@The:
Also, its Shurororororo :-P
Well, on that note, Lucci doesn't have an h in it.
@The:
Also, its Shurororororo :-P
Well, on that note, Lucci doesn't have an h in it.
Wow,that was fun.
Spandam's Arlong Park Evaluation
(yea "fun")
What you loved:
Favorite comment goes to The Daz:
"Spandam is over-the top exaggerated cartoon evil. And that is entertaining as hell to watch. Can you imagine the colossal drag W7 would have been had Lucci been the sole primary antagonist? One Pieces premier Bleach villain? Spandam picked up that fucking slack and CARRIED the whole climax on his scrawny weak shoulders. Lucci was a roadblock Luffy needed to traverse. Spandam was the asshole you wanted to see get beaten to a pulp. He made every major emotional blow of that arc possible. Would Frankys flashback have been as fun had Spandam not been a total dick? No! Would Robins rescue have been as epic had Spandam not abused her as a total dick? NO! Spandam poured cowardly dickishness upon cowardly arrogance until Oda deemed him worthy of 4 consecutive beatdown moments- shot by Sogeking, slapped silly by Robin, crushed by an elephant, and then clutch'd. THAT is how good a villain Spandam was."
–-------------
What you loathed:
Favorite comment goes to Mr. Luffy:
"Loathe: His stupidity also encourages a callous, cruel nature though this could also been inevitable because his father seems to have been an absolute prick. He gloats about his father wiping out an entire island population and equally revels in taunting and brutalizing Robin when she becomes her prisoner. Unlike other marines with a stone cold sense of duty, Spandam is pretty much without honor or sense of duty, carrying out selfish acts of corporal punishment against any prisoner unlucky enough to be of interest to him to hopefully use the war on outlaws for his own political aims. He owes his rank entirely to his high ranking father and makes a very poor argument for nepotism in the WG ranks at that. Even his spectacular failure at Enies Lobby only led him to pass the buck to CP9 and evade any consequences of his gross incompetence. He's just scum even if he has the mentality of a spoiled child."
Real quick, I just wanted to point something out. I try to stay out of the comment sections a little bit because I want to be an object observer so this is the place for me to talk to you guys. There was some discussion about how, as reviewers, you should approach someone like Spandam. Someone who is an effective character but a shitty person. It reminds me of a statement by JK Rowling regarding Snape. She said that he was an absolute delight to write but that she wouldn't want to sit down and have a drink with him. I like that. So basically, if you want to evaluate a character based on their effectiveness in the plot or based on how much you like them personally as a human being – it is up to you. That's what makes this fun.
Finally,the poll! With 35 votes (!), Spandam average score is…2.86! Not only is Hachi still the lowest score but Spanda broke Sanji's record for the amount of votes cast. Very interesting.
Thanks to all that responded! I will post my next pick later on today. Here's the HINT: I'll bet our next characters knows what a splitting headache feels like.
Until then.
Many of those people do question the system, but never the less choose to stay and work to improve the system. A lot of them probably don't know as much about government atrocities, as Spandam does. And they can pretty much guard one another form going astray, have discussions, assure one another, that what they are doing is necessary for "greater good". Competent Marines mostly do "clean" jobs. Spandam is different, he does, or actually coordinates, "dirty jobs", he largely operates in secrecy. There are two types of people who can do his job. Total idiots and total fanatics.
Since he is an idiot, even if he decides to betray the government he will be easy to stop.
See, this always seem kind of stupid to me. Why would you choose an idiot, when you could train fully capable fanatic?
I mean, all of the other CP9 agents were trained since they were children, right? One could assume they could've done something identical, but with tactical training, instead of Rokushiki. And mayber sunday school with Sakazuki, to teach them the meaning of justice and all. It's not really that hard, and therefore it still doesn't make any sense that they would have Spandam of all people leading CP9.
See, this always seem kind of stupid to me. Why would you choose an idiot, when you could train fully capable fanatic?
