Application for route_29

[infinityunlimitedflame]

Player
Name: Steve
Personal Journal: chargingstar
E-mail: nephroblargh@gmail.com
AIM/Plurk/Etc.: opticblast
Timezone: Arizona/MST
Current Characters in Route: Cobra Commander cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa | Kaine Parker theotherother

Character
Name: Gundam Tanaka
Series: Dangan Ronpa 2
Timeline: After the train ride in Chapter 4
Canon Resource Links:
Gundam's DR wiki page is actually pretty good so here you go

Personality:
Gundam is a weird dude. In a school full of extremely eccentric students, he still stands out by being the guy yelling about summoning creatures from the outer darkness while feeding sunflower seeds to his hamsters. Which creates a very strange, somewhat comical image. And if somebody doesn't read between the lines of his words or his actions, that's basically all they're going to get from him. Some weird animal guy that rambles about things that sound closer to something found in a tabletop roleplaying game while taking care of his animals. But there actually is more to Gundam than this, it's just that well, it's buried under layers and layers of, as Hinata puts it once during the game, “endless delusions.”

The easiest thing about him to notice under all this is would be his love of animals. Which despite being covered in arcane metaphors, isn't exactly something he keeps hidden. It's pretty obvious considering that he carries hamsters around on his person at seemingly all times and is his school's Super High School Level Animal Breeder (more on that in strengths/weaknesses section). And he seems to love training all sorts of them, though there are some exceptions to this, most notably that he genuinely pities livestock animals since they're typically raised to be slaughtered. He also indicates that his personal preferences are raising cute and/or rare animals, but aside from that, he seems genuinely happy just to be dealing with animals in general. Raising them, discussing them, directing people to his blog to learn more about them. Animals are great, and sometimes, they're better friends to him than he thinks most people would be.

The reason for that is that well, Gundam has trouble making friends. Which might not be that surprising due to his whole demeanor, but there's more to it than that. Gundam doesn't like to let people close to him, claiming that his insides are poison. Now for the record, it can almost be guaranteed that he is not somehow actually made of poison, but we do know that as a kid, he was often sick as a result of his mother's cooking. And we also know that due the school nurse being sympathetic to his plight (Gundam calls her one of his tribe, but doesn't elaborate further), he was often excused from various school activities due to his condition. So growing up, he didn't seem to really have the sort of interactions with people that led to forming friendships. Deciding to act like an RPG villain doesn't really help things either. Especially when it leads to contradictory statements (like inviting Hinata to approach him...only to tell him that by approaching him he will be destroyed), and other strangeness that most people aren't willing to deal with. In addition to all of this, Gundam also states at one point that he feels that anything that can talk can betray you, but doesn't explain where this mindset came from. So it's also possible that even with all of this, there's still more things in his past that caused him to become the solitary individual he is today (It's also worth nothing, as an aside, that despite being solitary, Gundam does actually interact with some sort of people outside of his classmates. Though what is incredibly telling is that he refers to these people as his followers and not any sort of terminology (even in Gundamspeak) that would have them listed as friends or family.)

Though we don't really know the reasons why most of the characters in Dangan Ronpa 2 fell into despair, it's entirely possible that this solitary existence played a part in it. We see that while he doesn't really care if people insult him or are put off by his nonsense, being rejected definitely upsets him, so it's rather easy to make the case that years of exclusion both due to his past and eccentricities created a level of despair within him that could easily be used for somebody else's sinister purposes.

Now, all of that aside, it is possible to be his friend. It just requires time, effort, and well...understanding's appreciated, but the odds of someone actually understanding that when Gundam yells about taming the fiends of hell by imprisoning them in a magical construct, he means putting a hamster in its cage are uh...let's go with low. But friendship can actually happen by people taking the time to talk to him or by taking a genuine interest in his charges. And he shows genuine appreciation for it...as well as confusion since why would anyone want to be his friend, and embarrassment because honestly, he presents himself as some sort of mythical badass character, so being told “your hamsters are cute” sort of tears that image to shreds. Once things get past the embarrassing awkward confusing stage, Gundam's actually makes a pretty good friend. He's willing to speak up for his friend's and he claims he'll do whatever it takes to keep them alive. We see at least one clear example of this (though after his canon point), when he makes sure to move his hamsters to safety before meeting his own end, ensuring their own protection as his friends, and making sure they don't suffer for his mistakes.

The one thing that can throw a monkey wrench into friendship attempts is that Gundam cannot stand to see people just give up. In Chapter 4 (also ahead of his canon point,but it's not really framed as a sudden realization), when the entire party is willing to just sort of...starve to death, rather than escape the Funhouse, he's against it, viewing the fact that they would all just give up solving the mysteries of or escaping the island as despicable, and takes it upon himself to essentially sacrifice himself to remind them that life is worth living and that there's no victory in just giving up, no matter what their intentions are. Though he would hardly admit that with any sort of coherent phrasing. It's also worth noting that this could also be taken as Gundam making good on his promise to not let his friends dies as only Gundam can (by...fighting a robot to the death with hamsters inside a fruit themed funhouse).

