Main characters of Megatokyo

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In Megatokyo, the popular webcomic by Fred Gallagher, Japanese names are written in Japanese order, with the family name before the given name. The first feature of Megatokyo (a filler art day, referred to as a "dead piro day") which revealed a character's full name had aforementioned character's name written in Western order [1] (given name before the family name). The first time a full Japanese name was mentioned in the actual comic, it was written with Japanese order.

Most of the characters in Megatokyo speak English, Japanese (indicated with angle brackets), and/or L33t (subtitled). Not every character speaks every language, so occasionally characters are unable to understand one another.

Contents 1 Piro 2 Largo 3 Hayasaka Erika 4 Nanasawa Kimiko 5 Ping 6 Tohya Miho 7 Seraphim 8 Boo 9 Asmodeus 10 Junpei 11 Sonoda Yuki 12 Dom 13 Ed 14 References

[edit] Piro

Piro is Megatokyo's protagonist, an author surrogate of Fred Gallagher. Gallagher has stated that Piro is an idealized version of himself when he was in college.^[1]

As a character, he is socially inept and frequently depressed or morose; in addition, he is a fairly skilled artist who refuses to believe in his own talent - an exaggerated parallel of Gallagher himself. From a design standpoint, he was originally conceived as a parody of the character Ruri Hoshino, from the Martian Successor Nadesico anime series.^[2] Piro's facing of trials and tribulations as he struggles with his unconfident nature is one of Megatokyo's major ongoing themes.

Piro has shaggy-banged blond hair, green eyes, and glasses throughout most of the comic. (He currently does not wear them, as Largo sat on and broke them.) He has stated that without his glasses, he can't see much beyond what is near to him, meaning he is near-sighted.

Piro and Largo originally fled to Japan to escape the consequences of Largo's vulgar behavior while intoxicated at the E3 trade convention. Since arriving in Japan, he has been homeless twice, spending several nights in a park in downtown Tokyo. He and Largo spent months basically squatting at Tsubasa's flat, before Tsubasa (with the prompting of Ping) left Japan for America. Piro's fortunes started to look up after he managed to get employment in a game and manga shop, MegaGamers, where he works alongside Hayasaka Erika as a clerk/mascot. He and Largo currently live in MegaGamers' third-floor storage room.

In the story, Piro's feelings of insecurity cause him to have extreme difficulty reading Megatokyo's female characters, and as such he does not realize the feelings the character Kimiko has for him. Early in the comic, he usually read shōjo manga to try to work out the "correct" way to deal with women and life in general. However, this philosophy changes over time, as he spends more time with Kimiko and other female characters, and more frequently heeds the advice of his "conscience enforcement agent," Seraphim. Gallagher has commented that, unlike Largo, who is the recipient of large amounts of the comic's physical damage, Piro is the focal point of emotional damage^[3] - an element exacerbated by his ability to converse with speakers of both English and Japanese, and his skill at understanding l33t, meaning he is one of the few characters who can converse with every character in Megatokyo.

The name "Piro" comes from Gallagher's online nickname, which was in turn taken from Makoto Sawatari's cat (named for Piroshki) in the Japanese "dating simulation" game Kanon.^[4].

Trivia

Piro has a habit of playing female characters in the various video games he and Largo enjoy. Generally, these appear as female versions of himself, with their names derived from his. Known names include Pirokiko, who has not appeared in the comic, Piroko, providing mostly DPD material and comic relief, and Pirogoeth, by far the most prominent. Pirogoeth was Piro's character in Endgames, the MMORPG in which he met and defeated Miho years ago.

The comic has made an effort to show that when Piro is not feeling unconfident and doubting himself, he is both a skilled artist and good at showing his feelings. Piro's problem isn't a lack of communication skill or talent- it's his belief that he lacks these things that hurts him.

