Maniac and other WC characters

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Just was thinking about how some of the wing commander characters change across the span of the series and how it all works together.

I was always curious why, of all the characters, maniacs seemed to differ the most form product to product. WC1 maniac was not really funny. We more laughed at him for being an ass. WC2 special operations maniac had blood shot eyes, and was like he was on drugs.. Looked and acted kind of mentally unstable, still a jerk. WC3 Maniac had a kind of jealous rivalry going on between him and Blair, after all, Blair had been pretty much nowhere for 10 years and now he out-ranks him? The humour is now not so much at maniac but because of him, and his antics. Then in wc4 and WCA Maniac and Blair are old friend. Blair now likes maniac, despite the rivalry, and maniac is Pretty much a joker.

So here's my thought

In WCM Blair and Maniac are friends. Obviously, there is a friendly rivalry between the two. Maniac probably is a better instinctive pilot than Blair, but it makes him cocky. Plus he lacks the discipline to realize that it's not all about him. While usualy effective, he fails to see the problem presented by him putting, not only him self, but others at risk because of his behaviour. And of course he is definitely a Joker. He meets his match with Rosie Forbes but not only do these qualities bring them together, they cost Rosie her life.
Enter WC1... Maniac is essentialy in shock. He blames himself, and is thus an over serious jerk, with absolutely no fear in the cockpit, but unfortunately no concern for others either. He resents blairs advancement past him as Blairs style and accomplishments overshadow him.

He degrades to the Crazy state, probably because of substance abuse, but comes clean and is better but still bitter in wc3. By WC4 He seems to be getting over it. In fact, His humour is probably what makes him return to sanity... It's how he deals with stress. In the scene where him and Blair look up to where the intrepids bridge was and he mentions how much percentage of the crew were lost, he seems visibly upset by the situation. Plus, when He contemplates the defection (before the fact) he is serious too.

I'm not familiar with most of the novels so I cant coment on them, But I'd like to know what you think. How do you feel about maniacs transformation? Do you think theres a better explanation? Am I completely out in left field (maybe I inadvertently contradicted a canon source)? Or do you have any thoughts about any of the other characters arcs?
 
The Official Guide to Wing Commander Prophecy summarizes Maniac's history pretty well.

Maniac suffered some setbacks in 2654 that "shattered his self-created illusion of invincibility" (WCPOG) -- namely, Rosie's death and the accidental destruction of a Drayman (killing 16 people). During Operation Thor's Hammer (SM1), he snapped and ended up in a psych ward... (in fact, that's how he survived the destruction of the Tiger's Claw).

After he left the hospital he took up test piloting, which rebuilt his confidence... and then when he returned to combat he destroyed a pair of Ralatha in a supposedly brilliant maneuver that won him fame. He spent the sixties alternating between test pilot duties and combat tours, eventually ending up commanding the Wild Eagle's and then serving on the Victory (by request of Tolwyn). The implication in the guide is that his persona in SO2 is of his own creation rather than a direct result of his spending time in a mental hospital.

(Also note that the Wing Commander I/II Ultimate Strategy Guide heavily implies that Maniac didn't actually 'snap' -- that it was all an act because he was tired of war.)
 
I don't know, we're talking 8-10 years of combat duty between 2654-2669, and given the rate you can chalk up kills in the game, it doesn't seem too unreasonable. Factor in any post-Kilrathi War incidents we're unaware of, the Border World incident and the war with the Bugs, and I'd say that seems pretty attainable.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Maniac suffered some setbacks in 2654 that "shattered his self-created illusion of invincibility" (WCPOG) -- namely, Rosie's death and the accidental destruction of a Drayman (killing 16 people). During Operation Thor's Hammer (SM1), he snapped and ended up in a psych ward... (in fact, that's how he survived the destruction of the Tiger's Claw).
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So did he end up in the psych ward post-SM2? Or was it at the end of Thor's Hammer, after the Claw returned to Confed space? It just seems kind of odd...from the way it's described here (never had the chance to read any of the guidebooks, so maybe it's explained there), there's one of two possibilities

1 - Maniac snaps in Thor's Hammer, and, even though the Tiger's Claw is on light duty for a month at Firekka (since this is before Confed finding out about the Sivar-Eshrad ceremony), he is not sent away to get the help he needs, and rather just sits on the Claw till he and Blair fly together in Charon at the end of SM2. Following this, he gets sent to the psych ward, thus avoiding the destruction of the Tiger's Claw.