I mean, all of the other CP9 agents were trained since they were children, right? One could assume they could've done something identical, but with tactical training, instead of Rokushiki. And mayber sunday school with Sakazuki, to teach them the meaning of justice and all. It's not really that hard, and therefore it still doesn't make any sense that they would have Spandam of all people leading CP9.
Fanatic is not necessary better choice than idiot. Decisions made by the fanatic won't necessary be better decisions that ones made by idiot. Fanatic is more dangerous, can be harder to control and is more likely to conduct successful coup (they may be thinking the government is not radical enough). If one is not better than the other, why bother, surely either one of the other will come along?
There may be probably an issue of interests groups among government officials involved in decision making.
My guess: Buggy (Since he splits)
I'm guessing Foxy…
Also, I'd hardly call Lucci a great leader either just because he's strong and smart. Lucci lacks any of the charisma necessary to bring a group together and have them work efficiently. Spandam does too of course, just pointing out that Lucci isn't great either. And honestly, it feels like CP9 members usually operate fairly independently (I'm pretty sure they noted it was very rare for them to gather in one place) with the orders typically coming from above anyone within the group anyways, so I can understand how they could use that position as bone to throw to someone with no qualifications but good connections because the position itself seems more like a status symbol that has very little actual power
Fanatic is not necessary better choice than idiot. Decisions made by the fanatic won't necessary be better decisions that ones made by idiot. Fanatic is more dangerous, can be harder to control and is more likely to conduct successful coup (they may be thinking the government is not radical enough). If one is not better than the other, why bother, surely either one of the other will come along?
There may be probably an issue of interests groups among government officials involved in decision making.
It's kind of difficult making arguments here, since one can deduct one thing from your reasoning: There exists no possibility of actually having a good leader for the group.
Could also be Chinjao, though I think it's a bit too soon to start having Dressrosa characters show up in this topic just yet.
The Celestial Dragon's are as hated but not as easy to defend (not yet at least)
I was thinking about mentioning those guys in comparison. Spandam seemed like the first taste of that tumor of a faction hanging off of the WG's ideals before they were actually introduced into the series. He at least seemed like the Marine equivalent of one. Helmeppo was kinda when first introduced, but he at least had the excuse of his adolescence (and eventual "redemption").
Also, I'd hardly call Lucci a great leader either just because he's strong and smart. Lucci lacks any of the charisma necessary to bring a group together and have them work efficiently. Spandam does too of course, just pointing out that Lucci isn't great either. And honestly, it feels like CP9 members usually operate fairly independently (I'm pretty sure they noted it was very rare for them to gather in one place) with the orders typically coming from above anyone within the group anyways, so I can understand how they could use that position as bone to throw to someone with no qualifications but good connections because the position itself seems more like a status symbol that has very little actual power
But he also commands Enies Lobby, as shown in the manga. He is a actual leader of one of three most important Goverment islands.
His counter-parts on the other two are Sengoku and Magellan. It makes him look even more bad.
But he also commands Enies Lobby, as shown in the manga. He is a actual leader of one of three most important Goverment islands.
His counter-parts on the other two are Sengoku and Magellan. It makes him look even more bad.
Was he normally in charge of it though, or was that just because of the circumstances at hand? Not to mention that typically Ennies Lobby would have a strong, high ranking officer accompanying any dangerous criminals and that person could usually take command or deal with issues. It's more of a checkpoint than anything and it doesn't seem anywhere near as important as Marine HQ or the main jail that is Impel Down.
It doesn't make sense that he'd usually be in charge of the island given that CP9 doesn't even officially exist, and is a secret organization
It's kind of difficult making arguments here, since one can deduct one thing from your reasoning: There exists no possibility of actually having a good leader for the group.
Yes, that pretty much it, given the character of the group. Any type of person would either be dangerous or incompetent. Pick your poison. Given that the rest of the group are competent people, possibly even dangerous is better to have an idiot as a limiter. Luckily for the government, they didn't need him to be bright or competent. They just need someone to be a shield between themselves and the likes of Lucci and ceiling for possible ambitious agents. He didn't do much, the position was somewhat of a sinecure, but he was being used at the same time. I'd say it was perfect choice of a candidate. He mainly failed because he has bad luck of having main character against himself.
