Character Assessments
Argo
The almighty Son of Hercules is and remains one of my top three of my various characters (Rose and Dawn currently occupy the other top slots), and in part remains what he was intended to be: a kind of Hercules parody, with the buffoonery and partying and womanizing turned up to 11. He was always pretty much intended to be a static character, evening bordering on a joke character, not particularly learning any lessons or changing his behavior.
The best laid plans of mice and men and Greek gods, eh? Argo’s now entering into a relationship with Harmony (a relationship which will, literally, put him through Hell), and navigating the careful minefield of what it means to love a mortal and what it means to sustain a meaningful relationship.
I’d like to say Argo will change and grow as a result of the Pantheon hopping war, but the odds are any lessons he learns there will be short lived. He’s the Big Guy and fills that role too nicely to change.
Rose
Another favorite right now, Rose is a walking attitude problem when it comes to most authority and most people in general, but if you can earn her respect or otherwise work past it, you’ll never find a more loyal friend and protector. She’s recently stood up to Scott Summers and defended her teammates in X-Force. Rose’s relationship with Joey came completely out of left field, but it works surprisingly well (for both of them, I think), and more importantly, she’s allowed herself to admit that she really loves him.
Like Argo, Rose started as a bit of a joke character, drawing inspiration from the 90’s animated version of Wolverine, being mostly bark and just a little bit of bite. I’d like to think she’s become a much more rounded individual since then.
Rose is currently working through a lot of guilt for allowing Joey to be hurt, and there remains the on-going question over whether or not she’s good enough for him or good enough to be around people in general. Berserker rage runs strongly in her genes and blood and she’s going to continue to be pushed to the breaking point on that and just might slip. She’s going to experience helplessness in the plot after next for X-Force (and possibly after that as well), but also a moment of happiness as well. If she loses Joey, well, it won’t be pretty.
Having been exposed to the mutagenic X-Gene on Providence, Rose will be undergoing some changes, albeit a bit slower than some of the others due to her healing factor. She’ll lose what psi-powers she has, but what she gains will more than make up for it, but also give her new troubles.
Dawn
Dawn was a nice solution to the problem I’d had with Asleif. Asleif had, in a nutshell, come close to completing her entire character arc, from coming to appreciate her siblings to not thinking that Midgard and mortals were quite so bad after all. And it had its roots in the Thor mythology already both with Don Blake (after a fashion) and Eric Masterson. More importantly, the Defenders had gotten a little too complacent. They were completely filled with people who were either trained warrior gods who leaped into battle, people of another nature who were equally qualified, or otherwise used to everything going on. Dawn was the person who could say “WTF?” and, just as importantly, “We’re all going to die.”
Dawn’s been building in confidence since then, though she’s still got a long way to go. She’s bright, chipper, and usual optimistic with a tendency to babble when she’s nervous, which is a lot.
On the other end of things, Dawn really needs to talk to her parents about all the changes in her life, not the least of which is the physical change into a much godly appearing body. She’s coming into her own as a hero, even if she remains someone who was shanghaied into the whole mix. There’s the possibility of flirtation with Griffin still on the table. Being drafted as a possible Sorcerer(ess) Supreme candidate will likely induce a panic attack in her.
In spite of all the stuff she’s been through, Dawn continues to just consider herself a librarian.
