I've reached a point in the ReBoot comic outline where I must deal with Welman Matrix:
This is the best picture I could find. Remember him? He's Dot's father who became a Null who got installed in a robot who got zombified by Megabyte at the end of 408.
What are your opinions on where this character should go? I have my opinions, but let's hear yours first. Go nuts!
Professor WhizzyWig
Writer of ReBoot: Arrival
Comments
10:27 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
Died in childbirth? Obviously they wouldn't use that particular term but that's what I think. I agree, Welman should play a bigger part. I think we can safely assume that the wipeout of Megabyte would wipe out any effects he's had, so freeing Welman. Since Phong told him about what happened to Enzo, I think he can be the one who gives counsel to Matrix after Turbo gives him the order to enter the MMORPG-thing. I think he can also be central in bonding the 2 Enzos and encouraging a brotherly relationship between them. Action wise, he'll probably take a back seat (not much you can do as a Null-bot) but he should play a large role in character development.
14:23 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
That's what I'd assumed as well, but we're all left to wonder. Aw jeeze, THAT'S what I forgot to tell GB to ask! *foreheadsmack* As for the infection leaving once Megabyte does, it didn't happen that way in the series, same with any virus. Once the infection spreads, it stays until you clean or delete the infected files, virus or no. Same with Daemon. It was only in theory that Dot said people "might recover" once she was destroyed. That said, how is ol' Whelman doing in your version, WhizzyWig? It's hours later, and he's still infected? It may be good to note that someone wrote a Season Four where Whelman's suit was infected but he was not, just like Dot wasn't infected in...well..."Infected". XD Only her suite was controlled, with her unable to get out of the harness.
14:47 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
I'm going to go against the tide and say that I don't think Welman should be a major character in this story. It would be a mistake to write him out as if he never existed, but I feel that the story is big enough as it is. Not every possible thread should be used, otherwise the story gets too big and loses focus. 'Can't see the forest for the trees.' First off, is Megabyte in control of Welman's "Null-bot" exo-frame? Then the Good Guys will of course feel the need to rescue him. We've never seen Bob or any other Guardian disinfect object, only Sprites (humanoid Sprites, never binomes - hmm!) so we'll assume they can't clean that suit. Can they bust the null out of it? If so, I'd assume Our Heroes would build him another exo-suit. If they have the resources to put on a USO ahow they have the resources for that. After that point, of course Our Heroes will want to restore him to Spritehood, but, guess what, you can't have everything you want. They have much more immediate problems, what with the ginormous game and Megabyte and Gnosis and stuff. Those need to be dealt with right away. Don't make Welman compete with those. Dot, Bob, etc know about priorities, and they can see what needs to be dealt with NOW. Leave it as something they want, something it hurts them to put off. Welman would agree with them, of course, once he comes to terms with the revelation that the Net, which he assumed would be populated with friendly systems, is actually a dangerous place, with horrors Mainframe had never seen before.
14:55 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
I was interrupted and forgot to mention... We have to remember that this comic is not only for us longtime fans who have been waiting for the end of Season 4. It has to be accessible to new people as well. Introducing Welman opens up a whole can of nulls regarding backstory and the particulars of his unique condition. So which do you do - for the sake of one second-string character plop in a lot of exposition that doesn't really contribute to the story and only distracts new readers, or plop him in without explanation, or leave him out? Not that I want to eliminate him. I like Welman. I hope he can be written in in such a way that he works with the story as opposed to being a needless add-on. But I strongly dislike it when a story that's new to me has too many characters, especially noncontributing ones, and I see that danger here.
16:41 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
I think the three of us who've commented want exactly the same thing, Slack, and it's a pretty cool thing to see. He doesn't need to be larger than life, but he should get a few heartfelt lines in there. He's their father, and he's had no airtime really being one. As for the suit, in Infected, Megabyte's hold on the exo-suit lifted once he was in the containment chamber. However, I think this should be ignored, as it really wouldn't make sense. That would mean that during that time, all virals would have been briefly disinfected. Just in case anyone brings it up. As for the look of that suit, it's clunky and exo-cute, yet Phong had built a pretty bad assci (and huge) mechanical man for Nullzilla. Couldn't something be designed for Whelman's null that looks more spritely as that did? And yes, I know they have war priorities. But there are certain groups who work on certain things. It's possible a team could be working on game samplings, but it could just be written in that there are no games to sample because the User is gone. There's another reason they'd want to bring the User back to Mainframe. Dangerous to invite games back, but they're the only chance the nullified sprites have, even if only in theory.