Next person is Sakazuki.
Was he normally in charge of it though, or was that just because of the circumstances at hand? Not to mention that typically Ennies Lobby would have a strong, high ranking officer accompanying any dangerous criminals and that person could usually take command or deal with issues. It's more of a checkpoint than anything and it doesn't seem anywhere near as important as Marine HQ or the main jail that is Impel Down.
It doesn't make sense that he'd usually be in charge of the island given that CP9 doesn't even officially exist, and is a secret organization
His affiliation with CP9 could be considered classified info.
I wouldn't be surprised if most people only knew him for being in charge of EL.
Was he normally in charge of it though, or was that just because of the circumstances at hand? Not to mention that typically Ennies Lobby would have a strong, high ranking officer accompanying any dangerous criminals and that person could usually take command or deal with issues. It's more of a checkpoint than anything and it doesn't seem anywhere near as important as Marine HQ or the main jail that is Impel Down.
It doesn't make sense that he'd usually be in charge of the island given that CP9 doesn't even officially exist, and is a secret organization
You will notice that all of the Guards report to him, and many of them are aware of CP9. Also, while I don't have the page at the moment, One Piece Wiki tells me that the Tower of Justice is considered to be CP9 headquoters, and as such, Spandam would be in charge. You will also noticed that he knew of Oimo and Kashi, and I don't expect him to know such details, unless he lives there.
Yes, that pretty much it, given the character of the group. Any type of person would either be dangerous or incompetent. Pick your poison. Given that the rest of the group are competent people, possibly even dangerous is better to have an idiot as a limiter. Luckily for the government, they didn't need him to be bright or competent. They just need someone to be a shield between themselves and the likes of Lucci and ceiling for possible ambitious agents. He didn't do much, the position was somewhat of a sinecure, but he was being used at the same time. I'd say it was perfect choice of a candidate. He mainly failed because he has bad luck of having main character against himself.
Meh. Difference of opinions, I guess, but I would rather have someone competent, if weak, and then tell Lucci to kill him at the first sign of disloyalty. The pawns should have at least some value. Spandam has very little, except maybe for not being an inside threat,
Next person is Sakazuki.
Yeah, I thought that as well, especially since I was reading through 575 today.
Thanks to all that responded! I will post my next pick later on today. Here's the HINT: I'll bet our next characters knows what a splitting headache feels like.
Dachsund Binami Bellamy The Hyena.
Love & Loathe #11
Let's get our sloppy-eating on! It's time to evaluate: Vergo**!**
Listen up newbs…Here's the deal: We are looking to hyper-critique a character and try to pinpoint what makes them great and what makes them terrible. After enough people respond, I will organize what are the best and worst traits of the character, and compile an evaluation post later. Also,don't worry if you have the same answers as others,the point is to figure out a common denominator for the character.
So the two questions for you are:
What one thing do you consistently love about Vergo?
What one thing do you consistently loathe about Vergo?
And give Vergo a rating of between 1 and 5, with 5 being the highest(.5's are acceptable - ex. 1.5 or 4.5). I will tally these.
Enjoy.
Love: His fights were really cool and there were a lot of cool hints about his relationship with Doflamingo. His gag is also amusing
Loathe: Unfortunately, he wasn't really explored enough to give us lots of insight into his character. This might still be rectified in a Doflamingo flashback, but as it stands now he really hasn't been fleshed out much as a character, and the hints of what lay beneath the surface remain just hints. We know a decent amount of information about things he's done and what his role is, but we know very little about who HE is and how he got where he is today.
3.5/5
Love: ITS MR.VERGO FOR YOU!
Loathe: The fact how he treated his subornidates, but I guess it G-5's grunts fault to being too stupid.