[edit] Largo

Largo is the comic's secondary protagonist, and the comic version of co-creator Rodney Caston. He is an American computer game fan who usually acts before (or instead of) thinking, thus providing the comic's primary source of humor. He is technically gifted, though in bizarre ways: he often uses beer as a CPU coolant, and he often works on computer hardware in the nude to avoid electrostatic discharge. He cannot pass up the opportunity to tamper with anything even remotely technological in nature, and is extremely skilled, even building his own computer.

Largo speaks fluent L33t, but no Japanese, relying on Piro and other bilingual characters to translate. In addition, he is obsessed with beer, and, fortunately for him, seems to have a superhuman tolerance for alcohol. He also seems to either have a remarkable healing ability or be subject to a form of cartoon physics, as he has suffered two broken arms and a broken leg since arriving in Tokyo, none of which caused much lasting ill effect. Largo is also an excellent fighter, and good at using what he can grab-- while Erika was roaming the streets of Tokyo, he managed to run over Dom, who is one of the comic's more well-equipped characters in terms of guns, with a muffin cart. Using the same cart he ran over multiple fanboys (and also used a fake carrot while wearing a giant rabbit suit to beat some of them).

Largo often appears to be delusional, confusing reality with computer games. As a result, he occasionally causes chaos and destruction as he battles against zombies and other (occasionally imagined) threats. However, because of the nature of the Megatokyo world, much of what Largo gets himself involved into really is happening. A good example is the battle against the undead swarm, which he describes while drinking at a Beer Garden, which he fought off with the help of Dom. While it's unclear how much of Largo's story is exaggeration and how much is truth, the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division throws him in jail for being involved in the combat, proving that the battle did take place (and judging from Largo's amazing combat ability, he may really have fought off the entire horde).

Early on in the comic, Largo somehow manages to get employed as an English teacher at Shiritsu Daitou High School, becoming "Great Teacher Largo" (a reference to the anime and manga GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka). He is extremely well-liked by the students, and though Junpei has had to drag him to his job at various times, Largo is still a very highly-regarded teacher, presumably due to his unorthodox style of teaching, which involves a great deal of shouting. His teaching style is based heavily in video games and computer knowledge; he once told the class, as homework, to make their "l4me" computers "l33t." He is popular enough that, when he was replaced with the actual new English teacher (Brad Grier of Bioware), the students rioted and spelled out "Great Teacher Largo" with the cafeteria tables.

He was also briefly employed by the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division, but was removed from his position after failing to prevent the riot of Erika's fanboys. (It should be noted, to avoid confusion, that Largo was already an ex-police officer during Kimiko's fanboy riot.)

Largo's opinion on women is divided. At times, he sees women as fair game, at other times as evil beings (which he thinks Piro has a weakness to). In spite of this, he has developed a relationship of sorts with Hayasaka Erika. Largo, being energetic and lively, is a fire to Erika's water. Most importantly, he cares about Erika as a person; despite noticing her physical attributes, he shows a surprisingly deep and friendly side. This may lead him to being one of the few people in Tokyo capable of connecting with Erika beneath her hard shell.

Once, when depressed over Erika's apparent rejection, he actually managed to become drunk at the "Cave of Evil" where Miho works. There, Miho attempted to seduce him, but Piro saved him. During this time, Largo mentally described Piro as a "comrade."

The name "Largo" comes from Caston's online nickname, just as Gallagher is Piro.^[4]

The character of Largo (still managing to get in trouble with the law over his delusions of zombie armies) also features in Rodney Caston's own webcomic, Überclocked.

Trivia

Largo's penchant for stripping naked to work on computers has been passed on to others. Erika, who has decided to build her own computer to "defend" herself on the Internet, now strips to work on computers, and tried to get both Kimiko and Piro to do so (while both were in the house).

One of the recurring themes in Largo's storyline is that of a teacher. Largo has worked as a teacher for many characters, and almost despite himself, he is a source of inspiration to everyone he has taught. He currently mentors Junpei, his class, and now Erika, teaching them the way of "l33t".