16:51 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
Well, back when I was thinking up my own conclusion to The Hunt, I recalled that Megabyte infected Welman's Exo-Suit. I also recalled, earlier in the series, what happened when Welman regained his consciousness while he was still a null. When Enzo touched him, Hex's code (was it code or something else?) was transferred to him, so he became Null Wellman. What if, during this code transfer, Hex indirectly gave Wellman some sort of immunity to Megabyte and any of his infections? Because, obviously, Hex did not get along famously well with her brother. She would do anything to get an edge over him, even if she wasn't around to see it. Of course Wellman's suit would be infected; it's blue at the end of the series, that's your proof right there. But Welman could be pretending to be under Megabyte's control, while really having his own mind that he can control thanks to Hex (assuming he could break the effects of the infection on his Exo-Suit, mind over matter). That way he can help everybody else resist against Megabyte while still being in the clear, maybe get some more information from the virus to plot against him. So you keep him in that form, or you could use it for something else to transfer him over into Arriva's story line. Maybe use Slackbot's idea and transfer him over to another Exo-Suit. I dunno. But for Welman's role in Arrival assuming he's back with the good guys... I'd kind of have to agree with Slackbot in that he shouldn't be a major character. Truth betold, I just can't imagine him as a major character. I think he'd be similar to Phong; always there in the background, offering his support to all that need it. A character that everybody knows, but who does a lot of talking and not a lot of action, but still contributes to the plot regularly (a major-minor character, if you will). Actually, if you plan to have Phong still infected by Megabyte, Wellman could essentially take over Phong's role. (By the way, what are you going to do with Phong?) I see Welman as an emotional guidepost for the heroes. I mean, he's the father of two (three now? XD) sprites, and Dot looked almost grown-up when the Twin City incident happened. He must have learned a thing or two during that time about giving those he cares about some guidance. Of course for the newcomers, you're going to want to have a really brief summary of what happened regarding Welman's past, otherwise they'll be very confused. You could do that in dialog between some of the characters, maybe some flashbacks, or you may just decide to do a "Character Bios" section and go over briefly what happened there. I think the newcomers would need something to look from to understand what's going on. Plus it would serve well to those who already know what happened but need a refresher. Actually I'm kind of liking that idea... HAVE you considered doing a Character Bios section? If not in the actual webcomic (though if it gets to a printed version it should be there, I think), but somewhere on the website?
16:56 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
'A bit off-topic, ever wonder what happened to their mother?' Maybe they don't actually *have* a mother, they're actually both clones of Welman made in the name of SCIENCE. (or because he wanted kids but didn't have time for all that nonsense with the opposite sex) That would at least explain why they both look exactly like him. Or maybe I've just been watching way too much Venture Bros. As for Welman's role in Arrival, I'm also in agreement that he shouldn't be a major character. There's a *lot* of stuff going on in Arrival, and I'd personally like to see more on some of the new characters *coughVectorcough* than more on Welman. Not that I have anything against him, it's just that he doesn't seem to have as big a part to play in the story.
17:16 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
Okay I blogged on this before. I felt that the reason Phong's machine was introduced in the first place was because the creators intended for Welman to be brought back as a sprite. I theorized that the rest of Welman's missing code was inside Megabyte to go with the fact that Hex had part of his conscious being. I really wanted to see Welman get restored but I wonder how it would happen now. Maybe Gnosis gets the code from Megabyte and wants to use it to gain his own spritehood. Or maybe Gnosis will want to get his hands (if he had any) on Welman to gain information about attaining spritehood! It would give the character a good roll right?
19:00 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
I guess people have already touched on this before I read this, but I'll say what I think regardless. Wellman's position in the story should be more of a character "in the sidelines". The cast already has enough main characters and antagonists as it is, and Wellman's still a nullbot. It would be really neat if he has another exo-suit for him to use as a weapon, so that he wouldn't just be a defenseless nut. I could also see Wellman sacrificing himself for the sake of his kids; could be used as plot progression. On the sides, I was wondering how Wellman reacts to Bob and AndrAIa. He'd be a pretty nice in-law.
19:15 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
A note - if you do write him in in a way that makes sense, he'd be a convenient character to use to bring the readers up to date. Since he'd been out of the picture for so long, and when he reappeared it was at such a frantic time, there's a lot of news he missed. Just right for a 'the story 'til now' recap, or a device for inserting some quick exposition.