4.5/5
Love: One of the few Vice-Admirals with an actually impressive showing, ironically enough.
Loathe: His introduction felt very sudden and forced. He should have at least been shown doing some Marine stuff like fighting pirates, participating at the Marineford War, comforting the citizens about their missing children or even ordering Smoker around. The whole concept of a Marine who was actually an undercover pirate could have gotten a very cool build-up, but there was little to none.
Also, his "One-Winged Angel" form. Like most super forms in One Piece, it ended up being useless except at being a bigger, slower target.
3/5
Love: He just looked very unique and had many interesting aspects. A longtime spy among the marines, longtime member of Doflamingo family, gets things sticking on his face, and showed off One Piece's first full body coating of Armament haki.
Loathe: He didn't really have a big role in Punk Hazard as much as I wanted him to have. His motivation is still quite a blur.
3.5/5
Love: Fun quirks. Gave lots of potential for good action scenes and drama. First few pages of Smoker vs Vergo were great.
Loathe: Most of that potential wasn't capitalized on. He arrived on PH too late in the game and didn't really get to do much. His fighting style turned out to be Rokushiki again + armament Haki again, only he's like super special at it! What could've been a good fight for Smoker ended with a copout excuse for Law to flex his smug Haxxness some more, and the fight turned out much like Vergo himself: anticlimatic.
2/5, deserved better honestly.
Love: Design and fighting abilities. A man that, when he gets serious. . .takes out a bamboo stick? That's pretty awesome if you ask me. Breaking Sanji's fibula was pretty awesome too.
He looked like a real tough guy and, for the most part of PH, delivered on that front.
His gag was pretty amusing (not stellar, though), he did some nifty rokushiki, he did his spy stuff pretty damn well, with some pretty cruel acting, and has a pretty touching relationship with Dofla that I can't wait to see fleshed out (even if just slightly) in a future flashback.
Also, if he's still alive and, as people are expecting, somehow ends up eating the Axolotl fruit, things could get real awesome real fast.
Loathe: Unfortunately, his demise was. . .disapointing, to say the least. First, we learn that Smoker wasn't going all out against him and only intended to get Law's heart to pay his debt. That was kind of a bummer. . .but nothing compared to being taken out by Law in ONE SINGLE HIT (that wasn't even his final attack), right after POWERING UP. That worked on a narrative level, but from someone who was enjoying Vergo's antics and who's always up for some Law beating? That was a huuuuuuuuge letdown.
Also, as stated above, he had just too little time to show off. I thing that, for being there just during half an arc, he did plenty of stuff. Showed some gags, did some nasty bone breaking fighting, and even showed some foreshadowing ("not knowing Dofla's past will be your demise, Law!", which surprisingly turned out to be true. . .) and some hints of a nice, fraternal relationship with Dofla. . .but everything was too short and not very deep.
I guess it's a good thing I was left wanting more, and we might get it in the near future, but. . .yeah, it was over all too soon for Vergo, and in the end his showing (both in terms of fights, acts of villainy and personality) ended up being a little less than desired.
Score: 3'5/5.
@The:
First few pages of Smoker vs Vergo were great.
Add that to the Loathe stuff. I'll always resent Oda for not keeping that fight going. For fuck's sake, that coreography, that staging, that "fuuuck yeeeaaaaah!!", rising fists in the air when Smoker got that haki imbued fist into Vergo's unexpressive face. . .it was SO GOOD, and I was once again reminded that Oda, when puting his heart into it, knows how to coreograph a good fucking fight!. . .and then, we got 2 extra panels scattered out, a disapointing resolution, and end of the fight. The. . .fuck? Also, that, imho, marked the start of the infamous "fights start, get 85% off-paneled, and then end in 2-3 pages!" kinda thingie that Oda has been keeping from the end of PH till now, and I hope it ends ASAP, cause the blue balls we got weren't fucking funny. . .
Love: His supremacy over Law(until they fight, of course).
Loathe: How he was hyped up as such a haki monster, then Law finished him off. Not trying to start a clan war over power levels here, just saying.
