darkSpyro

Started this topic so we can discuss about the NPCs (Non-playable characters) in the Skylanders games. This topic is only be about NPCs, not Skylanders. Some ideas for discussion:

• Do you like the character? Do you hate it, or are you indifferent?
  
• Character development since it's introduction
  
• Design and personality of the character
  
• Voice acting
  
• Interactions with other characters
  
• Favorite lines/moments of the character
  
• Do you want to see the character in the next game(s)?
  

I always liked Tessa, she's energetic and not as annoying as Flynn. Her design's rather simple and her voice fit the character very well. I hope we will see her in the following games as well.

Same as Kaos said: I hate her the least out of them, though in my case the SF cast. She's not written as a punchline like most of them, has a good design, though in the other hand... Kinda doesn't have much going for herself other than the cheerful personality,position and Whiskers. She needs some development other than heroism, a flaw, something now that she shares the spotlight with everyone else - down to the redesigns, since they're all complex and well dressed but she's still wearing leaves.
Voice is alright, though the VA sounds dead when yelling 'Kablam'. Even the devs can blow out the mic with 'boom', c'mon girl.

I'd be ok with her in future games, but as I said, she needs some addition.

Tessa is a bit...plain, but acceptable. What I mean is she is not as boring/annoying as other NPCs, but you aren't eager to talk with her neither.

There is no room for suprise, jokes or any other piece of information that motivates you to speak with her. She really needs something to catch a bit of attention, maybe including some jokes like they are doing with other NPCs or being the holder of valuable information.

As for her design, well is not bad, but it didn't caught my eye like with persephone or Kaos. Another feline type of character, without any feature to make her look different from others (neiother in a good or bad way)

To be honest, NPCs characters is one of the things that I think needs to be worked a bit more in the franchise. They feel a bit simple and childish. Hopefully there has been a big step forwards in SC, as certain NPCs have really been developed in a good way, but I'll talk about them when their round takes place.

My 2nd favorite NPC (Not counting villains) behind Sharpfinn. I agree with Bifrost though, she needs more development, and she has potential too. Great VA IMHO too, love her design and personality, but as said, she needs more to her. I'd love to see more of her.


Can Sharpfinn be next?


Also @angelg, she's supposed to be a Fox, so she's a canine. I know it can be confused for a feline tho.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

My 2nd favorite NPC (Not counting villains) behind Sharpfinn. I agree with Bifrost though, she needs more development, and she has potential too. Great VA IMHO too, love her design and personality, but as said, she needs more to her. I'd love to see more of her.


Can Sharpfinn be next?


Also @angelg, she's supposed to be a Fox, so she's a canine. I know it can be confused for a feline tho.

Oh my bad, that's what happens when I talk too much

I like her. She's got a certain spunkiness to her that makes her likable for me, and I think she actually works well with Flynn. I wouldn't mind seeing her become a main NPC. Though if I'm allowed to talk about Whiskers, I'd say I kind of wish he had more personality to him other than just "bird", like maybe make him like Maximus from Tangled.

I hate her.

I love her. She is probably the first female NPC with hair and a tail. The way she dresses makes her look more of a warrior than just an adventurer. Not to mentioned her cute face. Too bad she never became one of the playable Skylanders.

You really have to read between the lines as well as read the comics and other media to get a better feel for any Skylander character. So my views on any characters could seem batty if you don't know much about them...basically if you are going by video game cannon only.

I love Tessa because she's the perfect counterpoint to Cali in regards to Flynn. Cali right at the start comes off as very tsuntsun, basically cold, stone faced, all business and rejectful of any advances. Tessa is perky, bubbly...a bubbleheaded character that nervously yammers on and on way too much and over enthusiastically. She brushes off (ignores) any advances rather than outright rejects them like Cali. Meaning she's interested but probably doesn't quite know how to deal with it.

Come Superchargers you can tell there is a bit of rivalry between them in regards to Flynn, that they are both warming up to the big lug and they rather the other not get his attention, even though they are probably not very serious about him in a romantic way. Cali has lighted up because of Tessa and is becoming almost as goofy as her by the end of SC. It's very obvious that she'll lose Flynn to Tessa if she isn't less of a cold jerk towards him. Basically women don't like their BFF's to have something they don't, ie a boyfriend, even if that guy is a total jerk.

Anyway her presence isn't necessary at all in Trap Team nor SuperChargers and yet she's there, which makes it obvious that she is there for personal reasons rather than necessity. Tessa is supposed to be the next Queen or village elder leader (whatever) but she is quite the tomboy Princess stereotype and she obviously does not want this role. In fact it seems that she ditched her entire village to go have fun with the Skylanders but more possibly just hang around Flynn as he was the only one that actually "respected" her. I don't think she gets many people to actually listen to her in the village by the way she nervously rattled on and on in Swap Force to the point of being annoying and desperate. Somehow Flynn puts up with it and sticks around her for the entire game. Now you cannot get rid of her as she's sticking around him like glue around the Academy.