19:45 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
It seems like everyone is seeing the same problem. There are some conflicting problems in the character design, and the interaction between them is making it hard to work a solution. Here they are, in my opinion: 1) Guest Star Character: He was brought in as part of a subplot but never given a good direction thereafter except as to be another liability (someone for Bob to rescue). To be honest, he probably should have been deleted at the end of Daemon Rising. 2) Importance to the Main Characters: Though he's a minor character, Welman IS important to Dot, Enzo, and Matrix (to a lesser degree). This means that removing him completely would require a major plot beat in order to justify their emotional feelings towards him. 3) Complicated Backstory/Existence: Welman's origin and form are so convoluted and strange that they MUST be explained if the character is to be used at all. So all in all: he's a highly complicated character that is important to the characters but completely irrelevant to the overall ReBoot story or audience. What do we do then? Possibilities: Restore his Importance: Figure out something for him to do as part of the main cast. I've considered making him a scientist working with Phong or something, but Phong already does that AND we'd need to deal with issue #3 somehow. Delete Him: Just plain kill him off somehow. We'd need to deal with both issue #3 and #2 if we did that, meaning that he'd have to practically become a main character at some point so that his death would be meaningful. The real pain is that he was captured at the end of season 4, meaning that he MUST be dealt with early on in the comic. It's just such a tangled knot.
20:09 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
Personally I'm against killing him after the orginal creators went through all the trouble of bringing him back. That would seem a bit too tramatic after everything else that has happened or is going to happen,
20:18 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
Hmm... the first thing that sprang to mind was a recap of Welman's origin through Enzo's eyes. 'And my Dad's back! Okay, he was nullified in an explosion, then Hexadecimal turned him into a talking null, and then we built a robot suit for him. Isn't he *cool?!*' Enzo accepts him unquestioningly, and his voice might be able to sneak Welman in where an impartial narrator might not. And since it's in a character's voice, he can also gloss over excessive exposition, like the null monster phase, how Hex altered his icon, yadda-yadda-yadda. I'd rather see Welman erased from the continuity than have him killed - and offing him wouldn't even serve the purpose of simplifying things that much, as his very existence begs a lot of questions. If you use him, I like the idea of keeping him as a scientist. He may need a lot of bringing-up-to-date (What's a Virus? How does it infect things? Why? Explain for our new readers, please!) and after that - well, he's a very intelligent man, able to project the existence of the Web. It's not difficult to imagine him making some other brilliant leaps of logic that would ultimately prove quite useful. And he'd be motivated, too, since his experiment was what originally endangered Mainframe, providing a pathway for the original infection and the subsequent linkage to the Net.
20:30 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
I have an idea of what to do with Welman! Phong/Bob/Dot try their best to de-nullify him, but it just doesn't work, and they have to worry about the war. BUT - they do succeed in kindof "upgrading" him internally, so that he has the mind/emotions/thinking powers of his former sprite self, but he is still a little null physically. So in this way, he is able to contribute to the storyline without intruding on it... He can type things out or use a machine to talk, he can show affection, reason out problems, etc. but he can't be everything he would have as a sprite. Bob and Dot are then able to USE him (here's where some comic relief comes in) by having him run (squiggle, squirm) off to do special deeds, spy for them, etc. I mean he's small and discrete so he can totally go off and find out secret information without being targeted by the enemy! I don't mean to make him like Scuzzy... maybe more like The Mouse and the Motorcycle or Stewart Little... :D I agree, unfortunately, that he oughtn't be re-sprite-ified, mainly because then there's a problem with defining Bob and Matrix's relationship. It's my impression that to Matrix, Bob is the father he never had, that's why he reveres him so much. With Daddy being reborn, it kindof screws the politics up a bit. Sorry, Welman. I thought you were really hot, but it just ain't gonna work. Oh yeah, and heroes/heroines almost NEVER have mothers... if it's explained, great, if not, oh well.
