Who is Chiron?

For any teachers, students, or parents read this, happy back-to-school season. I grew up with a teacher father so I always respected teachers, but my respect has infinitely increased since marrying a teacher. Y’all, teaching is insane. So every year I feel the need to write about the great teachers (see also Mr. Feeny) and the not-so-great (see also Snape). This year, as Russell and I begin our Riordanverse podcast series I thought I’d spotlight the original teacher and mentor of the Percy Jackson series: Chiron (aka Mr. Brunner).

Long before teaching Latin to Percy at Yancy Academy, the centaur Chiron trained heroes like Hercules and Achilles. Granted immortality to train heroes, the son of Kronos set his home base at Mount Pelion. This would become the precursor to Camp Half-Blood. Even among mortals, You love to teach. During this time at Yancy, he was Percy’s favorite teacher (By the way, what did  those kids think the sword was through the mist?).

As portrayed by Glynn Turman in the Lightning Thief movie

By the time Percy Jackson came onto the scene, Chiron had long since established Camp Half-Blood as his base of operations. The camp had been established in America generations before (at least to the time of George Washington, son of Athena). Luke and Annabeth were among Chiron’s veteran pupils when Percy arrived with Grover. 

Other than the time that Olympus removed him from Camp, for suspicion of poisoning Thalia’s tree, Chiron mentored our heroes as they navigated the Great Prophecy (even during that time he helped a bit via Iris Message). And during the adventures of the Argo II, Chiron helped to prepare the camp for the oncoming attack of Camp Jupiter. 

Chiron (as Mr. Brunner) as portrayed on Disney Plus

After the reconciling of the two camps, he was seen substitute teaching (as Mr. Brunner) in New York City. Just for the love of teaching. Though I'm sure he was still subbing periodically, Chiron was present during that school year when Lester (aka Apollo) arrived at Camp Half-Blood with Meg. However, when they returned to Camp months later, Chiron was off meeting with representatives of the Egyptian and Norse pantheons. But he made it back for the Battle of Nero's Tower and was present to mentor Nico in the months during the expedition into Tartarus and the mission to Camp Jupiter.

I look forward to seeing Chiron's involvement in the upcoming Camp Half-Blood series and maybe the final Senior Year Adventures book. And maybe we'll get another Nico book? Bottom line, Chiron is the golden teacher. Regardless of whether he's teaching mortal pupils or demigod heroes, he does it for the love of teaching. Those are the best teachers (again, I'm biased because I married one of those). Even after millennia of tragic heroes and disappointments, Chiron wasn't jaded by his past. Though the events of the Riordanverse take place over fifteen years ago, I'm sure Chiron is still training future heroes. Only question is how many of Rick Riordan's heroes are alive and how many of them met tragic endings, like the heroes of legend.

As shown in the graphic novel

More Content You Might Like:

• "3 Versions of The Sea of Monsters" by Spencer
• "11 Trials of Apollo Memes by Me" by Spencer
• "6 Historical Figures Who Were Demigods" by Spencer

Who is Giovanni?

A couple years ago, for the spooky season, I spotlighted Team Rocket’s Jessie, James, and Meowth. Since I try to do as many villain related posts as I can each October, this year I’m moving on to spotlight the Team Rocket boss: Giovanni. 

Main Series Game Giovanni

In the original Gen I games (and their remakes) Giovanni led Team Rocket to catch and collect rare and powerful Pokemon (but somehow most grunts only had the likes of Zubat and/or Raticate). At some point he fathered the rival character known as Silver. During the course of the game, the protagonist Red faced off against Giovanni’s grunts in Lavender Town and against Giovanni himself at the Celadon Game Corner and Silph Co.

After Red stopped Giovanni from obtaining the Master Ball (maybe to reclaim Mewtwo?), the Rocket leader retreated to the Viridian City Gym, as the gym leader. Naturally that put him inadvertently in Red’s crosshairs again. Once the protagonist won his Earth Badge, the humbled Giovanni disbanded Team Rocket. A group of Rocket executives tried to convince him to return a few years later, but thankfully he didn’t respond to the call. 

During the events of Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, an alternate version of Giovanni formed Team Rainbow Rocket. Having come through an Ultra Wormhole, this version of the Rocket boss wasn’t thwarted by Red and proceeded to recruit the boss villains from the other preceding games. 

Anime Giovanni

Similar to the video game version, in the anime Giovanni was the boss of Team Rocket. For a long while his character was literally shrouded in shadow. Like in the video games, he was the gym leader in Viridian City. However, in the anime, he had control of Mewtwo for a time after commissioning his creation, leading into the first theatrical Pokemon movie. He definitely wasn’t a fair gym leader, throwing out Mewtwo against challengers on his whim; Gary Oak had two Pokemon fighting Mewtwo and he still lost. 

