Hiatus – 2015 – 06

NAV is on break until October.

Wow. I had feared I wasn't giving enough hints to show the Dude wasn't all he seemed, but I'm so glad to see most of you have picked it up!

Now time for Bandit! I know some readers hate him but do I have any that like him? Or at least tolerate him? What's your opinion of him?

Of my NAV characters, Bandit is one of the harder ones to write. I can't explain why since I don't know if readers have picked up on certain aspects of his personality yet, but he is certainly a challenge!

30 Comments

The Bandit IS pretty tough to figure out. :\ When I first saw him in the story, I thought ‘Wow! This guy is a jerk!’ Since then… I’m not so sure.

He comes off as a jerk in the beginning… maybe a bit of a sadist too since he created the Angus twins, whose purpose is to bully new players… at least in the early chapters it seems that way, but he may not have been directly involved with the creation of those AI but had a part in it… *shrugs* Who knows? :\

*ahem* ANYWAY… the more I saw the Bandit, the more I began to wonder about who he is (or was). He seems to care about Kat, knowing who she really is, and is curious about her. I think he’s not too sure what is true and what isn’t, considering what he knows.

What DOES the Bandit know about Kat?

-The two of them were pretty close growing up.

-She is some kind of cyborg.

-She thinks hacking is okay.

-She killed her own mother.

The first three are ones the Bandit already knows about Kat. But the last bit, he’s still trying to figure it out. Is she someone to trust or is she really dangerous? What he knows is probably what he heard through word of mouth or through television. He’s either sure or unsure and that’s what he is trying to figure out: The truth along with Kat’s true intentions.

Overall, the Bandit is very complicated to describe. While he seems very confident and a bit jerkish at times, the Bandit does have this complex side to him. Not sure if I can call him misguided or not. Seems that way but… I think it’s best if I continue reading the story just to be sure. :\

TL;DR version: The Bandit is a very complicated person to understand and I kinda want to see more to his character and development to be 100% sure of my opinion of him. :\

Also don’t forget that he thinks that shes fun, in an akward way and also the guy had a crush on her the first time around

Regarding the Dude, pretty much the only hint I got about him not being what he seemed was his winning the tournament and that he had a halfway serious dialog with the Bandit. What other hints did you give us? It’s not a spoiler question if I ask about the past, right? 🙂

The Bandit is interesting. I didn’t like his cocky macho attitude towards Kat during the tournament and I don’t understand why he would have a big fanbase while behaving like that, but I liked his cocky attitude towards Jane.
Also I like the conflict of Jane and Bandit a lot, because he’s Tenka and she’s Anti-Tenka, Tenka dominates the Game by practically cheating what with the complicated Special rules, Sandra tries to fight Tenka and thus wants Kat on her side, Bandit wants to find his former “girlfriend” without getting everyone to hunt her down and kill her, but both Bandit and Jane behave so mean towards Kat that I don’t get how either of them is planning on actually gaining her trust. But since she planned to trust nobody anyway they have a lot of work to do one way or another.

I think a really big hint was the whisper scene with Danni. To the viewers, he kept his facade, but he was serious and talentedly multitasking behind the scenes.

You’re right, that is one really big hint indeed, thx!

Pretty much all his chats with Jake are hints 🙂

Ok, I see. Thanks for clearing that up!

I kind-of like Bandit. It is also a great plot device to have them not know the other one knows; I like that.

Bandit’s an interesting guy. He hasn’t actually “done” a whole lot yet, but his conversations always show multiple sides to his character. He appears as a loyal minion to his bosses in-game. He’s a very helpful guy (who seems to be downplaying his hacker abilities) to the people on his station in the real world. He seems to truly trust Brandon (Dude), and seems to be free to show his inner thoughts about TENka and Kleya to him. Then he’s the watchful eyes behind your back to most of his team, and seems to have hooks of some sort into everyone.

I think his trip through the tutorial stage was his most-revealing action so far. It showed that he is very familiar with the game, extremely good at it, and one heck of a long-term schemer. He’ll deliberately poke the sleeping dragon if it will get him a reaction that he’s looking for.