16 chars of don't remember anything about Punk Hazard.
Vergo-san
Love: One of the strongest characters to not have a DF. Rokushiki + Haki at it's best. Cool fighting moves, interesting support weapon that matches his abilities (the bamboo flexibility should make it a much stronger hit than an iron weapon when used with Haki). Extremely loyal to the point of even earning Doffy's highest respect. It seems to me, also, that prior to the Punk Hazard incidents, Doffy was keeping the Mera Mera no Mi to his strongest man, Vergo. This fruit would automatically put him as one of the strongest vice-admirals, if not THE strongest (Garp is VA no more). He's Doffy's top man, match up to Law, and bested Sanji, hinting he's somewhere between Law's and Zoro's level. He doesn't like napkins.
Loathe: Plotwise, was made to show Law's superior CoA. Relies on an "armor move" and like all "heavy-armor" characters, he'll endure anything until the first armor-breaking move (in this case, a better CoA), which should suffice to bring him down. You either beat him, or you don't.
So…
Good: Strength, skills, CoA, loyalty, quirks.
Bad: Over-confidence, does-not-bring-a-camera
Score: 4/5
Love: - His design. It wasn't as over-the-top as all the other characters have been since Thriller Bark. His face and body were in realistic proportions and his outfit was very plain and simple.
Also his character. While he did show some subtle aggression towards Law, he was otherwise very professional no-nonsense guy. When he went to kill the G-5, he didn't gloat about how he had deceived them all or weak they were - he just fucking shiganed them all. No words, just action. Some people might say that kind of villain is boring, but for me it just makes them all more terrifying! But in spite of his cold-bloodness towards everyone else, he did have unwavering loyalty to his captain. Even in the face of death.
His fighting style. Closely related to his attitude, this guy's a beast! He doesn't have any devil fruit powers; he just hardens his bamboo stick with haki and beats you until you stop breathing. That's just… brutal.
Not to mention his quirks. Forgetting a hamburger steak in your face - classic Oda. His absent-mindedness was also really funny but it could've been exploited a little more.
Loathe: Pretty much nothing. If you don't count his vague status. (Seriously is he dead or alive, how the fuck are we supposed to know?)
Overall: 5/5
Love: A very crafty and efficient undercover agent. While deep down a pirate and ally to Doflamingo, he managed to enlist into the Navy and rise to the rank of Vice Admiral and over the course of 15 years remain undetected. He also managed to instill loyalty so deep into the Marine ranks that Smokers G5 unit maintained complete denial that Vergo ever betrayed them in the first place even though he systematically tried to kill every one of them. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume he'd attempt to return to the Marine ranks and attempt to refute his part in the Punk Hazard events. As such, he was most likely one of Doflamingo's most important and valuable members
He is also one of the best trained Haki experts yet seen, showing a near perfect proficiency–particularly in defense. He could have believably taken on most of the Strawhat all the G5 infiltrators of Punk Hazard had he not momentarily put his guard down.
Loathe: He's fiercely loyal to Doflamingo to a fault and quite a bit too cocky overall. He chose to attempt to personally help cover up the Punk Hazard on Doflamingo's orders and consequently revealed his traitorous actions to Smoker and later the G5 marines. Sure, they were going to be gassed but taunting and fighting them directly right off like that was hardly necessary at the time. While he rightly tries to dispatch Law given Law broke ties with Doflamingo's crew and needed to be silenced to maintain anonymity, he spent way too much time mocking and playing around with Law instead of killing him until it was too late. He doesn't even reveal his "ultimate form" until he's defeated seconds later.
His absolutely unwavering, unflinching devotion to Doflamingo also leads him to personally be a dry, somewhat robotic and humorless character except for the fun little quirk of him having a selective short term memory involving food (and forgetting he can't use a sword?). It seems at odds with the powers of persuasion he holds so well as a Vice Admiral, being a bit too cold to concievably instill loyalty he with most of the marines who look up to him.