Things differed somewhat from season to season, but generally Giovanni was exasperated by Jessie, James, and Meowth. At the beginning of the series, he seemed to trust them and act like they were confident. Things probably started to go downhill for them when they fixated on capturing Pikachu (Did Giovanni ever actually want Ash’s Pikachu or was that just part of the trio’s fantasy?). Sometimes he seemed to trust the trio with later assignments… other times their assignments were to get them out of his way…. There was literally an episode about giving them some vacation time to get them out of his way… Somehow they still got in the way. 

Despite his incompetent lackeys, Giovanni was the mastermind behind many (almost) successful Team Rocket ventures, like commandeering the St. Anne, commissioning and controlling Mewtwo, and trying to reclaim Mewtwo later on. In the end, he wasn’t much more successful than Jessie, James, and Meowth. The bigger the scheme, the bigger the failure. 

Pokémon Go Giovanni

In the world of Pokemon Go, Giovanni is the boss of Team Go Rocket. His subordinates include the Team Go Rocket Leaders Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra and an abundance of grunts (including the special appearances by Jessie and James in their Meowth balloon). He can only be found with a Super Rocket Radar, which can only be obtained after defeating the three leaders during Team Go Rocket Special Research. His location may be masked by grunts pretending to be him. He’s definitely a level above the leaders, as his shadow Pokemon include his Persian, some tank usually, and a legendary Pokemon (which are killer hard to purify, in my opinion). 

I’m far from being caught up on the Pokemon anime and video games, but I’d always appreciate a Giovanni cameo. “Where are they now? The Team Rocket boss.” Enjoy the rest of your spooky season with some villains and baddies. I’ll be back next week with one more big bad for Halloween.

Who is the Rani?

*Some spoilers for the latest season of Doctor Who, but no spoilers for the finale*

Long before the Master regenerated into Missy, the Rani was the epitome of a renegade Time Lady. I feel like TJ and I have been complaining a lot about the Master being overdone. Finally, we’ve been rewarded with a different rogue from Gallifrey. The Rani has returned! 

She only appeared in two television stories of classic Doctor Who, but she made her mark (literally and figuratively). While sometimes seen as a female version of the Master, she’s unique in her role in the mythos of Doctor Who, even in comparison to the other two major renegade Gallifreyan enemies (the Master and the Monk). The Master was the stereotypical evil James Bond version (becoming more and more bananas with each regeneration) and the Monk was more mischievous, messing with the timeline for his own fun. In contrast, the Rani was more calculating and indifferent to life forms she considered inferior (which basically included everyone else, including the Doctor and the Master).

As a scientist, it’s like the Rani’s schemes were an attempt to assert order into a disorderly universe. If the world is chaos, she wanted to turn it into order. Imagine if Sheldon Cooper were a time lady and wanted to impose his bathroom schedule over all of time and space. That’s the Rani. In one instance, she wanted to harvest human hormones to control the Miasimia Gorians. Another time she wanted to basically explode a supernova to remake the “errors” in the universe. Even her schemes in modern Doctor Who seems to be largely about control.

Like the Master, the Rani was an expert at deception and disguise. She flew under the radar in the 19th century on Earth by disguising herself as an old woman. Later, with the help of amnesia drugs and post-regeneration confusion, she later disguised herself as Mel Bush to manipulate the Doctor into helping her. And there’s no telling how long she hid on Earth as an average human before Sutekh’s attack on time and space. As Mrs. Flood demonstrated, the Rani knows how to blend in wherever she goes.

Now I just need to watch the season finale and maybe learn how the Rani survived the Master’s decimation of Gallifrey. If the Master has shown us anything, it’s that a renegade time lord can always survive… if the story calls for it.

Who is the Brigadier?

Once upon a time when Doctor Who was barely on the air for a few years, they introduced a character that was probably meant to be a one-off. But he appeared again the next season. Was the Brigadier meant to be more? Or did the writers think they’d forget about him? One thing is sure, Doctor Who wouldn’t be the same without Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.

Before UNIT and before he was a brigadier, Alistar was a lieutenant-colonel in the British Army. During this time period, he met the Second Doctor and encountered the Great Intelligence and its yeti (and they made it seem for a moment like the would-be brigadier was the bad guy). By the time he encountered the Doctor again, he was formally a brigadier with UNIT, facing off against the Cybermen.