I actually really like bandit. I feel like we have only dipped our foot in the pool, the extremely deep pool, that is bandit. Right now we can only take him at face value because that’s all he has given us so far. So really I don’t think any of us can judge him yet, after all we haven’t seen the real him yet.

Actually the bandit is my second favorite (simply because he is not female as Kleya).
He is smart, driven by positive intentions and has inner struggles about what is right. Everyone should be concerned all the time whether what he does is right – so he does.

I can see how they are best friends, if they would not hide behind their caution respectively.

I expect him to rescue Kleya when she is stuck in a moral dilemma.

I like Jake/The Bandit as he is cool headed and smart. He has a background with Kat/Keyla and to me that makes him more appealing to me. I feel if they talked together, without any chances of repercussions, they could sort something out to keep her safe and have her not hack even when she losses control.

I have a hard time parsing him because it seems like he’s always adapting himself to suit his audience, whoever his audience is. He is definitely loyal and hard working and very clever, but I’m not sure where him creating bullying NPCs comes in – he’s not very nice, to put it another way.

Still trying to figure him out.

When first reading the Bandit I can’t say that I cared for him but after seeing some of his private interactions and memories of his and Kats time together I find that he interests me has a character. I’m curious to see what he will do and what role he will have in helping her succeed or fail.

Because I’ve kinda missed a couple entries, think I’ll just list how I feel about all of the characters at once…

It’s weird, I like all 5 of the main characters for different reasons, and probably in a much different order than we’re supposed to…

In order of least to most likable to me:

Kat: the main character, obviously she’s designed for the reader to like her… She wants to do right and fix her past mistakes.

Bandit: his personality keeps me guessing, and hence keeps me interested in him. I get the feeling that he knows a lot more than he wants his bosses to realize he knows… To the point where I’m not sure if he’s on their side, or a double agent… Or even if he’ll betray everyone for his own personal goals… He’s the toughest nut to crack of the group.

Jane: can’t tell if completely crazy, or genius. Seems to have a bloodlust, but probably plays it up for the crowds a bit too. I can relate to her, because if I was to play a game in front of an audience, I’d probably go completely gung-ho, and try to give the audience something entertaining to watch.

The Dude: clearly much more intelligent than he makes out to be, but plays the fool for the crowd. Again, because of my own approach to life and games, I relate a lot with him…

And my personal favorite, Danni: she reminds me of myself when I start playing a new game. There’s confusions about how things work, and what she should be doing, and while frustrating to watch at times, I personally would love to watch more of it. She’ll be our best bet at learning the rules of the game, because she’ll be learning them alongside us. Plus, watching her not immediately get things in the game adds the sense of wonder, as if it’s our first time in the world too.

I like the Bandit enough to be worried about him. He’s playing a dangerous game with dangerous people, and the fact that he actually trusts the Dude enough to be honest about some of the plotting with him is one of the clearest signs we’ve had that the Dude is more than just a clown. Both from what we’ve seen of his private thoughts and his Plot with the Dude, and from Kleya’s remembrance of him (“always does the *right* thing”) we know that he really cares about doing what’s really right – and not just what people will most easily accept as right. He seems to be employed by (possibly several layers of) the worst actual villains around; TENka in general, the guy who was giving him orders during the tournament (Dr. Grace), the guy that all the TENka people were debating whether or not to report Kat to him (the President?) during the tournament…

Clearly the “Bandit” persona is an act deliberately crafted for one of the plots (and we know there are at least two). I can’t reconcile the rest of his personality with his claim that the bully-twins are “his,” so I assume either they have a purpose we don’t know about (finding Kleya??) or he was required to build them by one of his TENka superiors.

I didn’t get around to posting on the Dude but I think he summarizes his own broad motivations for us on page 137. Yes he’s a real complicated person, and a loyal friend…but he’s not a leader, and he prefers it that way.

I largely agree with your assessment of “The Bandit”. How his personality reconciles with making(?) the Angus Twins I’d love to see addressed.

He started as an apparently cocky, smarmy jerk with a callous disregard to others’ lives only to later on show that he cares deeply about doing right by the world. He seems to follow Tenka’s rules more than he likes, if only to get the info he needs to fix things the way they need to be later.