20:36 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
Oops, I forgot to say that Welman as an "enlightened null" would also be able to contribute as a scientist and work with Bob/Dot/Phong the way we all would like to see him do. Maybe he has a little microphone that translates null-speak into sprite language ;D
21:35 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
I definately want to see him as a sprite, the null-bot was too ridiculous for my liking. We already know that the love between him, Dot, Enzo and Matrix is very strong. After the wedding, maybe he'll be more careful about Bob, wanting to protect his daughter, Bob would have to act all nice and good in front of him. So far, I don't really like this character. He's boring, isn't he? He'd need some development. He can't really become a major character (we already have a lot of awesome main characters), but he could be use wisely to develop other characters. Megabyte has no control over nulls, so I don't think that Welman was infected, probably just the suit. I agree with BobIsSoHot about the fact that to Matrix, and I'd add Enzo, Bob was the father they never had. He should keep that role just like Dot was some kind of mother. But Bob was a rather cool father, Welman would probably be less permissive. Maybe Welman will do the same thing than Dot 'I'll talk to you later'. Or maybe Welman, being the most mature sprite among them, will act as if he was every character's father (telling AndrAIa that she should wear more clothes or Ray that he shouldn't eat weird-looking things especially when it's Hex's cookies lol).
23:55 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
I tend to agree with Slack that there's really quite enough going on here without making Welman a major character - I just don't see room for it unless its at the expense of a more important character. Personally, I was never really all that consumed with what happened to Dot/Enzo's parents - I'd be more interested in seeing how they got by after their parents were gone. But you're right, Prof, that the cliffhanger sort of requires at least a mention of Welman's whereabouts and the resolution of his captivity. Maybe he's off on assignment somewhere, helping the geek squad fight Gnosis. Or maybe his null-suit was destroyed when it was infected, and there's been no alternative way to communicate devised so he's living in a cage in Phong's office...
00:06 Wed Sep 19th, 2007
There's a time difference between the end of Season 4 and the webcomic. You COULD have him killed within that time frame, and selectively choose what to let the new fans will learn from things like visiting his grave(?) and things. You could pretty much make up a reason for how he's killed too. Caught red-handed while helping the resistance? Failed experiment to turn him back into a sprite? (Ouch, that would hurt everyone emotionally) Run over by an ABC car? If you do this then you pretty much have a solution to all 3 issues. I oppose the idea myself, because I like Welman and think that if we're really careful about it then he can have is 15 nanoseconds of fame and gracefully leave the big stuff to the big heroes.
00:40 Wed Sep 19th, 2007
What if, Gnosis, while searching for a way to become a super-powerful sprite, figures out how to restore nulls to sprites. Perhaps it does so to Wellman and lures Enzo, in order to infect him and turn him into an avatar.
00:58 Wed Sep 19th, 2007
I still think Welman doesn't need a big part, but possibilities keep occurring to me. I'm undercutting my own argument. Yeesh. Welman was naively idealistic. He assumed that people in other systems would be friendly. Bob is an idealist, but not out of naivete; he believes that Viruses should not be automatically labeled monsters and deleted. 'Exterminate all the brutes'?! They're people too! Now add Vector into the mix. If they know he's a Virus, it would be food for thought for both of them. Depending on where in Vector's character arc we are, Bob might see him as a candidate for 'decent Virus person' status (which might irritate Vector - 'Take that missionary urge and stuffit.') or Bob might see him as vindication of his 'radical theories'. (Same reaction, possibly.) Woops, got sidetracked there, but I couldn't remove Bob from this. Anyhow, Think of Welman's reaction to a known benign Virus. He hasn't known about Viruses for long; he didn't grow up with the knowledge that Viruses Are All Evil Motherboards. He could be interested in Vector as a different species of dataform. An attitude of honest, open interest (as opposed to the conscious suppression of existing prejudices) could surprise Vector. And possibly affect him, again depending on where on his character arc this occurs.
02:29 Wed Sep 19th, 2007
Well, I personally loved Welman (he was my fourth favorite character / voice actor) and I think he should play a critical role, if not immediately, then sometime later on. He is a brilliant... null... bot... well, he was a brilliant Sprite, and with Phong Welman on the case, I don't see how the machine couldn't work. However, it would be interesting if there were some hitherto unforeseen effects... But I agree, Welman should take up a more Obi-Wan Ghost role. Unable to really help in the fighting and such, but still able to give great advice and foster relationships. Plus, with Enzo gone, Matrix and friends leaving, Dot needs someone. One could assume that Bob would fill this role, but I don't think a husband replaces a father. I believe we cannot forget him, or let him have died or some posh like that.