Aside from implyed romantic issues, we really don't know much about her. But then this isn't an RPG where we get back stories to actually know anyone either. This is why I wanted a cartoon or a serious novel series, to flesh out the characters and give them some depth. We basically have to assume a lot about the characters for now. Also I have to remind myself that this is only a child's game and the people behind these things probably never had a grand scheme for any character and we fans probably love them far more than they do, so it's best to not get too attached or invested in any character's implied history or progression.

But all in all I really do like Tessa. She is a very kind person and bubbly. She's obviously a bit needy and a little loose in the head but not annoyingly so like Mags. She's probably my number one in the Skylanders NPC waifu list given how little I know about her. Then again the list of female hero NPC main characters is horribly short at only four (her, Cali, Persephone and Mags) and there isn't a lot of winners there to pick from either.

I really look forward to seeing more of her in the future but I really do believe that they had reached their limit with the character given the context of the game and she'll probably not progress any further. The voice acting is spot on and she has a cute accent. Character design is good but I'm not really into furries so she's not exactly attractive looking or anything. I'd probably be very much crazy for the character in a better game with better writing and a good back story for her.

Ah, Tessa. I like her quite a bit. I don't feel like she's actually developed too much since her debut. I just don't really see it for some reason. Same goes for her interaction with other characters. Her voice fits her personality a lot. It's hard to explain, but I like that. There's never any been any memorable moments for me to share really. I would willingly welcome her into the next game(s), as it's pretty cool to see her. She also has my favorite designs out of the 'main' NPCs.

@fairyland - dunno, in Trap Team by the end it felt quite clear Flynn cares plenty about Cali but his ego will get in the way whenever she can hear him. Tessa just seems oblivious and interested in anything but a relationship,though so do most characters.
She also evacuated Woodburrow in SC, she's around because they don't need her for the time being. That or she's actually sick of those guys who get captured or attacked by the dumbest things and left them under someone else's protection despite being the Chieftess.

Romantic interests in a game for a six-to-nine year old. Who would've thought?

Tessa's great, want to see more of her and not just for cut scenes and NPC work.

Bad Juju says outright Flynn has a thing for Cali, so it's not like they're hiding it. At least it's a step above many kid-rated works that shiver at the thought and will use 'close friends' to the point of obsession.

I always saw Tessa as sort of satire of NPC characters in Skylanders :/
I like her, she wasn't that interesting in SSF but she's funny in a different way that the rest of the characters in the game.

We had the Skylanders themselves crack under pressure(hi Ghost Roaster), but of course, as always,comics. That does mean it wouldn't be repetitive to explore her flaw as being too obsessed with getting things right at the expense of herself or something. It's a really common lesson for kids' shows, meaning it's age-appropriate.

Oh wow you're right, Cali does have a super fake smile on SC. She definately doesn't in other games,it might be because we're used to her having a huge mouth in the older model(look at her talk cycle in TT, not as big as Flynn but it opens quite a long ways), so it comes off as a "patient" smile like she's babying Hugo and company.

I like her but pretty much only in Swap Force. I like her expressive personality, being naive but always ready for adventure. Her visual design is nice, she feels pretty distinct from the other main characters that we had until Swap Forece (Flynn, Cali, Hugo). Her relationship with Flynn was cute, the dynamic of her admiring him instead of the reverse was interesting. My favorite moments with her always involve Flynn:

• In Swap Force when Flynn's ship crashes after coming out of the volcano, when she tells her name nervously because she is naively impressed by Flynn.
  
• When Flynn says "Your hair smells like strawberry" in Cascade Glade and Tessa's face is like "lolwut?".
  
• When Flynn has a small moment of panic when Tessa is announced the new chieftess of Woodburrow, he's probably unhappy she won't be following him around anymore.
  

She was a pretty important character in Swap Force when it comes to the plot. I don't feel like any of the other game as made an NPC so important. She knows the Cloudbreak Islands, she brings the Skylander to different places thanks to Whiskers. Sadly, she became pretty useless in Trap Team and Superchargers. She has some bad moments in those games:

• In Trap Team, Chef Zeppelin, the awkward "Give the chef an extra boom to the boom if you know what that means" line.
  
• In Trap Team, Chef Zeppelin again, she says "You need to get the key over there", but she can totally grab it herself with Whiskers and give it to us lol...
  
• In Trap Team, Skyhighlands, when she needs you to help her. Tessa pls, don't come to a fight against sky pirates if you gonna bring an unarmored bird with no weapon...
  
