Heh. I could go on and on about why Pterano was my favorite.
I first became a fan when I was seven years old. I'm really not sure what made me like him. But now I've really become aware of what he's like.
So he's got delusions of grandeur and is nuts about being recognized. And lemmie tell you, I daydream about being a recognized person myself. But UNLIKE him, I see the stresses of what could be glorious XD . His goals are somewhat stereotypical- evil uncle who wants to take over. BUT...he has some major regrets and he wants to achieve his goal without hurting and/or killing someone. If there's one thing I will not tolerate, it's violence!
Also, unlike most evil-uncle-villains, he accepts his punishment, even though he doesn't like it. He asks for mercy at first, but then he takes the word of his sister. He knows that no matter how sorry he is, he must be responsible for what he did. And I'm sure we've ALL had to do that at some point.
Now as for the next thing, I'll have to compare him to Phoney Bone from the (awesome) "Bone" comic.
Phoney is selfish, egotistical, narcissistic, greedy, and so on, just like Pterano. But he was the oldest of his cousins, and after they were orphaned, he had to take care of them and they were very poor. He was always greedy, but deep down, not all the greed was for himself, but for the survival of his younger cousins.
So perhaps for Pterano, not all of his greed is driven toward himself, but for his sister and her family. And you can REALLY see that he does love Petrie. Remember when Rinkus whacked Petrie? I think that some of Pterano's anger over that is because it was his nephew that just got knocked out of the air, not just the general fact that there was violence in their midst.
For another thing, there was ANOTHER threat to his nephew, when Sierra threatened to feed those "over grown eggs" to the sharpteeth. Pterano's reaction can be driven into many thoughts at once
- Leadership blunder
- General fear of sharpteeth
- Those "over grown eggs" are his nephew and his nephew's friends, one of which he believed to have died
- He's pacifist
That's a lot to be angry over.
Whew. I'm still not done.
I do like to think of Pterano as someone who wants to keep everyone safe, hence part of the leadership thing. As the leader, it means that he would have to keep a huge group safe, and getting them out of a situation safely would mean an increase of "likeability". He wants to be important in a group. But he BLUNDERS badly. And boy does he know it. He KNOWS it was his fault that he led those followers to their deaths, but he's too upset by it to admit it.
I guess I like him because not only can I associate with him in some ways, but also because he's not all he seems to be. He's someone who wants to be a protector and someone who loves whatever's left of his family. He thinks of himself most of the time, but he can see that some good of his achievements can come to those he is in charge of.
And he'd probably be the ONLY adult to really listen to the kids and go "adventuring" with them. He'd know the Mysterious Beyond well enough to be a "guide"...or a "chaperon", as I can imagine him calling himself. I can see it now.
"Oh no! The water's gone again! We're just going to stand here and blame it on someone else!"
"You IDIOTS! The <natural disaster> caused <this to happen> in <Mysterious Beyond location's water formation> so now the water's blocked! And since the CHILDREN are the only ones who are willing to risk their lives and since I'M the only one who knows the safe routes, AND since I'm the only adult here that WILL really listen to them, WE'RE going to fix the problem!"
It would be nice for the kids to have a grown-up around who won't sass them into not going into "restricted zones". He'd know it well enough to say "Okay, there's a safer way around." or "There's a safe place to hide in the dangerous place" or "Watch me make the sharptooth fall over!" [/color]