After these two encounters with the Doctor, the Brigadier probably thought he was done with the Doctor (and maybe hoping he was done with him). But after the Doctor’s forced regeneration, the Third Doctor pretty much dropped on his doorstep. While the Doctor was exiled to Earth, he worked for/with the Brigadier as scientific advisor and I can’t express enough how much I appreciate Lethbridge-Stewart’s exasperation with the Doctor–even better when there were multiple Doctors in play during “The Three Doctors”.

TJ and I discussed it on the podcast recently, but I’ll reiterate it here: There was something great about having a consistent human character for the Doctor to come back to, even after leaving UNIT. Year after year and face after face, the Doctor came back to the Brigadier. The trust and rapport between the man and the Time Lord was amazing. And each Doctor portrayed that same on-screen chemistry so well with him.

In later years, though sent off to South America, the Brigadier still held such respect for the Doctor, wishing only for a return salute (according to his daughter). There were a couple times with the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor that that friendly (albeit skeptical) face would have helped. He was certainly a sight for sore eyes when he teamed up with Sarah Jane and her friends to get into the Black Archive. I’m glad that Nicholas Courtney was able to appear that last time in modern Who before his passing. News of the character’s passing was relayed to Eleventh Doctor during “The Wedding of River Song” happened with such reverence, solemnity, and simplicity that I couldn’t have hoped for a better send off. 

And almost just as simply, the torch was passed to his daughter Kate Stewart in “The Power of Three” and Jemma Redgrave has portrayed her with such grace and honor that could only fit the Brigadier’s daughter. I love that, despite the passing of Nicholas Courtney, the legacy of the Brigadier has lived on into Doctor Who. In some ways it makes sense to pass the torch along within UNIT but it makes it even better that his daughter took the mantle of authority, skepticism, and loyalty.

Looking back on the Brigadier, I wonder what the writers originally intended for him alongside the Second Doctor. There’s no way they could have predicted his impact on the Third Doctor era when he first appeared. I love that strong, loyal men and fathers have been portrayed throughout the 60+ years of Doctor Who. Though we never saw Kate Stewart on screen with her father (unless you count the Cyber-Brig), the impact he had is obvious with each appearance she makes. And that makes me want to be even more intentional day by day with my daughters.

So here’s a salute to the Brigadier!

Who is Agatha Harkness?

Who is Agatha Harkness?

Good question. 

Agatha Harkness in the comics is one of those background characters that essentially shows up whenever magic is involved in the current shenanigans and usually explains what's going on to whoever is in charge of dealing with it. First appearing as the Fantastic Four's nanny, she's best known for training Scarlet Witch... And not much else... 

Till, of course, now...

Marvel Comics

Agatha Harkness originally appeared in the Fantastic Four comics when she was hired to watch after Franklin Richards, the kid of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman. Turns out she wanted the baby for some witchcraft crap and they ended up firing her. 

Next we saw her appear in Scarlet Witch's origin story, where she trained her powers since, despite being mutant powers, they closely resembled magic. This was repeated in the show X-Men: Evolution where Agatha also helped Nightcrawler and Rogue try to cure their petrified mother Mystique (Which ended in Rogue committing murder and Agatha peacing out). 

Throughout Agatha's multiple appearances in the comics and various video games, she had the attitude of Professor McGonagall with slightly more ambiguous morals. She showed up, explained the magic plot, then took off.*

*Note: There is some sort of recent development where she regained her youth to resemble the actress from Wandavision, but honestly I haven't been following the latest comics so whatever that was it was a thing. 

Wandavision

Most people know Agatha from the incredible series Wandavision, where she served as the dangerous antagonist, played by Kathryn Hahn. In the series, Agatha tests Wanda to see the true extent of her powers, revealing that Wanda's powers are magic, which was unlocked by the tesseract (See Avengers: Age of Ultron). Agatha is the only person inside Wanda's brainwashed TV town who knows what's really going on. Agatha wants to steal Wanda's chaos magic and mix it with the Darkhold, the magical MacGuffin which showed back up in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.  Wanda ends up thrashing the witch in a magic duel and leaves her in a mind-wiped state, which is apparently reversed in the new series. 

That and the fact that she was apparently involved in the Salem Witch trials is far more backstory and characterization than we ever got in the comics. 

Marvel's Midnight Suns

In the sadly slept-on video game Marvel's Midnight Suns Agatha shows up as an NPC with more than her usual explain-the-plot role. She is a surrogate mother to the protagonist, the Hunter, and sadly was killed before the Hunter was able to be resurrected by Nico Minoru. Here Agatha helps the player character by appearing as a ghost and guides them through the home base on various quests to unlock secrets and collectables. We eventually find out that she was killed by Scarlet Witch in an accidental experiment with dark magic, so the main character has to deal with that when they finally get Wanda to join the party. 