03:10 Wed Sep 19th, 2007
I agree with keeping Welman around. He never was a major character, he only was a major influence on the plot before the timeline of the series. Like in the first two seasons of Reboot where they never mentioned what happened to the twin city or their father. In that fashion Welman can just be there in whatever form decided. If how little Enzo and Phong escaped from Megabyte are to be glossed over then the details of how Welman got better can be too. Also if his exo-suit was what was infected then with the releasing of Gnosis it should be uninfected right? Anyway, he should have a new exo-suit and be simply explained as the father. If were to magically become a Sprite then that will complicate things way too much. I'm sorry if my comment is a bit unorganized there's just too many thing I want to get out before my lunch break ends...
08:00 Wed Sep 19th, 2007
My comment gave the impression I wanted Welman to be involved a lot more than I imagined. I think he should be a character that just appears every so often, but is recogniseable, like Speccy or Herr Doktor. And as I said before, he's even good for character development and relationship fostering. He could even be used as a 'step-back' commentator on the story and how the various characters could be affected.
08:01 Wed Sep 19th, 2007
As for his role, he could help set up some kind of forcefield around wherever their base is and keep an eye on it.
17:43 Wed Sep 19th, 2007
Looking at who Welman was in the original (that is a kind of mad scientist) i think that he should have a simaler role in the comic. I don't feel that i had the time to get too attached to Welman so i wouldn't be very sad if he was only a peripheral character. However, i think it is ok to have him in his Null form, becuase although this opens up a whole load of back story to explain, either long time fans will already know it or any new fan will be able to find out about it and thus get into the original reboot series. If Welman is presented in Null form right from the start, then any new fans will just accept that is how he is. I think that he could fit really well into some kind of group set up by the guardians to try to help solve the problems. This could open us some good oppertnities for funny characters in the group who could be pop culture references to people from government think tanks in films and the such like. If i am up to date with the current plot for arrival, then he could be trying to decifer/discover something about the codex and this could involve him lloking at some hyrogliphics (just like Daniel Jackson in stargate (who sprite form Welman looks like))
19:51 Wed Sep 19th, 2007
I really like Slackbot's suggestion way up there somewhere about having Enzo recap Welman's backstory in his own special way. Keeping Welman around but busy doing some kind of sciencey work would be a good idea. Turning him sprite would be wayyyy too hard to explain (which is kind of ironic, considering that the easier alternative is keeping him a null in a robotic suit). Just keep him busy doing... something.
01:53 Thu Sep 20th, 2007
Things to note: 1) Exo Suits can be infected, but they're users are known not to be. Whelman's suit? 2) Whelman was given Hex's code. Immunity? 3) Killing off characters immortalizes them, leaving fans begging for more answers you had to answer anyway. Let him live just not with a major role? Or have him sprite-ified when you see him this many hours later? Games could have dropped and been sampled before Users ran off. Less fans will question "Why does their dad look like that? What happened. How is he a talking null?" Problem partially solved. Newbies will not be distracted by him. 4) Games are no longer played, and code can no longer be sampled from games to restore nulls. Other reason to send a squad to the games? 5) MB has two types of infection it seems: involuntary, resulting in mindless obedience in greyish blue tones; voluntary, resulting in usual navy blue appearance and stern demeanor.
03:52 Thu Sep 20th, 2007
WeBViRuS - We don't know that the dark blue type of infection is voluntary. We've only seen one small group - the neo-virals - volunteer to (re)enter Megabyte's service. We've seen hundreds to thousands of virals in his army; I very seriously doubt every one of them came to the evil warlord Virus of his or her own free will rather than being conquered and forcibly infected. I don't know how obedient the gray virals are. I can't recall any of them actually doing anything other than staring blankly ahead. I got the impression that that form of infection, rather than enslaving its victim, effectively destroyed its mind. That's no way to build an army, but it's a great deterrent to anyone who's thinking of crossing Megabyte. I believe there is a third kind of infection, which we've seen in Cyrus. He was not dark blue, and only his eyelid was lightly tinted green as opposed to him having a glowing lime green eye with red pupil (which I call the "pimento olive" look). I believe that Cyrus was infected very lightly so he would be able to function as a spy by passing for an uninfected binome. Herr Doktor was probably more lightly infected as well - he wasn't dark blue either, and his eye and icon were not as bright as the usual viral's. I speculate that he was more lightly infected because the stronger the infection the less the actual brainpower, so the usual infection might damage Herr Doktor's unique talents.