• In Superchargers, Cluck's Chicken HQ, when she says "That's not a chicken, that's a rooster!" to Flynn and sounds slightly mad. Anyone would have called that big bird thing a chicken. Rooster = Chicken anyway.
  
• In Superchargers, Monstrous Isles, when she says "A little help over here Skylander?" impatiently to us as if we are slow, stupid and can't bother to come help on our own, even though the enemies barely started attacking the group.
  

I don't mind if she appears in the next game, but I would like her to be less stupid, since that's mostly Flynn's job.

She still nailed 'Get those big hens into the chutes', emphasis hers.

newkill, good analysis. You've nailed it more wordier than me, which is that her iniital game she was integral to everything and now she's like the other laundry list of NPCs that are there to simply "help the stupid player through the level" stuff. In my opinion, a character shouldn't be there just for the sake of being there unless it adds to the plot...and she did neither in TT or SC. Come to think of it, Hugo and Mags and even Buzz suffers from this as well.

Yeah she was good in sf but I find her a bit annoying in other games. KABLAM is a bit our lame catch phrase.

THE BEST NPC! Love him so much! Great design, VA, personality, everything. I loved him in SF and was SO disappointed when he didn't appear in TT, he'd be great for it. I was so happy when I learned he was in SSC, because well, he's a good NPC. He's got a great dynamic with Flynn too. I hope he becomes a recurring main NPC in future games, joining Flynn, Cali, Buzz, and Tessa.

He DOES need more development though. Hopefully that'll happen eventually.

Same issue as Tessa, replace heroic with shady. He's grumpy, knows about machinery, knows a ton of less than trustworthy individuals... That's it. The character never goes anywhere, and sharing space with Mags, he also loses exposition person as well. He's definately more memorable than Tessa because his voiceover is so much more natural and he nails some good lines, but otheriwse... Eh?

As I said in the funniest moments topic, his relationship with Shellshock is pretty hilarious since he feels the need to translate him, it's quirky and weird but goes nowhere.

He should've stayed in SF. Boring personality and no relevance for the plot at all. He's basically a worse Buzz and a really unneeded NPC IMO.

I am quite neutral towards Sharpfin.

I like Sharpfin because he has a more adult approach: he doesn't do childish jokes or make comments focus towards very small children. He behaves and talks like adult and he has this kind of dark aura, typical of the bad (mercenary) guy who turned into a good one, but will never as the others good guys (like vegeta in dragon ball and phoenix in Saint Seiya). He reminds a bit of Pendergast.

His design doesn't appeal to me very much, but is just that I'm not really into sea creatures.

I really like Sharpfin, I see him as one of the most responsible characters in the group, and I like that about him. I preferred his more active role in SF because his interaction with other characters (Flynn for example) was stronger in it, Imo. I pretty much loved the way he acted in SF, he seemed like a fun new addition back then. The design isn't anything too special, but I kind of like him that way. His voice suits his personality, like I also said with Tessa earlier. Eh, that's pretty much it, really. If they bought hi back again I wouldn't really mind. I thought he was a bit "meh" in SC, so I hope that they'd change it up a bit next time, if they decide to do so.

He's the one in charge of vehicle modding in SC, right? In SuperChargers, most of the fan fav characters that we love were delegated to some area of the academy and are behaving so out of character by shilling some annoying in game feature that we don't really care about.

Sadly, I easily get him confused with that guy who could be Flynn's pop as they seem to be just about the same gruff gristly boastful character. I seem to recall him mostly boasting how much of a baddie he was in the past and that he has dodgy connections to just about anything illegal. And that's mostly his thing.

I'm unsure what else Sharkfin had done in the prior games other than fly Flynn around to some new places and explain stuff. I really wasn't interested in him, so I barely paid attention. He probably would make a much more interesting character if we focused on his shady adventures instead of always focusing on Flynn all the time.

Sharpfin was always a mechanic(or at least someone who ordered mechanics around), Buzz is the tough guy strategist. On one hand, Sharpfin is bitter/disapproving about everything, Buzz just likes to yell for the sake of it, but we'll get to him in a few days I'm sure.

He's one of those characters that would be interesting if most of his plot involvement was more than him saying "yeah I know a guy, go to this level."

I'm rather neutral toward him, I don't mind if he makes an appearance in the next game or not. I like a few things about him, like his accent (Australian I think?) and his different relationships with the other characters. Tessa doesn't trust him, Flynn doesn't care and is just impressed by his fast ship and there might be something going on with Mags.

I think it was nice to have a character that shifted from doing suspicious activities to doing heroic stuff. He has proven that he cares about Mags and the other main characters when the Academy gets attacked by Kaos and later by the Sky Bandits in Superchargers. However, we were not given the impression that he could not be trusted, which would have given more mystery to the character during Swap Force.