Here Agatha feels more like comic book Aunt May with magic than the cold witch she usually is. She's kind and sympathetic to The Hunter, and misses her former partner the Caretaker (She doesn't get a name but think magic witchy Nick Fury). Her backstory is the same as the comics but she's far more relatable and interesting here, except maybe her version in Wandavision. 

The Beauty of the MCU

Fun fact: In the 90's comics weren't doing well and Marvel was hemorrhaging money so they started selling off their properties for movie adaptations, including X-Men and Spider-Man. They tried to sell the Avengers too but nobody wanted to buy it as the characters were "just not profitable". Today Iron Man and Thor are as well known as Superman and Batman because of what Marvel did with them in the MCU. Agatha Harkness got an even harder glow-up, as it can be argued how important the Avengers were in the previous comics, Agatha was usually just there in the background. They're were few if any Agatha Harkness fans clamoring for her to show up in anything before Wandavision, and now thanks to excellent writing, an amazing actress, and a couple slight adjustments to the character, she's now a vibrant piece of superhero media. 

-JOE

Who are Team Rocket?

I try to do at least one villainous blog post each October and I knew this year I wanted to talk about Team Rocket. The problem became choosing between game and anime iterations of the members of Team Rocket. And then which Rockets to talk about! For now I’ve made the arbitrary decision to focus on the Team Rocket trio from the anime. So without further adieu…

Prepare for trouble

Make it double…

Jessie

Let’s start with the femme fatale who sees herself equally as a thug and as a princess. Through various flashbacks over twenty years, we get instances of Jessie in nursing school, in a bicycle gang, and at Pokémon school. Eventually she joined Team Rocket and was partnered with equally inept James (not before developing a rivalry with Cassidy). When arriving in Hoenn, Jessie starts competing in Pokémon contests under an alias and constantly searches to be in the spotlight. She’s certainly attention-seeking, which I’m sure is no small part because of basically being abandoned as a kid. 

James

In contrast to poor Jessie, her partner in crime came from affluence, but was no less abandoned. Emotionally stunted (in my opinion) because of his parents’ constant direction, he was betrothed to overbearing Jessebelle. So he ran away and made his way to joining the same bicycle gang as Jessie and eventually joined Team Rocket. James has a certain kind of self confidence that I admire. Doesn’t matter if Jessie has talked him into crossdressing or if he’s befriending a new Pokémon friend. He just enjoys being himself, so I can only imagine that’s why he ran away from his engagement. 

Meowth

An alley cat from the beginning, Meowth taught himself to speak and walk on two legs like a human to impress a girl… only to lose her to a Persian. That's probably a contributing factor behind his inferiority complex to Giovanni's Persian after joining Team Rocket. Probably doesn't help that the Boss shipped him off with Jessie and James and kept the Persian.

Team Rocket Blast Off

When the series began, our Team Rocket trio was menacing and had some standards for their captures. But it wasn't long before the bumbling buffoons became comic relief, going after Pikachu and any other minorly interesting Pokemon. With every episode, they had new gadgets, Meowth-shaped balloons, and ended up blasting off into the distance. Comic relief villains through and through. Other than about two-thirds of Unova (in which they were surprisingly dark), you were more likely to get solid puns than successful poaching. But that's why we love them. More chaotic neutral than any sort of evil. And they’re relatable. It’s fun to see villains in kids’ shows that are relatable, instead of just doing evil for the sake of evil. In fact, we have many instances when Team Rocket helps the good guys more than the bad guys (sometimes even against other Rockets). It’ll be interesting to see what kind of villain shows up on the new iteration of Pokemon–I’ve yet to watch it… not even sure if it’s dubbed. 

In the meantime, I’m going to continue watching Pokemon Sun and Moon on the Pokemon Channel. Maybe one of these days our anti-heroes will find something worth catching and keep it for more than five seconds. Happy spooky season to you and all your villains!

Bonus trivia/Reminder: Our Team Rocket trio appeared in the main events of Pokemon Yellow

Who is the Monk?

Before the Doctor started his feud with the Master, there was another rival Time Lord he encountered. Back before we'd even heard the terms "Time Lord" or "Gallifrey". If you're familiar with the adventures of the First Doctor, you'll recognize his name in the title of this post: The Monk.