His students in the class, while not really understanding most of what he's saying (a situation that has slowly been fixed throughout the comic), respect his energy and dedication. One of his students, Junko, who speaks English (and can therefore converse with Largo), told him that while he was a terrible English teacher, he did teach her to never give up. Likewise, Junpei believes that Largo has become so wise that it's made him strange- he views him as "eccentric". Erika's relationship with Largo is hard to define, but she does respect his skills with the computer to the point of listening to him.

All of this plays up one of the major themes of Megatokyo- while Piro is much more calm and collected, and Largo is very strange, it is Largo who has had the biggest effect on Japan so far. Piro himself notes this, in his despair, stating that while he's the "expert" on women from the shojo manga he used to read, it's Largo with the relationship; Largo, who as Piro states, doesn't know what to do, ends up doing all the right things anyway. These things reinforce Piro's poor image of himself- he doesn't realize that if he quit feeling like he's not worthy, he could do as well as Largo himself.

[edit] Hayasaka Erika

Hayasaka Erika (早坂 えりか) is Kimiko's roommate. She is a powerfully popular former Japanese idol (singer) and seiyū (voice actress). Though she has been out of the direct spotlight for three years, she still has a considerable fan base; the merest sighting of her has caused riots among fans.

Erika is very strong-willed, confident, cynical, and hates being protected by others. She was once engaged to a man named Hitoshi,^[5] who, at the height of her career, claimed to believe that he was holding her back, and broke off their engagement. Erika was deeply hurt, and that event, combined with exposure to swarms of fanboys and possibly her periodic work as a "booth-babe" at fan conventions, has caused her to adopt a rather negative outlook on men, herself, and people in general.

She has made several shocking and cynical comments, once commenting that "All men are fanboys." She is powerful and firm, in direct contrast to Piro, Kimiko, and several other characters, all of whom are portrayed as unconfident. If anything, Erika shares Largo's problem of being too confident, her brashness against her fanboy riot resulting in Largo's firing from the police.

She is, in Junpei's words, "quite capable take care of self," being very strong, and apparently skilled in martial arts.

She works as a clerk and mascot at MegaGamers alongside Piro. She speaks Japanese and fluent English (and seems to understand L33t). Recently, she has developed a relationship of sorts with Largo.

[edit] Nanasawa Kimiko

Nanasawa Kimiko (七澤 希美子), Erika's roommate, is a Japanese girl who works as a waitress at an Anna Miller's restaurant. She is an aspiring seiyū who sometimes finds herself too shy or insecure to take on roles, but harbors beliefs on matters such as emotion and self-confidence with extreme conviction.

Kimiko is a kind, soft-spoken person in general, though she has a slightly impulsive nature. Her personality is somewhat similar to Piro's in that she has very little self-confidence and becomes extremely upset and flustered when she injures others, be it physically or emotionally. At the same time, she is prone to mood-swings, quite often causing herself embarrassment by saying things she does not mean. In addition, Kimiko has developed strong feelings for Piro, though she is too shy to admit them.

She speaks only Japanese, even to Largo.

Kimiko has landed the role of Kannazuki Kotone (神無月 琴音) in the fictional ren'ai game Sight, and is earning herself an army of followers to rival even Erika's due to her rant on "Mumu-chan's" radio show, where she came to the defense of fanboys after being angered by the hosts' derisive comments about them. She has mixed feelings about being an idol.

[edit] Ping

Ping is a robotic PS2 accessory, a non-H (non-hentai; platonic love only) test model of the new Sony-EDS (Emotional Doll System) that fell into Tsubasa's hands somehow.

Ping is designed to be used with dating sims, and, after playing them, develops her own personality based on the player's choices in the games. To date, she has never actually been used with a dating sim by her various owners, and as such seems to be developing her personality from real-world experiences instead. Although she is learning quickly, there are still times when she acts unrealistically. Her programming has primed her to care for socially inept otaku who have the money to buy an EDS to practice their fumbling dating techniques on.

Although she has revealed to Piro that she has feelings for him, the nature of their relationship is still not entirely clear. She speaks only Japanese, although she has the ability to have other language "modules" installed.