3.5/5
Love: He has some of my favorite quirks, second only to Gedatsu. I like his appearance and I think it's cool how he uses a bamboo flute. I also thought it was badass when he took Law's Counter Shock, then nonchalantly told him Joker has a message for him like nothing had happened. I like his no-nonsense attitude when it comes to following orders.
Loathe: He's somewhat arrogant.
5/5
Love: Haki monster. Uses a bamboo stick to whop ass. Has a weird quirk like every other One Piece character but his quirk not only extends to him forgetting food that is stuck to his face but there was a time were he was forgetting random things. For example, He said something along the lines of beating Law up and taking a picture of him with a camera he bought at Dressrosa. lol Wait he never bought a camera at Dressrosa.. I found his random quirk slightly amusing. His loyalty to DD and they way he was pushing characters like Smoker/Law/Sanji was pretty interesting. He was an impressive VA.
He had this strange terminator like vibe to him. didn't show much emotion majority of the time and looked like a stern but forgetful guy.
Loath: Other than knowing that he was working for DD and a VA..we didn't get to know Vergo much.
oh almost forgot to rate him. lol he was a bad guy but i didn't really love or loath his character. 3/5
Love: His fierce loyality to Doflamingo, a smiling villain in the face of death was something I did not expect.
Vergo's swordsmanship skills are just outta this world, seriously has one of the coolest weapons in the whole series too.
Loathe: Aside from his funny quirks the man feels like soulless steel ball.
Overall I feel that, even if he is dead, his analysis could have waited until the current arc ends.
For now 3.5/5
Love: Interesting history I suppose
Loathe: Dumb gimmick
2/5
ahh, Vergo. Not sure how a splitting headache relates….oh wait, law cutting his head in two, you sly bugger you
Love: Vergo's very role as the spy. The fact that one man, apart of a criminal organization is able to infiltrate the largest organization and not just get in, as with such huge numbers it becomes easier but to make it all the way to 2 steps from the top. This is a guy who serves as the closest friend to Doflamingo Donquixote, world reknown pirate and shichibukai, was able to ward off any suspicion to himself and any relation to his boss. And while Doflamingo was the brains of the operation, vergo was competent enough to carry out all his orders (up until law and luffy) without a hitch. Its an astounding feat if i do say so myself.
Loathe: his gag(food sticking to his face), not a fan of it honestly.
my ranking goes 4.0/5
Love: A strong character that doesn't use a devil fruit. Cool design. Good fighting choreography.
Hate: He's a pirate. I dislike this, because Vergo could have been a decently srong viceadmiral for a change, but we can't have that. His haki is also one of the few cases were Oda didn't show, just tell. Vergo said his haki was so strong that he could resist Law's power, and he proceeded to show that it wasn't true anymore. So his whole contribution to the story was hyping Law and making marines look even worse, especially Smoker.
3.5/5, meh character with some highlights.
(also, I predict the picture you're going to use for Vergo's wrap up is his full body haki).
Love: Vergo's gag coupled with his constant stoicness works really well together, and makes for interesting interactions with others. He's also one of the few powerful characters who does not rely on a Devil Fruit, using only rokushiki and haki to fight.
Loathe: His character itself hasn't been particularly fleshed out, so aside from the gags and his loyalty to Doflamingo, he's actually pretty boring. Perhaps it's too soon to be rating Vergo since I expect there'll be a flashback that expands his character later down the line.
2.5/5
Love: Vergo was cool character overall. He had a little mystery to him, got to really show what a normal person could do with Haki, was a important connection to Doflamingo in the Punk Hazard arc, and his bambo weapon was cool. I loved his serious attitude which was nicely complimented by his most of the time funny gag. And his interactions with the G5 marines after he betrayed them lead to a heartbreaking scene, this sort of gave me a new outlook on the marines in the series.
Loathe: Truly was a fodder character, he seemed to be built up to be quite a strong individual but we really didn't get to see him fight to much. In his strongest from he was one hit KOed by law, I thought he would be much stronger then this. I also feel like not to much thought was put into his personality, he seemed to be rather dull sometimes.
