JustKim said:
I didn't hate Miko all that much. I remember when she was introduced, we (the readers) were frustrated because the story was taking a tangent and it felt like there was a railroading DM using Miko to lead the party by the nose. I didn't like the situation either, but I thought Miko was an interesting character.
It was disappointing that while Miko's character was being explored, Rich was (IMHO) doing what he often does, reading the boards and adjusting his writing in reaction, making her ever more unlikable. So I thought okay, I'm not supposed to like Miko. Then Roy gets the line to call her a bitch and it's pure fanservice. This is the word fans have been using to describe Miko and it was ugly enough there- I don't want to get all into double standards, but when Nale betrays the Order he's evil and it's shocking. When Miko wrangles the Order and acts dogmatically she's a bitch.
When Roy said it, it was disappointing. Rich just disappoints me sometimes.
I didn't see that at all. The boards make a lot of assumptions and judgments about Rich's characters, and make tons of predictions regarding the storyline, and yet he's been consistently surprising. If anything, especially in Miko's case, the character has been absolutely consistent. During no period of the strip did Miko's character deviate from what she was in the very beginning of the comic strip.
Also, your comment comparing Nale to Miko is totally off base, and almost sounds a tinge like you're accusing Rich, or others, of being slightly sexist, which is really stretching it (I could be wrong in my assumption about your comment as well, though). At no point in the strip has Nale EVER been a respected or even pitied individual. He's an out-and-out villain that brutally murders people. His "betrayal" was so obvious to any reader as well. I wasn't shocked when I saw it, and I didn't frequent the boards there at the time either. If people are entertained or enjoy Nale, it's only because he's a "funny" character and we enjoy watching him consistently lose in humiliating defeats. Heck, even his evil lover/sidekick Sabine not only gets beaten up, but practically mutilated (Roy wasn't very kind about some of those "earrings" she had on). In essense, the diabolical duo constantly gets beaten down. Nale gets no love in OotS beyond that he's an entertaining, reoccurring mook for the main PC's to thoroughly wax. Other than that, he has no real character traits to analyze. The dude is a simp through and through. We just don't discuss him that much because there isn't anything to discuss. He's a loser that needs to get beaten up. Even Elan gets a piece.
Miko, on the other hand, was a very serious character. She was also depicted as highly talented, motivated, and capable. She defeated the entire Order single-handedly. Unfortunately, she also had an issue with pride that many people did not like. To use the cliche, with great power comes great responsibility, and in her case she had great power, but she eventually chose to abuse it. She was, indeed, a 'bitch'. But really, that's the only crime she's ever been accused of, and the only crime she ever committed (until she finally snapped and became delusional). The attention was focused on her because she, unlike Nale, was an exceptional person.
Nale, on the other hand, is incompetent, motivated only when the odds are in his favor, and is the butt of the joke. I had low expectations for Nale the minute I saw his silly goatee and his silly party mirroring the OotS. It was Bizarro from the start.
He'll get his payback, I believe, and it'll probably be worse and far less sympathetic and understanding than for Miko.