Due to problems with her prototype software, Ping does not handle rejection well and can be sent into a berserk rage when "rejected" by her human companions. Largo has triggered her rejection subroutine on two occasions so far, once intentionally. When enraged, she has been known to use her incredible strength pull telephone poles out of the ground to use as weapons, and at one point manages to hurl a gigantic turtle monster through the top of a skyscraper.

Her systems have displayed the ability to change her physical traits, including hair color (from gray to pink) and bust size. Miho claimed that her changes also included height and hips and were caused by heartbreak from the events of chapter 6. In addition, she does not remember ever having been different, suggesting a lack of control over the process, which could theoretically alter her other memories or entire personality.

Miho has befriended Ping and regularly spends time with her. She seems to be able to influence Ping's programming and personality by playing with her, although Miho's exact intentions with Ping are unknown.

[edit] Tohya Miho

Tohya Miho is an enigmatic and manipulative young goth girl. Over the course of Megatokyo, she proves to be highly intelligent, and adept at both arcade and role-playing games. She is drawn to resemble a "Gothic Lolita" (a Japanese synthesis of goth and lolita subculture), and is often described as "darkly cute," with Gallagher occasionally defining her as a "perkigoth."^[6] Miho often acts strangely and regularly accomplishes abnormal feats, such as perching herself atop telephone poles. Despite these displays of power, Miho suffers from some sort of unnamed illness, which causes her to go into shock in Chapter 2. Miho speaks English and Japanese fluently, and has no problem understanding L33t.

Miho knows Piro and Largo from the "Endgames" MMORPG previous to the plot of Megatokyo. Miho abused a hidden statistic in the game in order to control a large number of player characters, befriending and betraying Piro and Largo. In the game, she was a tall, handsome man (dubbed "Niho" by Megatokyo forum-goers) with the same ribboned hairstyle as the real-world Miho.

Miho is also involved in Erika's back story. Miho's manipulation of Erika's unhappy fans after Erika's disappearance from the public sphere ended badly, with the TPCD cleaning up the aftermath and Miho hospitalized. As a result, Inspector Sonoda wants to keep Miho away from Yuki, his daughter. Miho has briefly hinted at Yuki's mother being involved in the incident as well.

Miho is a frequent subject of speculation and debate, both in the comic itself and on the Megatokyo forums. The two most common competing perspectives on Miho's nature is between readers who believe her to be a supernatural evil, and readers who take the view that she is a mundane evil (or just misunderstood). The events of the November 2006 strips put for the first time boundaries for these speculations, showing unambiguously that Miho is indeed capable of superhuman feats: she has been able to evade almost effortlessly both projectile and energy weapons used against her by Ed.

In fact, Ed was at least in part aware of this, and has been shown as genuinely frightened by Miho before: a most peculiar fact, as he never seemed to fear anybody else, even Ping, who has caused his person incredible damage (see below). The latter position was in the majority among forum regulars, but the former had also vocal proponents — its most vocal being in-comic character Largo, who believes that Miho is undead, and in command of an army of zombies. Bizarrely, Largo might be correct in a different way: Largo has a recurring problem with recognizing fanboys of any kind as "zombies", and automatically reacts to them as such. Miho's past manipulation of Erika's fanboys could quite well be what Largo is speaking of when talking about her "zombie" army.

It's possible that Miho has some kind of anger at the world; fitting in with a theme of discontent and disagreement with life in general throughout the comic, Miho may simply want to "get back" at the universe and assailing Largo, Piro and others, in her attempts. This may have some basis in reality; Miho's strange illness could potentially give her a "dark" outlook on life. It is also hinted that she has some animosity with her classmates, particularly Junko.