Hugo started out as bad as Mags is now, grew into something much greater now. Something most people don't know about is how he's a main supporting character in SG3DS and SF3DS, so even if he was absent since Giants in consoles, we actually got a small treat with him bickering with Flynn as they tried to rescue Cali.

On the character himself, at the start he was pretty annoying since he was the exposition person all the way. In the 3DS games, he improved a bit by having less space to sound know-it-all, which made him a perfect foil to Flynn. And in SC....Man, the logical evolution of a character that's supporting even in the story. Though his dependancy on Eon borders on creepy(ok doesn't just border, he literally stole one of his socks), it's portrayed as realistically as a kids' game could get in SC, and you really feel like he'd have a mental breakdown eventually if they didn't suceed - and for once, it's a trait that didn't overstay its welcome unlike most characters'. Hugo also sounds adorable replacing Eon with the elemental area introductions and has a really nice jacket redesign, as a small addition.

In short, really like him now. Would love to see him stay, and he actually fits, with the meta development of living to explain things to people. But I wonder if the theories that he has more powers than he thinks is true...?

Oh Hugo, he's that one smart and scared guy that does something heroic in the end... though not in Skylands it seems. They should've developed his character more by making him do something unexpected because nobody else could, or to put it in a short way; he should've had Glumshanks' role. He really didn't develop at all, he's still the scared little Mabu/Mole (I'm not sure) that stays in his shell.

I Never did like Hugo, he's probably my least favourite NPC. I wasn't particularly fond of his design or VA and I remember him as one of those boring characters whose only purpose is to move the story forward and provide information. And his fear of sheep...???? (Forgive me though, I haven't played SSA or SG in a while! ) I was surprised to hear he made an appearance in SC.

He doesn't mention sheep anywhere after that game. The books kinda show why he's so afraid(he gets pretty much mugged and transformed into one), and they're prequels. After that the only nod is that he stole a sheep exibit in SF3DS but it's never talked about.

Thinking now, Hugo really likes to steal things for such a good guy o_o' If they expanded into that for more than jokes, it would be an interesting secondary flaw.

Sounds like they improved his character in SC then. I feel so far behind haha

Hugo is a precious cinnamon roll, too pure for this world.

Okay but in all seriousness I like Hugo. I thought he got some good development during Superchargers, and kind of thought it was a real shame how he was practically left out of the next three games after SA. I mean, he made cameos in Swap Force and Trap Team, but he only had like, what, two lines in those games? Combined?

Hugo is alright, I've never been the biggest fan of him. I haven't seen, or at least noticed, any development through the past games, due to the fact that he hasn't been very active in the console games. Same goes for his interaction with others. I liked a few moments from SuperChargers, though. Hugo's personality and voice is okay, his design isn't anything too special, but it's nice and simple.

Hugo is alright. Sharpfin is better. Mind you I like Hugo's role in this game.

Quote: yelvy

I Never did like Hugo, he's probably my least favourite NPC. I wasn't particularly fond of his design or VA and I remember him as one of those boring characters whose only purpose is to move the story forward and provide information. And his fear of sheep...???? (Forgive me though, I haven't played SSA or SG in a while! ) I was surprised to hear he made an appearance in SC.

Ditto, except for the part about his re-appearance in SSC.

An awesome NPC. I was annoyed when he didn't have a big role Giants, SF and TT. TT being the worst offender BECAUSE HE WAS IN THE OPENING CUTSCENE THEN JUST DISAPPEARS!


He was at his best in SCC (Like everyone else). Bifrost nails my thoughts down.

On one side I love his "nerd" personality and the fact he's usually the one (after master eon) to know what has to be done. In other words, he is the smarter NPC probably, and the stuff he tells is usually interesteting as it has to do with magic and mystical issues. Personally I'm more into the wise characters than into the action ones.

What I don't like though, is the fact he stresses incredibly easy, he continously dramatices as if the world was gonna end tomorrow. Not saying he's not right (literally, the world would have ended if Skylanders have failed certain missions), but the exaggerated way his personality is brought to the screen feels a bit childish. No need to scream or feel afraid of everyhting, bad things can be tell from a calm wise point of view, just like gandalf usually does. If done this way he would feel as a truly sage guy who has learned to live with world threating issues and face them like a mature being who has his feets on the ground.

In short, I love Hugo overall, but they need to give a more mature personality to take out all the potential of that sage guy type of character.

I think we can move on to the next character.

Let it be Mags

Not much to say about Hugo. I think he is an okay character, his insecurity and lack of confidence is slightly fun. I started Skylanders with Giants and didn't play Spyro's Adventure much so I never got attached to him or felt like he was missing in Giants, Swap Force and Trap Team.

Worst voice in the series. I like her anyway. Cute design and personality.