3/5
I never really felt much towards him.. but:
Love: He is cool and so is his fighting style
Loathe: Being there just to hype Law.
3/5
But why you people are so sure that he didnt had metal paramecia for example(food sticking to him, extreme durability, Sanjis question during their fight, Laws counter shock not working etc etc ;) I think so and lets wait and see. If anybody wants to discuss- it was discussed by me to death already so its a no no for me ;)
Love: His design at first was very nothing special but after some time he lasted as memorable badass - first New World enemy of strawhats of some caliber. He gave us some glimpses of how fights will soon start to look like when there will be guys of monster trio caliber fighting each other.
Loathe: That we have to wait for more of him being shown in Laws flashback. I have nothing against him as he worked out in his role as he should overal, was quite memorable.
Love: Eh
Loathe: He's nothing but a generic mean mook without his Alzheimer's gag. The Law/Dofla flashback needs to show some more of his stuff but I'm hesitant to hope it'll improve my view of him since his big thing will probably be that he beats a child half to death while Dofla is presumably laughing like a lunatic on the sidelines.
1.5/5
Love: Sanji soaring into a battle that cracked his bones was like the only exciting thing that happened on Punk Hazard.
Loathe: He left no impression on me at all, unfortunately. I also didn’t care for all that marine bellyaching going on - and that was mostly, if not entirely, because of him.
1/5
Love : Pretty awesome design, cool CoA attacks, gave us some good insight into Doffy's relationship with his subordinates
Loathe : Nothing in particular, but it was a little disappointing how he was fed to Law.
Rating 3.5/5
Love: I like his design a lot. The coat, the cool sunglasses, the facial hair…..
Loathe: His defeat to Law was kinda anti-climatic and used just to hype him up. Also kinda dull too.
2.5/5
Love: The weird stuff about his personality like how he forgot he wasn't a swordsman and the food sticking to his face. Also I love his fight style.
Loathe: He's kinda robotic when he's not acting out those quirks I mentioned.
Rating: 3/5
LOVE : his name, his quirks, his Rokushiki and his bamboo (no homo). The guy hit a women and managed to leave Sanji with a leg breaked! New Worl is rocking!
He is smilling while facing death! He is the strongest bad guy of Punk Hard IMO, and yet he has no devil fruit, thank you Oda!
LOATHE : as a cold blooded killer, he must have a scary look in his eyes. Too bad he wears sunglasses all the time.
He hit women, not cool. I do not like his coat either.
He is one of my favorite character, so I will go with 5-san out of 5-san (5/5). Vergo for next cover story!
I've been debating whether or not to join this site for some time now, but this thread was too good to pass up!
Love
I really liked Vergo, if only because he was a different kind of character. He is cold, his design is simple and believable and he doesn't have any devil fruit. In a manga that is famous for its over-the-top characters, Vergo manages to stand out by being ordinary. He has enough quirks to make him fit in, with his strange memory and bamboo stick, but due how normal-looking he is in contrast to all the other characters, in particular Ceasar, you take the character seriously from panel one. Even with a burger stuck to his face, you can't help but feel a bit restless, that this character isn't playing games.
And that adds to what I consider to be his theme: fear. I loved how strong he was, and especially the fact that he has no devil fruit powers. He kicks ass with a bamboo stick. He infiltrated the marines and they had no clue. He is a cold ruthless jerk, yet at the end of everything he smiles in the face of death - I just can't help but like him after that. He is not emotionless.
Loathe There is not anything about Vergo himself that I loathe, but rather the situation around him and how he was handled.
My biggest gripe is that his status as an infiltrator was never played with. We get to see the marines being distraught at his betrayal, but the feeling of betrayal doesn't exist, because there was nothing he betrayed for us readers. I'm currently watching the Water 7 arc, and this situation reminds me of that one scene when we get to know who assassinated Iceburg. That panel was chilling, when Hatori flew down to the shoulder of the masked man, and the revelation hit the reader. For Vergo, this was a wasted opportunity.
