be something of a rare occurrence as gameplay is always the main focus. Balrog, like Ryu, is one of those characters who hasn't really changed at all in any of the many games he has shown up in. Balrog has appeared in every iteration of Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter IV, so the static nature of his character is all the more obvious.

One thing that is the most balls-to-the-wall badass about Balrog is his theme music. Whether in the original arcade release or in the latest Street Fighter IV remix, Balrog's Theme captures the titular character perfectly. The beginning of it sounds like the start of a theme of a heroic or glorious character, but slowly it gets grimier to represent Balrog's true nature as a scumbag. Listen to it!

In conclusion, Balrog is a simple design in a world full of increasingly bizarre designs. One would think that a petulant pugilist like Balrog would struggle to remain relevant as weird and wacky characters come along and steal the spotlights and the hearts of players. But there is obviously something about Balrog that strikes a chord with people. There's reasons why he is one of the first DLC fighters set to appear in Street Fighter V. People just love boxers I guess.