12:36 Thu Sep 20th, 2007
Cyrus and Herr Doktor's infections are probably voluntary. We saw that Cyrus could go back on the good side.
12:52 Thu Sep 20th, 2007
That tells me that Cyrus had free will, not that the original infection was voluntary. Cyrus was a weak-willed character, easily frightened if he didn't have someone else bigger and stronger behind him. Can you see him, as a free binome, willingly giving himself up to the evil, dangerous Megabyte? I see him running away at top speed. As for Herr Doktor, he's selfish and amoral. He could have been willingly infected, recruited by Megabyte in exchange for an upgrade from binome mittens to his precious digits. Or he could have been yet another captive who Megabyte singled out as having special talents, and thus he tailored his infection rather than turning him into a typical soldier. Who knows? The fact that Cyrus could switch sides doesn't tell me anything about the conditions of his initial infection, it merely tells me that in his infected state he had more free will than the blue-skinned cannon fodder. He switched sides when Megabyte's side got too frightening and the Good Guys' team became a more appealing alternative. Herr Doktor, on the other hand, liked his position as Megabyte's pet mad scientist. Without Megabyte, Herr Doktor had nothing to do, like a newly-released prisoner who has been in prison so long he no longer knows how to live in the outside world. He wanted his cushy job and his position of power back, as did the other neo-virals. They, like Herr Doktor, may or may not have been willing victims the first time, but they did like their positions *after* they were infected. My question is this: how did Herr Doktor (and Bunnyfoot) escape the antivirus scan that freed all of Megabyte's other troops? The only answer I can think of is that for some reason they were in Lost Angles, and the scan & restore only covered Mainframe. Why would they be there, though? Beats me.
13:07 Thu Sep 20th, 2007
*laughs* Somehow I doubt that Hex could reformat binomes as cookies, and if she did that they could be restored to their binomes. But it was a great, creepy gag. Never eat cookies that have pimento olive eyes.
21:32 Thu Sep 20th, 2007
Though this is off topic, I'm going to stick my oar in. If we are assuming that Cyrus, Bunny foot and Herr Doctor were only lightly infected, and Cyrus was lightly infected enough that he could be a spy and not be caught out, then is it possible that if they are lightly enough infected that Sprites and Binomes cannot detect them (well Cyrus but let's assume they are all the same level of infection) then is it not possible that the virus scan also could not detect them. wow, sounds real logical
21:40 Thu Sep 20th, 2007
The addition of Welman right at the end of the series certainly complicated everything a lot more. I certainly do not want to see him killed. It would seem like his death was only a convenient way of discarding complexity rather than an important addition to the plot. They already went through the whole ordeal of bringing him back. It would just be too harsh to kill him a second time. He can't be ignored too much because that would be awkward. He is there dad after all, so he would want to be involved with them especially after not being there for them for so long. I like the concept of Welman being free of prior prejudice against viruses. In fact you could use Vector as an excuse to explain Welman's background briefly. Vector might be curious as to why there's a talking null in a robot suit working with Phong haha. Welman could briefly explain his story to him. And as someone suggested before me, Welman would be a reasonable excuse for explaining certain concepts about the web or Megabyte or whatever for new fans. I say keep him alive as a null in a new suit, and eventually you can make him a sprite (Once his backstory gets a brief explanation newcomers shouldn't get confused). You would just have to find a way to sum things up rather quickly in a way that doesn't distract from the story or take up too much of it.
00:28 Fri Sep 21st, 2007
I love that you guys are bringing back all these characters. It will be interesting to see what happens. I think it is the hardest thing to be creative within the confines of a established world and what you have done is great because of a site like this.
02:53 Fri Sep 21st, 2007
It would indeed be a good thing to have communication between the characters while they are in the web game. They were separated for so long after all. It would avoid going back to season 3: Matrix and AndrAIa in the games, Dot fighting in the system, Bob lost somewhere (where was he in the final version of the pitch?), Phong with Megabyte,... And since it is a GAME in the WEB, two of Bob's specialties, it would be weird if he didn't help them somehow. I hope that Bob will give them webcreature riding lessons to get there, much better than a ship. lol
15:33 Fri Sep 21st, 2007
Well in the actual series he should return to his normal self but for the comic, don't go too much into it. Maybe have him have some father/son time with Matrix. I realized they didn't really interact at all in Season 4. They need some ofthat.