Other than that, he was introduced far too late, and when we finally get him to fight and he reveals his strength, Law one-shots him. From Law's perspective, I adore that scene, but from Vergo's perspective, I don't. its one of those "depends on how you view it scenes", and when I think of it in context of Vergo, it feels too easy. And lastly, we don't really know anything about him. I'm really hoping he'll return, somehow.
Score I'd give him 4/5.
LOVE: Strength. He was in that arc as a goon(A strong one at that) and he played his part well. His design fit his role as well. Plus his background as a mole of Doffy's really unique. Oh, and No matter how much Vergo got smacked around(Sanji, Smoker), his shades never fell off.
LOATHE: He was there for muscle, and he was that. There's nothing more I was looking for from him. Nothing to loathe either.
As a goon/muscle/randomly strong character = 3.5/5. He did his role well. He was menacingly strong, being hyped as a beast in CoA. There were some untapped potential with Vergo but aside from that he's okay to me.
Vergo's Arlong Park Evaluation
What you loved:
Favorite comment goes to Tofu:
“Love:One of the strongest characters to not have a DF. Rokushiki + Haki atit's best. Cool fighting moves, interesting support weapon that matches his abilities (the bamboo flexibility should make it a much stronger hit than an iron weapon when used with Haki). Extremely loyal to the point of even earning Doffy's highest respect. It seems to me, also, that prior to the Punk Hazard incidents, Doffy was keeping the Mera Mera no Mi to his strongest man, Vergo. This fruit would automatically put him as one of the strongest vice-admirals, ifnot THE strongest (Garp is VA no more). He's Doffy's top man, match up to Law, and bested Sanji, hinting he's somewhere between Law's and Zoro's level. He doesn't like napkins.“
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What you loathed:
Favorite comment goes to The Daz (pretty sure you're the all time winner):
“Loathe:Most of that potential wasn't capitalized on. He arrived on PH too late in the game and didn't really get to do much. His fighting style turned out to be Rokushiki again+armament Haki again,only he's like super special at it! What could've been a good fightfor Smoker ended with a cop out excuse for Law to flex his smug Haxxness some more, and the fight turned out much like Vergo himself: anticlimatic.”
Finally,the poll! With 25 votes, Vergo's average score is…3.30.
Thanks to all that responded! I will post my next pick later on today.Here's the HINT: Our next character leaves puddles in their wake wherever they go.
Until then.
@Zar:
My biggest gripe is that his status as an infiltrator was never played with. We get to see the marines being distraught at his betrayal, but the feeling of betrayal doesn't exist, because there was nothing he betrayed for us readers. I'm currently watching the Water 7 arc, and this situation reminds me of that one scene when we get to know who assassinated Iceburg. That panel was chilling, when Hatori flew down to the shoulder of the masked man, and the revelation hit the reader. For Vergo, this was a wasted opportunity.
Agreed. The betrayal during the Kuro arc also had more impact because we saw more of Kuro's "nice guy" persona whereas we saw hardly anything of Vergo's upstanding Marine persona outside of the brief Tashigi flashback–which was after his betrayal was already known.
Our next character leaves puddles in their wake wherever they go.
Shirahoshi? Cause, ya know, she cries all the time.
~~Love: So far, nothing. His name, I guess? Well, I hope once Doffy's past is revealed, Vergo will be developed as a character, but so far there is nothing to love about him.
Loathe: Fairy Tail vibe due to the forced "dumb gimmick".
Again, maybe things will change if the character is developed later. But so far, his gag felt really forced. It didn't went well with his personality, it was a situational thing that was there just to say the manga is funny. It felt like Oda thought "I will make this really cool guy, but to show I am funny I will insert some really stupid gimmick".
1/5 (I was going to give him 0.5, but 1 is the minimum…)~~
Interesting… I'm going to guess that our next character is Magellan.