Miho's most common rival is Largo. Largo was the first person Miho met in the comic (after he opened the Cave of Evil, possibly suggesting that she was either trapped in it or was in some way helped by its opening), he is constantly following and challenging her, and she indirectly set him up with his job as "Great Teacher Largo" - he was attempting to follow her in "disguise" when the principal found him, assuming from the English conversation he was having that he was the new English teacher. The relationship between Miho and Largo is not always one of war and pure hatred; Largo displays a surprising honorable streak when Miho passes out in the school's bathroom. He went after her when he noticed her missing in class, and when he found her, he said that he would "not accept... an ending without honor." He had Junpei take her to the school infirmary(from which she was sent to hospital), and thus may be indirectly responsible for saving her life - as she was presenting symptoms of the mid-stages of shock. In short, Largo- who leaps before looking and is quite over-the-top- is the perfect foil for the quiet, reserved, contemplative Miho.

Despite all this, Miho's "greatest" rival may well be Piro. Piro overcame her "Endgames" character despite her abuse of the system, defeating her and possibly expelling her from the game. Miho described Largo and Piro in real life as "one too much like I imagined [Largo]," who is much the same in real life as his "Endgames" character, the other completely different (Piro), who played a brave, confident female character completely different from himself.

She was originally never shown eating, despite describing herself as hungry several times and in odd situations, culminating in chapter 4 when she took Ping, Piro, and Largo to a bathhouse and for cake, claiming she was hungry when they arrived and full at the end (her uneaten cake pointedly displayed). However, comic 897 finally breaks with this tradition, showing Miho taking a bite out of her waffle, proving that she does, in some respect, eat.

She appears to be at her strongest, happiest, and least ill when she is manipulating someone in some way.

Recently, it appears that Miho and Largo's war has "escalated"; she attempted to seduce him at the Cave of Evil (revealed to be a Gothic nightclub) and since then, her efforts to either mock Largo or reduce him in stature have increased. When Largo attempted to get his entire class to take their clothes off, Miho sarcastically said that Largo (who did not understand why any of the classmates would want to look at their female friends naked) only lusted after "machines" that let him live his "puffed up fantasies". This also led to Largo's admission of a "woman he was attracted to." Miho and Largo's battles have taken on a more personal tone- possibly due to his rejection of her in the cave of evil.

Another common Miho-related debate is centered around the nature of her relationship with the android, Ping. Ping believes her to be a friend, although when Miho was hospitalized she revealed she was merely using Ping, possibly to influence Piro somehow or to further her own ends. Recently, she has also decalred to be aware of Yuki's nature as a magical girl, something that was suspected by readers for a long time but never estabilished.

Miho's name kanji have not yet been revealed.

[edit] Seraphim

Seraphim is a miniature angel, about the size of a doll. She takes the role of Piro's conscience, struggling to keep Piro on the straight and narrow, particularly when it comes to romantic attachments and other personal relationships. Seraphim is very concerned about Piro's attitude, and goes to great lengths to keep him motivated towards going back to the United States. Seraphim is very pragmatic and quick to criticize, and her opinion of Piro's abilities is not high, probably reflecting Piro's own self-deprecating nature.

Seraphim speaks English, but, like Piro, understands Japanese.

She often requests more funding and resources from the Conscience Agency, but their only response thus far has been the assignment of Boo to her as an assistant. Apparently, she can make use of what she calls "Big Mode" [2], which allows her to be the size of a human rather than her normal size.

She has at least two identical sisters, as revealed in Chapter 5, who impersonate Seraphim for a time and influence Piro in less-helpful ways. One advises Piro to be pessimistic and not to waste his time; another cheers him on and encourages him to embrace his patheticness. A possible third sister has only been described by Asmodeus, and seems to have been a "bad girl" and his lover.

Seraphim is modeled after Sarah Wooden, Gallagher's wife (girlfriend when Megatokyo began), who has a penchant for fine clothes and loves cats.

[edit] Boo

Boo is a hamster with strap-on wings, initially assigned to the role of Largo's conscience, a task made only harder by the fact that Boo cannot speak, but only squeak (occasionally in L33t, e.g. "squ34k"). Largo tends to think that Boo is always agreeing with him. As his character has developed under the influence of Largo, Boo has been known to communicate more often in writing.