On screen, he only has two appearances, which we’ll discuss in a second. But like most of Doctor Who, there are plenty of other adventures once you take into account audiodramas, books, comics, etc. All of those appearances are pseudo-canon, but I’ll include some of those details found on the Doctor Who wiki.

Life on Gallifrey

Before encountering the Doctor on television, the Monk (who by some reports went by Mortimus) knew him in the Time Lord Academy. After leaving the Academy, he was part of the Celestial Intervention Agency (CIA), which may or may not be related to the Division. Fifty years after the Doctor left with Susan, Mortimus ended up leaving Gallifrey and playing with history for his own amusement. By the time we see him in “The Time Meddler”, he had already helped build Stonehenge, taught Da Vinci how to fly, and time-traveled his way into a small fortune. 

The Meddling Monk

After saying goodbye to Barbara and Ian, the Doctor, Vicki, and Steven ended up in 11th Century England at the same time as the Monk. It took him all of five minutes to spot the Doctor and basically deduce who he was (or at least where he came from). He tried to kidnap the Doctor (who escaped). Before he could put his plan into action, the Doctor deduced the origins of the Monk, as another renegade Time Lord (before “Time Lord” was a thing). With some quick thinking, the Doctor was able to maroon the Monk’s TARDIS, leaving him behind in 11th Century Britain. 

The Daleks’ Master Plan

Unfortunately most of this story has been lost to time (and space?) so I haven’t had a chance to watch this story in full--just the audio stitched together with episode stills. But let me sum it up as best I can anyway. While the Doctor is already trying to deal with the Daleks and their time disruptor, the Monk hops in for some revenge. But after some altercations, the Doctor is able to sabotage the Monk’s TARDIS to keep him wandering in time and space. So off he went into who knows where.

Later Incarnations

While we never saw the Monk on television again (maybe in a future season and a new regeneration) we have the record of at least four other incarnations in pseudo-canon, including one female incarnation known as the Nun. It’s also been hinted in some sources that he later regenerated into the Master… but that’s where the canon gets a little muddy.

So while I probably won’t write about every Time Lord we encounter through Classic Who, I do think it’d be fun to revisit some of them in the modern era, like the Rani and Romana. But for today, we’ll just stick with the Monk (though I can keep dreaming about Susan and Romana returning).

"The Monk" as "the Nun" in Big Finish productions

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Who are the Rebels?

As we saw in the Ahsoka trailer (click here to watch if you haven't already) it seems that our fan-favorite Jedi’s show will almost be a direct continuation of the Rebels cartoon. Multiple characters from the series have been confirmed and others are likely to be referenced. So let’s highlight each member of the Ghost’s team so that you’re getting ready for Ahsoka.

Kanan Jarrus

At the time of Order 66, he was known as Caleb Dume, padawan of Jedi master Depa Billaba. After Master Depa was killed by Clone Troopers, Caleb escaped because of the Bad Batch (you can see that scene in the series premiere of The Bad Batch), who weren’t affected by Order 66. He’s not seen again, at least on the screen, until the beginning of Rebels, where he has joined Hera’s crew on the Ghost and forsaken the Jedi identity. But when force-sensitive Ezra joins the crew, he takes the young man as a padawan. Throughout the course of their many battles and missions, Kanan ends up going blind in a lightsaber battle and ends up sacrificing his life for cause.

Hera Syndulla

Captain and pseudo-mom of the team, Here's family previously appeared in Clone Wars. But chronologically her first appearance, like Kanan, was during The Bad Batch. As an adult, she's the Ghost's captain and the team's original link to other rebel cells. Her romantic  relationship with Kanan makes her decisions as a leader that much more impressive. During the Rebels epilogue, it's revealed that Hera was pregnant when Kanan died, so maybe we'll see young Syndulla-Jarrus in Ahsoka.

Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios

Supposedly the last of the Lasat race, he carried that trauma with him throughout the series… until he found other Lasats and helped save their race. But for the most part, throughout Rebels, he was just the big brother that harassed Ezra and hatched schemes with him. Though, in my opinion, his biggest contribution to the rebellion was inadvertently recruiting Agent Kallus to their cause, while trapped on a frozen planet with him. He was last seen as a cameo during The Mandalorian (see episode 3x05 "The Pirate").

Sabine Wren 

A Mandalorian child drafted into the Empire, but she left the Empire after becoming disillusioned. Aboard the Ghost, she's the resident artist, painting anything from her quarters to a TIE fighter. With all the emphasis on Mandalore lately, especially during the latest season of The Mandalorian, I wonder how that'll play into Sabine's story in Ahsoka. It should also be noted that Sabine held the Darksaber for a time, before handing it over to Bo Katan… but as we learned in The Mandalorian, that didn’t turn out so well for her.

