Are Blair and Maniac best friends?

Falcon988

Commodore
What do you think about their relationship throughout the series? You see them in WC1 first and Blair is obviously terrified of flying on Maniac's wing. Regardless he often gives him pieces of advice and if you happen to lose Maniac Blair swears to "nail the furball who took you down". Later when they meet ten years later after Maniac's promotion to Major, they act very friendly towards one another. Blair even jostles him a little ("You mean Confed High Command actually encourages training pilots to fly the way you do?"). In WC3 Maniac and Blair -really- act like they hate each other but do they really? They never come to blows, they -generally- speak with mutual respect. And let us not forget that they both defected to the Border Worlds in WC4 and flew with each other on the Intrepid.

So are they rival pilots who hate each other? Or is it all an act and they're actually the best of friends? Maniac -does- act as a superb foil to Blair throughout the entire series after all which is a typical formula for friendships in the movies...
 
I think that, upon close examination a natural evolution of their relationship becomes clear. ALthough friends, The WCa shows that they are very much competing with eachother. (maniac moreso maybe.) Events in maniacs life (like Rosies death and the transport incident) cause a shift in maniacs viewpoint though. He's disilusioned and gives a damn even less (becomes reckless). At one point I feel that he also becomes jealous of the attention Blair gets from his exploits in the vega campaign. Later(wc4) feels that everyone should know who he is, like blair the hero of the kilrathi was, but never gets the recognition he feels he deserves. By the Time of WC3 Maniac still isn't higher ranking than Blair even though blair spent 10 years out of commision so to speak. By WC4 it does seem that Maniac is comming to terms with this.
 
I would consider Blair and Maniac to be friendly rivals. They constantly compete with each other to show who is the best, even trading occasional insults, but when the chips are down they defend each other against any outside threats, and they each know and expect that the other is watching his back--notice how in WC4 Maniac is actually offended if Blair takes Dekker's side and allows Dekker to beat him in a fist fight.
 
I dunno, I see the relationship as a more 'Dwight and Jim' (or 'Gareth and Tim') kind of deal. My own twisted view.
 
The personality of Maniac can shift a lot depending on the dramatic needs, and accordingly so does his relationship with Blair. It's too bad they don't interact much on WCP, but by the looks of WC4 they seem to be getting along fine.
 
Maniac and Blair were always friendly rivals, from the Academy on -- best friends and competitors. By Wing Commander III, though, a genuine animosity had grown between them (per the novel). That rift was repaired after the war.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
By Wing Commander III, though, a genuine animosity had grown between them.

Not having the novel in front of me to check - was this because Blair advanced in rank past Marshall?
 
LeHah said:
Not having the novel in front of me to check - was this because Blair advanced in rank past Marshall?
Even if that isn't the primary reason it's probably a secondary reason. So yeah more or less.
 
I don't see how that was an issue though. Blair and Marshall graduated from the same academy class, and per the games and movies, Blair always outranked Marshall except for part of the time he spent on Canearvon. If Blair hadn't been courtmartialed, he would of always outranked Marshall.
 
It seems almost as if Blair and Maniac are more of brothers than best friends. I don't know but their relationship kinda strikes me as one similar to the one my brother and I have.
 
I don't see how that was an issue though. Blair and Marshall graduated from the same academy class, and per the games and movies, Blair always outranked Marshall except for part of the time he spent on Canearvon. If Blair hadn't been courtmartialed, he would of always outranked Marshall.

The part of the time he spent on Caernarvon (2656-2665) plus the time he spent on Concordia before having his name cleared (2665-2667) plus the time they held the same rank (2654-2655). Blair "always" outranked Maniac for three years of the fifteen years they served together during the war.
 
LeHah said:
Not having the novel in front of me to check - was this because Blair advanced in rank past Marshall?

From the first video scene with Maniac in WC3, you can tell there's rank stuff in there. More specifically, Maniac was poised to take a Lt Colonel promotion and become the Wing's XO under Colonel Dulbrunin. Then Hobbes arrived and took the spot. Dulbrunin died and Hobbes requested to be taken off the flight roster, and then Blair comes in and takes the job Maniac thought he'd get and reinstates Hobbes. He even makes Hobbes direct CO of the Thunderbolt Squadron without realizing that it was under Maniac's command. So Maniac went from thinking he might get command of the whole Wing to practically being demoted.
 
But Maniac was not Blair's rank when Blair was courtmartialed. It would of still taken him a few years, especially with his psych problems, to get promoted past Blair. Remember, at the end of SM2, Maniac is still a second lieutenant and Blair is a Lieutenant Colonel. Even after the demotion of Blair to Captain, it would take him time to get promoted to Major. Wasn't he promoted to Major for that action in the Deneb system in 2666?
 
But Maniac was not Blair's rank when Blair was courtmartialed. It would of still taken him a few years, especially with his psych problems, to get promoted past Blair. Remember, at the end of SM2, Maniac is still a second lieutenant and Blair is a Lieutenant Colonel.

All we know is that they were both still Lieutenants at Firekka.

Even after the demotion of Blair to Captain, it would take him time to get promoted to Major. Wasn't he promoted to Major for that action in the Deneb system in 2666?

That wasn't in 2666. He was released from the psych ward shortly after the destruction of the Tiger's Claw, he served a tour as a test pilot and then crashed the Ralatha -- it was 2657 or 2658, and we have no idea what his rank was before that, regardless.
 
Well, we know that Blair was at least a Major by 2656 when the Tiger's Claw was destroyed because Admiral Tolwyn refers to 'reducing' him in rank to Captain.
 
Sylvester said:
Well, we know that Blair was at least a Major by 2656 when the Tiger's Claw was destroyed because Admiral Tolwyn refers to 'reducing' him in rank to Captain.

Lt Colonel by the end of SM2, IIRC, but I wouldn't swear to that as Absolute Truth.
 
Sylvester said:
Well, we know that Blair was at least a Major by 2656 when the Tiger's Claw was destroyed because Admiral Tolwyn refers to 'reducing' him in rank to Captain.

It seems Blair was a Colonel when he was demoted back to captain, because when his ranks is restored he is a Colonel again.
 
Actually, Blair was neither a Colonel nor a Lt. Colonel. You can get promoted to Lt. Colonel in SM2, but this apparently didn't actually happen, because the KSaga manual (which happens to be the only source that provides Blair's rank circa 2656) refers to Blair as a Lt. Commander - i.e., he was a Major.
 
Fine, but why did he received the rank of Colonel when he was cleared of the charges that made him lose Rank? On WC2 and SO1 I was under the impression that Colonel was his rank to being with, and that he lost it due to the Tiger's Claw destruction.
 
Well Blair's heroism and the clearing of his name at the end of WC2 would be worth one promotion, but I don't know about a second.
 
Back
Top