2 - Maniac snaps in Thor's Hammer, gets shipped off to the psych ward at the end of SM1, comes back to fly a pair of missions with Blair at the end of SM2, then gets sent back to the ward, since apparently that's how he misses the Claw going boom.

It's probably just my mind working in the wrong direction from getting a whole hour of sleep last night, but it just seems kind of awkward. It doesn't even seem to be a case of "Well, the game can have this or this happen, but in canon, only this one happened", such as what happens with WC3, since you fly with Maniac whether you lose halfway through the game, or play through, winning every mission.
 
The thing that confuses me about Maniac is that he was generally funny and more serious in wc4 than he was in the previous games, yet in wcp, he becomes very arrogant and an asshole to your character all over again. It could be argued that its because when you played as Blair, he respects you, but as Casey, you are just a "plebe." However, he didn't act this way to Catscratch in wc4 who was also a new pilot, so to a certain extent, its almost like he has partly gone back to his old ways.
 
He got some respect for the "plebe" that pulled his fat out of the fire, though.

(That was me, again!) :D
 
luminon said:
The thing that confuses me about Maniac is that he was generally funny and more serious in wc4 than he was in the previous games, yet in wcp, he becomes very arrogant and an asshole to your character all over again. It could be argued that its because when you played as Blair, he respects you, but as Casey, you are just a "plebe." However, he didn't act this way to Catscratch in wc4 who was also a new pilot, so to a certain extent, its almost like he has partly gone back to his old ways.
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You have to look at the other factors surrounding these times. In WC4, he's had a really cushy job the last couple years mopping up after the war's end. By Prophecy, he's still doing the same thing ten years later. In WC3 and Prophecy there are more definite reasons for him to be bitter about his rank, and that's less of an issue in WC4 because of the circumstances.
 
ChrisReid said:
You have to look at the other factors surrounding these times. In WC4, he's had a really cushy job the last couple years mopping up after the war's end. By Prophecy, he's still doing the same thing ten years later. In WC3 and Prophecy there are more definite reasons for him to be bitter about his rank, and that's less of an issue in WC4 because of the circumstances.
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Yeah, that's probably true. Afterall, he was a major for how many years? 10? 15? I'm not really sure. It did surprise me when I first played prophecy that he was not a colonel yet. He had over 2000 confirmed kills, was a veteran of the kilrathi war and the border worlds conflict, he was made leader of the black widows and was still only a measly major. It must have had something to do with his crazy flying style over his career... or was it becasue he didn't "get lucky one one mission and happened to vanquish an enemy that's been flying for eons." :rolleyes:
 
LOAF - that doesn't sound like the career of a ace who managed to rack up 2000 kills.
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There's over ten years of combat tours in there.

So did he end up in the psych ward post-SM2? Or was it at the end of Thor's Hammer, after the Claw returned to Confed space? It just seems kind of odd...from the way it's described here (never had the chance to read any of the guidebooks, so maybe it's explained there), there's one of two possibilities
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Maniac is still on duty at the end of The Secret Missions (Col. Halcyon addresses him in the final briefing). Knight tells us early on in Crusade that he's in sickbay on the 'Claw, and when we fly with him at Charon it's explained (by Shotglass) that he's back on duty because there's a shortage of pilots. After this, he's transferred to the dedicated psych ward onboard the Austin.