Do I like “Bandit” now? Grudgingly…

I, myself, like the Bandit a lot, although it’s hard to say why sometimes; he gives conflicting information, which I think is intentional; he doesn’t want just anyone to know what’s going on in his head.

I like that he wants to do the right thing, and doesn’t let the people in charge determine what “right” is for him; letting a person in power tell you how to feel about things is the quickest way to be misled.

I love the end of the last book, how it’s revealed that Bandit’s goal is to help Kleya redeem herself (if we can trust what he says around the Dude). He seems to like her a lot, as a person, even after all that has happened.

My guess is that Dude is the person Bandit is most likely to be honest with.

What I find interesting is that, due to the friendship of Kat and Bandit, it seems likely that they were somewhat similar as children. Kat having had a traumatic experience that dramatically changed her experience and Bandit having not, it could be that Bandit is our best insight into the person Kat was before… or not, I’m just naming a possibility. You can see some similarities, though: principally goal-oriented, loyal to friends, and I think it’s pretty clear that, intent notwithstanding, Bandit certainly enjoyed the Demoli route… Taking that to its logical conclusion, if the twins were not concocted as a part of some external plan of TENka, but were Bandit’s own creation, it could be revealing a degree of lack of concern for non-visible individuals (a flaw in reasoning that most people have, so is totally believable, in spite of how evil it might sound) that might have gotten Kat in trouble in the first place. I don’t know, though; maybe I’m drawing the parallels to strongly… probably.

It’s also worth remarking that Bandit is “another protagonist” of sorts: aside from Kat, he seems to be the character we follow the most (having seen his reality). Like Kat, that makes his personality intertwine with the plot in ways that are hard to separate, which I think might be a part of why it’s so hard to get a read on him (in addition to his constantly appealing to different audiences, of course).

Bandit seems to be the biggest character with the “Knows more then he lets on” And, it seems he knows more about the hacker attacks then anyone else. I like to think that maybe he had a hand in it. Other then that, he is a character that I love to hate. As his bandit persona, he is so cocky and almost arrogant. While he’s not the bandit though, he seems more kind, and caring of those he knows.

Bandit feels almost the opposite of The Dude. In that he still puts up a persona, but it’s not one you’re meant to like, but fear/respect. but like The Dude, I think he’s a lot more complex than what he shows. Which in a way feels like his downfall, I get the impression he overthinks things and tends to second guess himself.

I love Bandit. He’s got some really interesting stuff going on with Kat. I’m really fascinated watching that unfold. I don’t really want to go into a long explanation about why I think that, but when I read what you said, I couldn’t let you go thinking that no one really likes Bandit. You might do something terrible! (I doubt it, but it was worth making sure.)

The bandit is far and away my favorite character. He’s just so many things I love in a character. Pragmatic and romantic. Delicious.

Jake is my favourite character. Again, it is because I relate to him and his situation. He is at his core – if I’m reading him right – very protective and very caring, I’d even say compassionate, and with a lot of empathy. But then he is completely useless and insecure about showing this. He is highly intelligent and one of the most knowledgeable people around, but his persona is such that he isn’t quite seen for what he is – increasingly so the farther from Reality we step. Maybe this is what saved from the witch-hunt on the hackers.

And the really really good dynamic between Jake and Kat/Kleya/she-who-must-not-be-named is, of course, the very best part of this comic. The Game happens to be *their* game, their childhood memories, it is where they come from. They certainly recognised each other very quickly, when they first met in the preliminaries. But they are afraid to show it. They still have almost no idea of each others motives and intentions, and are trying so very hard to figure it out. What are their emotions towards each other? Conflicted, it seems to me. Jake seems to be protective, worried, caring, and curious towards Kleya. He has been angry but that has gone away. While he also seems somewhat afraid that he will find her to be truly evil, that he would find she killed her (sort of their) mother with intent, he rightly does not believe this to be the case and even if it were he still wouldn’t want her dead. Unlike more or less the rest of the world.

Kleya seems… hurt and insecure, probably from that anger which Jake no longer holds, attracted to him and disturbed or conflicted by that attraction, and most of all afraid – not only of his intentions but also of his feelings towards her. Actually, that part seems to matter more to her – her fear is not of being killed for her actions but one of being shunned. And especially by him. She wants him to hug her if they meet, she wants *at least him* to believe her story, and she is really really afraid that he might not even listen.