15:41 Fri Sep 21st, 2007
Alright I really like Welman, he's a character that didn't get a whole lot of screen time and didn't get a chance to grow as a character. But personally I can't stand that hes a null I think the main issue is to try and find a way to restore him, the heroes have been trying since season two to try and find a way to bring sprites back. Another you should touch upon is whatever happened to the Matrix's kids mom?
19:17 Fri Sep 21st, 2007
I think the key for Welman is to figure out if he'll get turned back into a sprite. If we vote in favour of this (as seems to be the case), then the next thing to determine would be when to do this. I think this gets more into story-line, of which the Professor is the expert. It depends on if they have the tools necessary to change him back. So if that machine is still around (there's the possibility that Megabyte could have destroyed it in The Hunt) and if there are games available for the heroes to do testing in (there are no more games in Mainframe, maybe it would be worth considering getting Matrix's team to get data for Welman, though it may prove to be difficult in a Web-Game). I have more ideas, but not enough time to post them. I'll be back.
19:39 Fri Sep 21st, 2007
aSnowyEvening - We're past the point of voting on story bits. It's Prof. WW's show now, although he can ask for our ideas if he feels the need. Welman was not nullified by a game, so game data could not recompile him. They mentioned that specifically in one S4 episode.
20:18 Fri Sep 21st, 2007
My theory always has been that Nulls retain all the code of the original sprite/binome except for the "rendering" code that controls their appearance and their interaction with their environment. Nullification is different from deletion, the latter being simple outright erasure of the sprite/binome. So what happened to Welman? I think he was nullified *by his own gateway*. The same process that split Gigabyte into Hexadecimal and Megabyte also "split" Welman from his rendering code. If this code can be located, Welman can be recovered.
14:14 Sat Sep 22nd, 2007
I think Welman has a part to play as part of the 'scooby gang'. He's the brilliant scientist, more so than Phong, so adds a lot to the team. However, we only need a couple of lab scenes to make his presence felt, ready to provide technobabble exposition. In his other role as the dad I see him as the perfect, loving but measured dad, like Atticus Finch to To Kill A Mockingbird. He's Gregory Peck.
19:12 Sat Sep 22nd, 2007
Slackbot - I'm aware of this, I was just posting my comments on what I thought about Welman. Looking back on my post, I realize my poor choice of words (I should not have used the word 'vote'). I keep forgetting that this is a comments page and not a discussion board, because some posters comment on and add on to other people's comments. If I could edit or even delete that post I could, but it's a comment page and most comment pages don't allow that. Also, thank-you for reminding me of that episode, it seems that I need a refresher of what happened in season 4. I'll re-watch it sometime soon (and allow myself more time to make posts to word things carefully) before I make any more comments to ensure that I don't make any more frivolous mistakes.
21:45 Sat Sep 22nd, 2007
aSnowyEvening - Don't worry about it. I wasn't trying to bite your head off, I just wanted to set straight what seemed to be a wrong assumption. (The way this site is arranged, it'd easy to miss out on developments. Look how out-of-date some of the updates on the main page are!) As for the discussion, if the original poster doesn't mind it, I see no problem.
22:28 Sat Sep 22nd, 2007
Like alot of people have said I don't think killing Welman off is a good idea. I know you guys are just thinking about the present but think of the future of Reboot. Welman might have some parts to play in the future of Reboot. Prof. Whig maybe Welman's knowledge could help the cast later. This totally off topic but isn't Welman's build similar to Matrix's physique? Because to me that forshadows that Enzo is going to have a strong build when he is older. Back on subject maybe it is with Welman's help that Enzo defeats the Gnosis code. Sure you have a complex character here, but that can actually help to make you story 3D if done right.
20:07 Sun Sep 30th, 2007
Oh, PLEASE keep him. I think he has great potential, and besides, the Matrices have gone through enough tragedy (and will be going through more) without losing him AGAIN.
Please login or register to comment
WeBViRuS
04:51 Tue Sep 18th, 2007
Many people wanted to see him regain his sprite form once again, have Phong's machine work. I wouldn't mind seeing this as well. As for character, he should play a bigger role in his son's life than Season Four allowed. Playing Null-catch just wasn't enough. Personally, I'd like the two of them to share a stronger bond than that like Enzo and his sister did in the first arc of Season Three. There was something deep there for the siblings. The same should be true for the parent figure in their lives. A bit off-topic, ever wonder what happened to their mother?