C1-10P “Chopper”

If R2-D2 is the sassiest droid, Chopper is the angstiest. This metal can of fury isn’t afraid at any point to deactivate any given droid or to push someone into a pit. After a mission during the Clone Wars, Chopper was found by Hera on her home planet. Somehow he also had a knack for blending in among Imperial droids. How? I don’t know. Side note: There’s an Easter egg during Rogue One where you can see Chopper on Yavin 4.

Ezra Bridger

An orphan found on Lothal, he follows a similar story arc to Skye on Agents of SHIELD (who I’m still hoping to see on Secret Invasion–have I mentioned that yet?). He becomes Kanan’s Jedi apprentice and, like Anakin, gets tempted by the Dark Side at times. In some ways he was Harry Potter-esque, running head first into danger without a second thought. I’d argue it was his Harry-like behavior and his Force connection to the purrgil that ended the Empire’s occupation of Lothal, as he and Grand Admiral Thrawn were sent into deep hyperspace. 

Alright. So now that you know the Rebels and read a couple spoilers, go watch Star Wars Rebels. You still have time before Ahsoka premieres!

Who is Susan Foreman?

At first when watching "Dalek Invasion of Earth", I thought I’d like to do a “Doctor Revisited” post about it, but in the end the serial didn’t catch my interest enough. That being said, not only was this episode the last to feature Susan as a regular companion, it was the first time any companion left the TARDIS. Add to it the fact that it was involuntary and she’s the Doctor’s granddaughter. Regardless of how I feel about Susan, I’d feel remiss if I didn’t spotlight her here after her departure. So now the title question: Who is Susan Foreman?

Disclaimer: For simplicity, I’m only going to reference on-screen material, no books or audio dramas.

Heritage on Gallifrey

We don’t know the circumstances surrounding Susan’s childhood on Gallifrey and her heritage on her home planet. Some sources have alluded to the Doctor not technically being her grandfather, just a fatherly figure. That might not seem like much until you realize what makes being a “Time Lord” different from being Gallifreyan. Especially in light of the Timeless Child, we don’t know for certain that all Gallifreyans are able to regenerate. If Susan is biologically the Doctor’s granddaughter, she could theoretically have some of that Timeless Child in her–though the Time Lords could have engineered that out of her I suppose. If she is only the Doctor’s granddaughter by bond and not by blood, then all bets are off if she can regenerate even once.

Leaving in a Stolen TARDIS

Despite all the uncertainties surrounding Susan’s past, what we know is that she decides to leave the Time Lords along with the First Doctor (shown on-screen in a flashback of a Clara splinter). Early adventures included visits to Dido (featured in “The Rescue”) and Akhaten (featured in “Rings of Akhaten”).

Susan takes a liking to modern-day Earth in the 1960s, despite the Doctor’s hesitation staying there. While living in London, she attended Coal Hill School, where she gave Ian and Barbara a run for their money. Unfortunately for her (and more so for the Doctor), her quirks caught the attention of her two teachers and they followed her back to the TARDIS…

Traveling with the TARDIS Team

After Ian and Barbara became unwitting TARDIS companions in “An Unearthly Child”, they traveled with the Doctor and Susan for a long while before returning to present-day London. Adventures with her grandfather and her teachers involved settings as broad as Skaro in the (relatively) early days of the Daleks, the Aztec Empire, and the Sense Sphere.

Susan ended up leaving the TARDIS well before Ian and Barbara (well, the Doctor left her behind). She fell in love with a young man named David in the 22nd Century and her grandfather made the decision to have her plant her roots in that post-Dalek world. The Doctor promised he’d come back for her someday. So maybe someday I’ll get my wish to see her again properly. If you’re unfamiliar with it, here’s his iconic speech.

“One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye, Susan. Goodbye, my dear.”

Reuniting with the Doctor(s)

At an indeterminate time after being left behind by the Doctor, Susan was whisked away in a time scoop and taken to the Death Zone to aid the First Doctor. We don’t know when or where exactly Susan was taken from, presumably Earth in the 22nd Century (though 23rd Century is plausible, depending on how fast Susan ages). Along with the First Doctor, she helped the Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough to navigate the Death Zone. Along with two other incarnations, the Doctors stopped Borusa and the First Doctor returned Susan home.

Returning for Susan?

