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Reworking Noob

Inspired by this post by @crossyyt. Saying what we're all thinking, Number One Fan was a lackluster episode despite the fact that it furthered what little overarching plot we managed to get out of the end of Season 2.

And it's because of this guy.

Gifs from this post by @atmosiacyclonia

Yeah, Noob. "The fan", and the writers' way of making jabs at both the fanbase and the industry as a whole apparently. Kind of entertaining on a first watch, especially over a decade after the show has ended, but looking at it critically...

He's just kind of a nothing character overall. We didn't need him to get involved in the quest for Warp crystals, he doesn't add anything to the story, he doesn't leave any meaningful impact on the story and yet he gets frozen in the prison crystal in Cyclonia Rising. Anyone could've been in his place and not much would've changed overall.

But I'm a believer that all characters have a use, you just need to find one for them. Noob didn't have much potential, but the potential that he did have feels wasted.

So let's see how he could've been put to better use.

TL;DR: I put him on the reserve team that was mentioned in Talon Academy and then never brought up again. Alternatively he could be a relative of Dark Ace.

Edit: I hit post on this too soon, added more thoughts as soon as I realised this wasn't in my drafts anymore.

First off: remove the meta commentary aspect. Poking fun at fans is bad form and commentary on real-life merch production in a fantasy setting like this is, in my opinion, nonsensical and makes my worldbuilding brain itch.

Second: Let's take a look at this kid's design.

When did y'all notice that Noob has black hair

and red eyes?

I only noticed a year ago.

Remind you of someone?

Allow me to freak out a bit, because

This can't have been an accident, right? What was the intent behind it? As far as I've noticed, these are the only two characters with this specific colouring. What was Nerd Corps trying to tell us??

Ok, freakout over. What are our options?

Noob and Dark Ace are related, and Noob's obsession with the Storm Hawks comes from knowing that he had a relative who was part of the old team.

Possible, but considering how quickly Noob bounced from being a Storm Hawks fan to an Absolute Zeroes fan, I don't think it's likely. If that is the case, then a rewrite of the episode would be needed to show a little bit more loyalty from Noob. I don't know about everyone else, but the jump from one fanbase to another feels like a pattern of behaviour in my opinion. He rotates through special interests on the regular. Nothing against that in a real-life context, but it feels like another mean-spirited jab at fans.

Meta commentary aside, Noob could be rewritten to be a fan of the original Storm Hawks because of this potential relation to them. It'd give us something close to a "real" origins episode if Noob was given a chance to infodump about his old idols. Maybe he dislikes the new team for being "inauthentic", or he doesn't care all that much about them, he's just interested in the Condor; a crucial piece of Storm Hawks history.

As for Dark Ace? Noob could either be unaware that the copilot he might be related to was a traitor (possibly indicating that the Sky Knights tried to cover up the traitor aspect), or he rejects the copilot out of disgust. He's just a traitorous Cyclonian after all and fodder for an identity crisis in Noob if he was anything close to a main character.

In short: Noob could've been used as an exposition device.

Option 2, and my personal take on how Noob can be made useful:

Rewrite him in full and give him a touch more screen time. Put him in Talon Academy for a scene or two, and then have him beg to join the reserve team that Aerrow suggested to Lynn. "Number One Fan" makes good on this suggestion and is about the whole reserve team, not just Noob.

I see this as a two birds, one stone solution. Noob gets to be useful, keeps his character trait as a mega-fan of the Storm Hawks, and that loose end from Talon Academy gets tied up somewhat. As much as I love the show, its episodic writing lead to quite a bit of disappointment. But it just means we get to play with all the elements like dolls.

Let him be an exposition piece for the world in regards to sky knight merchandise, but have it make sense in the context of Atmos. If he really is the only Storm Hawks fan out there (which I find doubtful), why are action figures of the team being made without the Hawks knowing? Either all his figures be handmade, or repurposed from existing figures of more popular teams like the Rex Guardians. Or hell, keep the joke that there aren't any Piper dolls in production, but have it be due to resource scarcity brought in by the war. Or Cyclonis bought every single Piper doll to use as target practise for whatever machine or weapon she's working on.

As I said above, let him be from the Talon Academy. Have him be so enamoured with the Hawks' takedown of this Cyclonian institution that he latched onto them as heroes and then got wrapped up in war propaganda in his efforts to become their number one fan. He's obviously a good few years younger than the team, so have his understanding of the war be incredibly shallow, and maybe give him an arc where he learns from that.

I was going to add more to this a lot more but a misclick or some kind of tumblr goof caused this to he published half-finished instead of saving it to my drafts, so eventually I'll make another post elaborating on these ideas. For now though I'm curious to see what everyone thinks, and their own takes on Noob. Is he a waste of screen time? Did you guys scrap him in your AUs? Did yall forget about him? Let me know.

[far-side-skies]

Adorable Aerrow!

[far-side-skies]

Flame-faced Tanager (Tangara parzudakii), family Thraupidae, order Passeriformes, NW Ecuador

photograph by Jorge Luis Cruz Alcivar The Magic Birding and Bird Photo Circuit of Ecuador

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The context for this is gonna hurt isn't it? ;w;

Painted Faces chapter is done!

As such, here's the finished picture before I put it in. I'm actually super proud with how this came out!