Gosh, this is dramatic. Like, the fiction kind of dramatic, the Shakespeare kind of dramatic. What, indeed what in the names of all that is holy, did I ever do to make this qualify as a relatable situation? :/

I like this sketch of Bandit. I really like his outfit and the line-art shows me details of his outfit that I had not noticed before. Now I have to go back and find a good color panel of him to look at again!

(This is -not- a criticism of your normal art. I just don’t have the best vision and thus often don’t automatically pick up on details easily.)

The Bandit is a sappy guy. He comes over as confident and even arrogant, but that is more a function of being a prodigy at computers and programming than part of his overall personality. If people have been telling you you are fantastic, it will rub off. However, he is a hopeless optimist and romantic, wishing for everyone to see how wonderful the world would be if only we could all get along. While he can definately see that people don’t always have the best intentions, he can’t accept the cynics view that even ordinary people, for ordinary reasons, may be capable to commit unspeakable acts. Wether or how this applies to Tenka and Kleya remains to be seen.

More on him personally. He is socially capable, but in a calculating way. He can manipulate and knows exactly how far he can push people and how far he can push his luck. While he can care for other people, he lacks slightly in empathy, realizing only after the fact that his actions may have caused emotional distress (think of not reporting on his location before the blackout)

I could be wrong ofcourse, but it was fun writing this.

Would love to see daily updates… even if they’re just black & white or grayscale. Story is terrific, but moving awful slow. (Of course, I understand it’s on hiatus until October. But when it comes back, would love to see more and more often. I don’t much care about the color. The B&W and story is good for me. : )

I know others may disagree. So the lengthy controversy is open to discussion. 😀

I *love* Jake. I’m really interested in seeing him developed more as a character.

The Bandit is cool, but not as cool as his real-life self.

I actually really like Jake as a character. I know the feeling of trying to be the “perfect” do-gooder to everyone. I don’t think he’s trying to be dishonest, and even if he is manipulative, he doesn’t see himself like that. He probably even sees himself as loyal to TENka, despite not telling them about Kleya. And I’ve noticed he’s never vocal about his opinion – the only time he says something really forcefully to anyone (aside from Brandon) is when he’s lying about Kleya being “her.” In the end, I think he wants everyone to like him, and he himself probably thinks he’s a good person at heart. That may have even been what landed him with the chipped-tooth guy against Kleya, assuming it wasn’t whatever happened with her mother. The best case scenario is that he just got swept along.

On another note, both Jake and Kleya seem to have a misconception about what being “good” means; Kleya wants everyone to like her (but for her it’s not as natural as for Jake), and Jake thinks working for TENka is good (which is where his loyalty for them comes from). Jake, though, seems to have a strong moral compass separate from TENka and from wanting approval. I think both of them have a long way to go 🙂

Obviously, he still likes “Kleya” more than he thinks he should, since he cannot countenance murdering her own mother. This is probably the only real reason he hasn’t turned her in, though he would deny that vehemently. He is certainly playing a multilayered game with TenKa and others, and can be very calculating. He appears to be an arrogant bully at first, then, in an different context, like a caring and conscientious person. He claims the two bully AI’s as his “girls,” and I think said he programmed them. The way they persecute “weak” players and make it hard for them to even get a fair chance is troubling, and seems like someone almost completely different from the guy who is trying to find out the truth before he lets anyone get hurt (let alone killed, like Danni’s old partner). Which one is the facade and which one is real, I doubt I can truly perceive.

He certainly seems to care about following the rules for their own sake, but is plotting against someone in power, perhaps because that person is corrupt? With someone who is so good at putting up a false face, it’s hard to know what he’s really up to, and I wouldn’t trust him if I met him; if I knew him as well as Brandon (the Dude) does, I might have a different opinion, as the glimpses into his backstory and interactions with his superiors hint at someone very different from the character Danni so wisely distrusts.

Not A Villain Webcomic

Webcomic of a semi- reformed hacker trying to redeem herself in a post- apocalyptic world she may have created.

Hiatus – 2015 – 06