While she technically reunited with the Doctor(s) in The Five Doctors, I don’t think that’s the kind of reunion he’d planned on when he gave his famous speech. We know he never forgot about her, as the Twelfth Doctor had her picture on his university desk. So I hold onto the idea that Susan might return. Only time will tell. But as of writing this post, Carole Ann Ford is still alive. So even if they don’t have her regenerate, we could have Susan return. But in the meantime, I’ll echo the Doctor: “No regrets, no tears, no anxieties.”

Who is Vincent Valentine?

(Guest post by Rob)

The popularity of video game characters is a funny thing. Some fans get a kick out of trying to argue who is the best character in the party, why their favorite is stronger, more relevant to the plot, cooler than the others. I’m personally not one who can stick with any single character for long. It depends on the day who I’ll answer is my favorite.

Today I wrote about Vincent Valentine because, well, he is cool enough to be in the top three most days.

Vincent Valentine is one of the nine-member cast of playable characters from the original Final Fantasy VII video game, released in 1997 on the PlayStation. This game included two optional characters, Vincent Valentine being one. To recruit him, the player must complete a side quest involving hidden combination lock numbers, a bipolar boss, and a locked dungeon tomb. Despite the fact that one could complete an entire playthrough of FFVII without ever recruiting him, Vincent has become notable within the franchise as the only character from FFVII to be featured in his own release, a (rather poorly reviewed but nevertheless worthwhile) first-person shooter called Dirge of Cerberus. 

Like everybody else in the party, Vincent can divide his life into the time before, and after his life was ripped apart by Shinra Corp. The main quest of the game for a time revolves around stopping Shinra from destroying the entire planet. Vincent joins the team when it is revealed that the devious scientist, Hojo, is still running amok, along with the infamous Sephiroth.

Vincent is unique because long before his downfall he held a high rank as an agent of Shinra. Things went south when he was rejected by his love interest, Lucrecia, and the devious and extremely unethical scientist, Hojo shot and then experimented on him. Vincent recovers due to Lucrecia’s intervention. But when Vincent awakes, he discovers that not only has Hojo impregnated Lucrecia, but injected the fetus of their child with an experimental serum. 

When the player recruits Vincent, he awakes from thirty years of slumber beneath the Shinra mansion. He stayed in this sleep state intentionally (because, you know, fantasy game) as penance for not saving Lucrecia from her sorry fate. Incidentally, the player can find Lucrecia hiding in a crystal cave, and experience dialogue between the former lovers if you find her at the right time. Vincent, however, withholds the sad truth about Lucrecia’s child (and I’ll withhold the truth about the major spoilers here too).

The side effects of Vincent’s non-consensual lab testing result in him transforming into monsters during battle. It occurs as part of the mechanic FFVII terms ‘limit breaks’. Once Vincent receives a set amount of damage in battle, he shape-shifts into various different creatures who use overpowered attacks and are out of the player’s control until Vincent dies, or the battle ends. As an additional aside, Vincent is the source of two important glitches for both speedrunners, and other enthusiasts of FFVII, an overflow glitch, and what FFVII expert @deathunitesus calls the Vincent Muglitch.

At the core of Vincent's psyche is his fractured nature. He is both a man consumed with regret and a recovering lab test subject. Despite being an optional character, his actions and history are pivotal to the story of FFVII.

The primary theme in Vincent’s life is somewhat of a cautionary tale about holding on to past mistakes, or failures. The critics of Vincent are usually perplexed by his 30-year sleep in a tomb. The real-life effects of trauma, broken dreams, or dashed hopes can be devastating to the point that we can become a shell of our former selves. Forgiveness, it turns out, especially self forgiveness, can be so hard we literally spend years trying to avoid the past rather than facing it, and moving on. A counterpoint to this plotline can be found in the relationships of other characters in the main plot, when Tifa and Cloud work together to reconcile conflicting memories of the past that result in a dramatic healing that revives crippled-and-bedridden Cloud.

And despite the mixed reputation of Dirge of Cerberus, Vincent’s journey through that game provides yet another dramatic transformation, this time with Vincent as a one-man army preventing a fantastical apocalypse. And I would have to mention the very satisfying scene available to players if they include Vincent in their party at the final showdown with our favorite corrupt researcher, Hojo.

Like I said, I don’t name Vincent as my all-time favorite character from FFVII’s cast, but I can appreciate the rationale of fans who do. His mystery, broodiness, and numerous characteristics reminiscent of a vampire all mix together in a very memorable and fun way. It will be even more fun to see how he is treated in the approaching installments of FFVIIR, and other additions to the franchise. 