Then there is the absurdly arrogant Maniac from the official WC1&2 guide.
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I believe I mentioned the WC1/2 Guide in my post.
 
luminon said:
Yeah, that's probably true. Afterall, he was a major for how many years? 10? 15? I'm not really sure. It did surprise me when I first played prophecy that he was not a colonel yet.
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IIRC, at the end of the WC4 novelization he was made a Colonel (or maybe Lt. Colonel), though I can't find my copy of WC4N or the official WCP guide to confirm that promotion. If I'm not misremembering, it's not that difficult to see Maniac... well, being Maniac, and getting busted back down to Major in the ~8 years between the end of WC4 and the start of WCP.
 
In the prophecy novel I think Paladin mentions Maniac getting demoted because the Kiev (his commande) was decommisioned, Maniac was probably lucky just to get demoted afterall this is a peacetime service and 'excessive time in grade' is grounds for dismissal
 
Paddybhoy said:
In the prophecy novel I think Paladin mentions Maniac getting demoted because the Kiev (his commande) was decommisioned, Maniac was probably lucky just to get demoted afterall this is a peacetime service and 'excessive time in grade' is grounds for dismissal
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That... doesn't make any sense. Eisen didn't get busted down to CDR when the Victory was decommissioned (though to be fair, we don't know if he was actually in command when it was decomissioned). When one is promoted in rank, even if it's for the specific purpose of giving them a command, you don't lose it just because that command is decomissioned.
 
well in the prophecy handbook theres no mention of the kiev at all so I am probably wrong but I can think of one example that MIGHT back me up. Captain Wilford was the CO of the Midway whilst before he was an admiral with the border worlds and before that he was with confed (I think he was a rear admiral BUT he was higher up in the ladder than captain). I might be that both of them accepted demotion to serve on the premiership within the confefderation fleet.
 
well in the prophecy handbook theres no mention of the kiev at all so I am probably wrong but I can think of one example that MIGHT back me up. Captain Wilford was the CO of the Midway whilst before he was an admiral with the border worlds and before that he was with confed (I think he was a rear admiral BUT he was higher up in the ladder than captain). I might be that both of them accepted demotion to serve on the premiership within the confefderation fleet.
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Wilford was a Vice Admiral in the Union of Border Worlds militia -- Captain was the highest rank he'd attained in the Terran Confederation Navy. When he returned to the Confederation, he returned to his previous grade (per the WCP Guide).

An assignment won't effect your *current* grade -- being made Wing Commander of a ship that's being scrapped would certainly indicate where your career is going, but it's not a valid reason to demote someone. Knowing Maniac, he did something stupid to earn a demotion to Major between Wing Commander IV and Wing Commander Prophecy.

Also, there is no Prophecy novel.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Knowing Maniac, he did something stupid to earn a demotion to Major between Wing Commander IV and Wing Commander Prophecy.
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Makes senses to me.

While I was missing a few details, I'm glad to hear I was on the right path. Plus faking a mental snap sounds like something Maniac would do. However, I could almost imagine that Maniac was more likely tired of his failure to advance more than tired of war... although it's unclear how many comrades he may have had fall on his wing... that would definitely take it's toll.

One other item I have been confused by is Blair and Angels relationship. While it certainly isn't clearly improbable in the games, my take was that they were merely friendly in wc1. Of course there was some kind of connection, but I didn't think they were romanticaly involved until wc2. There, it seemed like Angels feelings about trusting blair were being mirrored by a sexual tension, maybe fueling it. She wants to trust him... she knows if not in her mind, in an intuitive way that Blair must be innocent. However it does seem like the evidence points to Blair. That puts a whole lot more at stake if she were to pursue her feelings.

Now the WCM comes into play... and Blair and angel share a smooch on screen. It seems to imply that now they have become a serious item. So does that mean that either their relationship just isnt mentioned in wc1, only implied... or that maybe they cooled it for a while? And that in wc2 there is added tension because of their past involvement? She and blair would have went separate way with their individual reasignments after the claws destruction. Resuming a relationship under the circumstances in wc2 would have been emotionaly dificult for her, especily since their earlier separation may have been painful for her.

Hmmm.
 
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