A few friends of mine have recently been reading the RTD series, and we've had a little chat about that while extremely tired and on a major sugar high (an all too common condition among roleplayers...damn junk food)...several interesting points surfaced.
-In a story such as this, everybody who isn't a 'main character' (who get special treatment) or a faceless extra (who may not be important enough to get killed on-camera) is doomed to a grisly death. Main characters are immortal until about three pages before the end of the story, where they may die in a heroic death scene. Thus, it might be possible, by figuring out who the 'main characters' are to predict their survival chances in RTD3. So far, we've only managed to pinpoint two definite 'mains': Sox and Buster Charlie. Large parts of RTD1 are focused on Sox, and RTD2 has him rise to a position of authority. He's hero material. Buster Charlie on the other hand is the 'grizzled war veteran' type who's too tough to die unless it's in the last few minutes of the story and he's doing it in a majorly heroic way. Kompy is another possibility, Riff's survival, on the other hand, is unlikely because of the 'prophecy effect'.
-Speaking of which...it basically means that, if something is foreshadowed by any means such as strange dreams, odd visions, fortune tellers or similar in a dramatic story such as this one, it will happen. Thus, because of the dream Dr. Inhandra Riff has in front of the 'hive' creature, she's pretty much dead, and so is Isomorph. A wolf and a 'hedgehog girl' are also mentioned, the wolf (Silver, the character of one Tiffany Soto) dies messily in RTD2 (are there any non-messy deaths in the RTD series?
). I haven't been able to spot a hedgehog character whose creator is called 'Sara' so far, and my best guess is the character 'Missy' who has the right hairstyle and doesn't show up in the credits.-'Sidekick' type characters have an increased chance of survival as well simply by close association with a main character. Ron seems to fall into that category by association with Sox.
-Cuteness wins. Pug, the resident enigmatic but hopelessly cute fuzzy critter, will probably turn out to be quite important in RTD3. By a similar rule, humorously insane characters like Stormy also have a high probability of having a destiny.
-When Sox says 'We will win', he's probably right from a strategic point of view. The knowledge of the 'virus factories' gives the FI neat, well-defined targets, and with the Horde down, there's nothing to prevent them from retaking the W.O.G. and using it to wipe out those targets (which could be located by measuring virus density in the air).
-The RTD soundtrack should be done by Basil Poledouris.
-Lastly, - and this has a high chance of being misinterpreted, it is in no way an attempt to insult the graphic novel or its creator, just a load of cerebral toxic waste released into the environment by a few twisted minds - the general consensus was that while it's great storytelling and drama, the FI makes a few glaring tactical and strategical errors...to quote a friend with considerable military knowledge: 'No wonder they got their asses kicked'.
-The airdrop in RTD2 was suicidal. Dropping unprotected troops into unknown and highly dangerous territory by parachute is something that's simply not done. Airdrops usually take place several miles from any possible target, as paratroops are sitting ducks during and immediately after the landing. Dropping the power armors in first might have done the trick, as they could have pulled out again using their jump jets.
-Speaking of the armors, their automatic weapons are described as being 'armor-piercing'. Now, if you're fighting something like a 'work, armor-piercing weaponry is the last thing you want. AP ammo is notoriously bad at transferring its kinetic energy to a target, so, if you shoot a charging rework and don't score a headshot, chances are high that the shot will go straight thtough without causing any major damage and it'll still be coming at you. With a non-penetrating bullet (hollow-point, for example), that rework would at least be off-balance and stopped for a second due to the sheer kinetic energy of the impact.
-If the implant technology is far enough for fully functional artificial limbs, what's to prevent somebody from drilling a hole in the base of each FI trooper's skull, filling it with a shape-charge explosive firing inward and linking the trigger to a vital sign monitor? Just another RPG-influenced idea, I guess
.-No helmets. Hello, ricochet, hello shrapnel
.Any other thoughts? I need something to talk about, dammit *grin*.
(Again, no offense meant by the last part. If it does offend, it's as good as removed the moment I hear about it.)