Thanks for having me on the blog, and feel free to shoot me a message if you ever want to geek out about FFVII, VIII, IX, or the Chrono series! Later!

Who are Organization XIII?

This post we will examine Organization XIII members up too Kingdom Heart II. They are a group of thirteen (fourteen if you count Xion, which most members of the organization do not) nobodies who lost their hearts to Darkness. Features of the organization are they have an “x” in their name. Some have scrambled there previous life's name and added an "x". For instance, Axel former life was Lea, and Roxas is Sora. They also wear a black hooded coat. A nobody is made when a heart is swallowed by darkness and produces a Heartless. Roxas came into being after Sora stabbed himself with Riku’s, the keyblade of hearts, in keyblade in Kingdom Hearts I. They are a lot of heartless, but luckily the organization only contains thirteen (fourteen) members.

Most of the characters will not be examined to deeply because I don’t know too much about them and probably learn more about them as I play Kingdom Hearts II. I am creating this post because at this point this would be helpful for me to know the members of the Organization because I wasn’t able to get to know them well watching Kingdom Hearts 358/2.

My favorite Organization members are Axel and Xion with Roxas falling below them. in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 we see the development of Axel and Xion. Axel gaining friends, but then having to decide which friend he wants to live. while, Xion becomes her own person, but has to decide if she rather live or help another life. Both characters are complex and that is why they are currently my top favorite organization members. 

I will rank them in order they are associate with in Organization XIII. Each member has a number associated with them and the lower the number the higher in rank they have.

Organization XIII

1. Xemnas: Leader of Organization XIII. His goal is to build Kingdom Hearts to obtain a heart for him and his organization. At least that is what he says. Members of the organization question his motives. Currently alive.
   
   
   
   
2. Xigbar: The second-in-command of the organization and keeps an eye on everything. He acts in his own way to fulfill the organization goal. At this point we don't know much about him but we should keep an eye on him. Currently alive.
   
   
   
   
3. Xaldin: Even though he seeks a heart he despises love and friendship. He is another character that hasn't been explored yet. Currently alive.
   
   
   
   
4. Vexen: The scientist of the group. He is in charge of the replica program at Castle Oblivion. He is the creator of replica Riku and Xion. He died in KH Chain of Memories by Axel.
   
   
5. Lexaeus: Big muscley guy in the Organization. We don't get to know him well. He was sent to Castle Oblivion and was part of Riku story in KH CoM. He was killed by Riku Darkness after defeating Riku. 
   
   
6. Zexion: The Tactician in the group. He was sent to Castle Oblivion in KH CoM and didn't predict Axel betraying him and died. 
   
   
7. Saïx: Xemnas right hand man and is in charge of giving orders to other members. He is an Old Acquaintance of Axel. He was also the one that ordered Axel to Castle Oblivion in KH CoM to dispose of members that wanted to betray the organization. currently alive. 
   
   
8. Axel: He has his own motives and they are higher priority over the organization goals. We do not know what they currently are. He is best friends with Roxas and Xion. When he had a chose to save Roxas or Xion he chose Roxas. He may seem like a bad guy in KH CoM, but he is kind. He is one of the few members that we know most about. In KH CoM  he killed two members of Organization XIII. He is the only one to survive Castle Oblivion. currently alive.
   
   
9. Demyx: Relaxed person in the organization. He loves his guitar and is not a great fighter. currently alive.
   
   
10. Luxord: The gambler of the group. He loves treating everything as a wager. A gentleman and reserved persona. Currently alive.
    
    
11. Marluxia: He was the Lord of Castle Oblivion and in KH CoM he sought to take away Sora's keyblade and overtake the organization becoming the new leader. He is the main antagonist is Sora's story. He forces/threatens Naminé to wipe Sora's memory. Died by Sora.
    
    
12. Larxene: Highly conceited and mocks all those around her. She has a lightning personality. She was sent to Castle Oblivion in KH CoM and didn't trust Axel motives, but was killed by Sora. 
    
    
13. Roxas: Sora's Nobody and wielder of the keyblade. He is the main protagonist in KH 358/2. He becomes his own person and becomes best friends with Axel and Xion. He loves eating sea-salt ice cream with his friends at the end of each mission. Currently Alive.
    
    
14. Xion: The unofficial member of Organization XIII. a replica of Sora and Roxas made by Vexen. She is the embodiment of Kairi. and when she finds out that she is part of Sora. She willingly sacrifices herself to help Sora and save Roxas. She gets captured by the organization before she merges and is mind controlled to fight against Roxas. She is defeated by her best friend which allows herself to fully emerge with Sora. This takes place in KH 358/2.