Strengths/Weaknesses:
+ An entire section could probably be written about this, but to sum it up, Gundam was selected to attend Hope's Peak solely because of his skill as an animal breeder. Given his experience and talent with raising and training animals, the Pokemon world is basically the ultimate arena for displaying his skills.
+ Make friends with Gundam and you have a friend for life. Admittedly that is a difficult thing to do, but hey, it's totally worth it.
+ He fought a giant robot. And held his own for a while. So he's no slouch physically either. If something happens and he needs to help out his Pokemon, he can probably do it.
+ Insults don't really faze Gundam. You can call him weird or yell at him and...he'll probably yell back, but he's not going to get broken up about it.


+/- Gundam's eccentricities definitely have the potentially to get him into trouble, while not necessarily being an outright weakness. It's just that, in a world populated by people from a bunch of other worlds, babbling on about how he tamed some dragon or other creature...that in someone else's world wiped out their parents or something could lead to misunderstandings.
+/-Gundam's a good friend to have, but like I mentioned in the personality section, there's certain things he doesn't like about people, and he'll take it upon himself to fix them if needed. Obviously not to the extent that he does in canon, but it is something to keep in mind.

- While being insulted isn't really a problem, Gundam does take being excluded personally. It's upsetting. And can be accompanied by overdramtics, and possibly the use of the phrase, “Fall, my tears.”
- Gundam basically lives in his own little world and the rules of mortals need not apply. Like with the animal breeding thing, entire volumes could probably be written on this subject and how they apply to the setting, but suffice to say, he can sort of create his own language barrier with this. His stringing of words and phrases together, while still being the same language everyone else speaks, can leave people shaking their heads in confusion.
- On a related note, he expects people to not necessarily play along but to acknowledge his bizarre delusions. If somebody mocks him, that's fine, but if he's going on and on about the title of his earring and someone's just like “Yeah that's a cool earring,” he will keep going until they acknowledge it by its proper name (or at least the one he's given it).
- He's already off in his own world a fair amount of the time, but he also sometimes retreats into yet another world while dealing with his animals. Which means he isn't always the best at noticing what's going on. It's not one of those situations where the world could fall down around him, but he can be somewhat oblivious at times.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Breeder
Starter: Nidoran♂
Password: Spring Rolls

Samples
First Person Sample: I demand the foul creature responsible for this demented illusion reveal itself at once!

[Because he has no idea what's going on. Help. Please someone help. What is this? Why is that woman claiming to be his mother?]

For you see, while your powers of obfuscation are almost impressive, they mean nothing to a being such as myself!

[Translation: something weird is going on, and he noticed that. Go him.]

Therefore, I, Gundam Tanaka, demand you reveal yourself so that we may do battle on a scale that brings the very foundation of this world to its knees! Appear before me so that I may crush you as a demonstration to the astounding creature I have just received!

[In other words, he just got a Pokemon. And he has no idea what it is, but throwing an untrained animal into a chaotic situation is just asking for trouble.]

And do not even think of ignoring me. Otherwise, I will be forced to unseal power that would make the very heavens themselves tremble with fear!

[Demented laughter ensues, but he really hopes someone responds because he needs some information here.]

If you think that stealing my familiars has left me incapable of channeling such power, then think again! Such a foolish mistake has done nothing but ensure your own destruction!

[...because he would really like his hamsters back. This Pokemon is cute and all, but he needs those back.]

Third Person Sample:
After hearing what he needed to hear from the network, Gundam made sure to gather his things and head out at once. Given the mix of information he's received so far, it seems like the best way to actually learn about this place is to head out and see it for himself. Not that there's apparently much to see on Route 29. But that's fine with him. He can already tell that this world has just as much if not...okay more, probably much more things to discover than that island ever did.

“Besides, there is much more to this road than meets the eye,” he says, continuing his thoughts out loud, in case anyone on the road was wondering what he was thinking. Okay, let's be honest, nobody was probably wondering, but he'll tell them anyway. “For today, in this common setting, I, Gundam Tanaka, begin my journey! A journey that will lead to a brighter future for the Tanaka Empire!”

But establishing a new animal empire will take time. First he has to get through this grass. And the handbook mentioned that Pokemon usually hang out in the grass. He's not really sure if this is the appropriate time to try actually battling his Pokemon. After all, he just got it, and he still hasn't really figured out the correct way to raise the creature. Hmm. This is a tougher choice than he expected.

“What a fiendish choice,” he says, trying to sound smug to whoever is around, assuming people are still around after the first outburst. “To either trust one's fate to such an inexperienced beast or to brave the unknown terrors lurking in the verdant depths alone. You!” He dramatically points at the first person he sees. That should hopefully get their attention because he can't imagine anyone ignoring such a gesture.

“I can sense your aura, and I sense absolutely nothing out of the ordinary from it. Tell me, what does one such as yourself plan to do here?”

Because he's not really sure how to go about proceeding here and some help would be nice. Not that one such as himself would ever state such a need so plainly.