Tried adding a blue frame thingie just to further annunciate the This Isn't Real feeling :'D

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Pffffft, guilty as charged!!

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...That checks.

Tags: @happypanda101 @feralcoffeecryptid @uncertainty5 @selfproclaimedpeanut @goddess731 @fallingskywaterr

Tag game!!!

Do this quiz

And this picrew

And tag people(obviously)

@anartistwithamask @gummy-axolotl @shadowthegay @auseryoumayknow @copper-ichor @moonysfavoritetoast @alexthescaredenby @invaderxeya @fungal-boy-witch-yay @artists-void @hazbin-hotel-lucifer-simp @ka1-the-pr0ot @theautumnalcat

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The real reason he always won against Dark Ace and the Talons.

He blinded them with his sparkle.

Adorable Aerrow!

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Give that girl a crisis

Controversial Headcanon that's been rolling around in my brain for some time: Starling is Cyclonian.

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This looks so cool!! I love the crystal magic halos 💜

Fanfic Cover Art Commission done for @voltsparrow I loved getting a chance to do a Cyclonis/Piper cover so, once again, Thank You SO much!

Fanfic Link (AO3)

Storm hawks:Fall of the Witch, Rise of the Phoenix by Melodramatic_Jester

Summary:

The Storm Hawks have just followed Master Cyclonis into the doorway leading to the Far-side to hunt her down and bring her to justice. Master Cyclonis goes through much growth after her massive defeat and tries to outwit the Storm Hawks long enough to return to full strength and return to Atmos. Piper comes into her full potential as a crystal mage and decides to explore just why she and her enemy are so similar. In the end they will both go through many changes and come out the Far-Side much different than when they entered.

Unfotunately at a great cost.

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What would you say your opinions of each of the team where when you first arrived on the condor? How do they differ now that you’ve gotten to know them?

Very good question! Hope the answer’s not too long.

If you didn’t already know, I was actually Cyclonian when I first met the team. I grew up being told to hate all those that opposed Cyclonia, so you can imagine what my opinions were.

I hated everyone XD though truthfully I hated that I was forced to be with them. Long story short, The Storm Hawks were supposed to make me “good” so I could help them in the war.

I didn’t want to be good, I just wanted to be back home. But eventually, they showed me home is where you make it.

Finn’s my best friend, I never thought we’d be so similar.

Piper’s like a sister I never had.

Junko’s a great friend and I’m happy he’s always there to listen to me.

Stork’s wacky but we have fun. He’s the only one who understands my darker interests ;3

Radarr’s the best snuggle buddy.

And Aerrow’s…surprised me the most lol. Never in a million years did I think I’d be dating a Sky Knight.

I liked this question a lot! It’s fun thinking about what makes life special.

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Weird ass Storm Hawks Sketches because im bored

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Someone on the Discord server was asking about what folks headcanoned for an older Cyclonis, and I felt compelled to draw mine.

In a seeming act of karma, Master Cyclonis lost an eye to the very Champion she destroyed in the last battle of Cyclonia. Shrapnel from the Dark Ace's armour struck her in the explosion, leaving her disoriented and half blind as she fled to the Far Side. More than likely she acquires a high-tech crystal replacement for it, but still opts to wear an eyepatch most of the time as the prosthetic gives her migraines.

She's in her early twenties here, has her hair short and styled in an undercut, and has likely come out as femme nonbinary by now. Still an absolute Queen though.

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Yeah, the way Aerrow describes himself in the intro feels weird. Like it's been generations since Lightning Strike's death and Dark Ace's rise as Champion of Cyclonia.

But then you watch Origins and it's only been

A decade

For backstory episode, that episode gives us way more questions than answers.

Am I the only one who thought the first time I saw the series that Dark Ace was very old?

when aerrow he claims to be the last descendant of the original storm hawks

The first thing I thought was "wow, descendant? It really must have been a long time, is that guy from the opening immortal or something like that?"

As you know the trope: of a character who is immortal or very old but still looks young due to magic

like chase young

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Pfffft XD

I couldn't resist XD

(Apologies for the meh tv quality version, i left all my better quality footage in my Micro SD card that's in my current phone that ran into a tech issue and im using a tablet as a temporary thing til i can get a new phone replaced.....ffffun lol)

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Sketched/remade Prince of Nothing (my Thundercats au) after not doing so for a while...

Basically, three years before entering Atmos, and shortly after escaping prison, Starline meets Lion-O and convinces him to separate from his group after he had an argument with Tygra, and basically kidnaps him.

He experiments on him for about four years, drugging him with a feral-ness(?) inducing chemical that makes him regress into a primal state, as well as injecting Earth lion DNA into him, causing him to have a more wild physique.

After Starline sets him free for a 'field test,' he finds Aerrow and attacks him, having been starved. But he's tranquilized before anything else could happen.

Being put under Tanya and Raven's care, they and the kids help him recover from his torment, reteaching him how to walk and talk properly.

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Just got word that Aerrow's on his way back.

Good. Finally.

He ran into those Storm brats.

Less good.

Hopefully nobody's dead or dismembered.

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Me: Hmm, this next chapter of Buridan's Storm I need to figure out how to introduce the Sky Knight Academy, new characters and maybe some future sky knight oc background characters. Oh, and more Aerrow backstory-

🧠: Don't forget Othello

Me: Oh… oh no.