Boo first appeared as a worker from a temp agency sent by the Conscience task force in response to one of Seraphim's repeated requests for aid. After rescuing Seraphim from Belphegor, he was promoted to a special agent in the Conscience task force. Boo didn't appear at all for most of Chapter 7, with the exception of one panel[3].

Boo is actually a reference of Minsc's "Miniature Giant Space Hamster," from the computer role-playing game series Baldur's Gate, who occupies a space in Minsc's Quick Item slots. In one strip, Boo showed up at the display booth of BioWare, the company responsible for Baldur's Gate series, and unsuccessfully tried to get his old job back.

Boo is also known for the phrase stated by Largo, "Go for the beer, Boo!", a reference of one of Minsc's war cries, "Go for the eyes, Boo!".

[edit] Asmodeus

Asmodeus is Piro's anti-conscience, sent by an organization referred to only as the "other agency." He tries to undo everything Seraphim does, going so far as to tempt Piro to fall in love with underaged girls. Despite this opposition to Seraphim, he coquets her almost every time they meet (he has also hinted that he and Seraphim, or at least one of her sisters, has had a relationship in the past), which usually results in her verbally and/or physically attacking him. She once dispatched him by flashing him in a trenchcoat. Asmodeus speaks English.

His partner is a vicious cat named Belphegor; appropriate as Asmodeus and Belphegor are both demons. Belphegor wears clip-on bat wings to make himself look demonic, just as Boo wears angel wings.

He is a comic version of Ken Hashimoto, one of the Megatokyo forum's administrators and, at one point, a co-translator of the Japanese version of Megatokyo.

[edit] Junpei

Junpei is Largo's apprentice, a l33t ninja. He seems to have near-superhuman abilities typical of a "Hollywood ninja", such as being able to travel great distances over rooftops at high speed without being detected, and bending guns and various other weapons out of shape. Certainly, whatever role he fills seems to leave him with a fair amount of free time, and allows him to cultivate his artistic side — much like a traditional samurai.

He is introduced when Piro and Largo arrive in Japan, and Largo has no passport. A customs official tells Largo that, in order to get into Japan, he must defeat Junpei in "mortal combat". Largo, being unsurpassable in all matters electronic, easily wins the contest by defeating Junpei in a match on the Mortal Kombat arcade game. Junpei is deeply impressed by this, and the next time he meets Largo, Junpei apprentices himself to him in order to learn "the way of l33t" from Largo (whom Junpei calls "L33t Master"). However, this apprenticeship seems to consist largely of Junpei bailing Largo out of trouble, such as getting him out of jail, and fetching him when he forgets about the classes he teaches at Shiritsu Daitou.

He works for some kind of ninja organization that provides feed services. This includes Shiritsu Daitou hiring Junpei to take Largo to school. He can apparently call upon the services of "Rent-a-zillas" (extremely large, rentable, lizard-like creatures bearing resemblance to Godzilla).

In the aftermath of the fanboy riot, Junpei manages the stream of otaku coming to see Hayasaka Erika - reducing it to one per hour.

Junpei speaks Japanese, and also speaks poor but understandable English, omitting some words and always referring to himself in the third person; this trend can also be seen in his Japanese, as a joke playing on old, poorly dubbed ninja movies. Junpei also speaks L33t reasonably well.

[edit] Sonoda Yuki

Sonoda Yuki (園田 由紀) is a 15-year-old student at Shiritsu Daitou Attached Middle School. She is apparently a diligent student, and has earned the rather undesirable label of "Little Miss Perfect" from her friends. Tohya and Ping are not in the same class as Yuki (a common misconception).

Yuki speaks Japanese, and can manage some basic English.

She comes from a stable home. Her father, Inspector Sonoda Masamichi, is an officer of the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division. Her mother, Sonoda Meimi, is now a housewife but was a magical girl during her youth. Yuki has a relatively normal relationship with her brother Yuuji — there is a lot of mutual antagonism between the two.

Yuki is taking art lessons from Piro, although it is a rare occurrence when these lessons actually occur when planned. She seems to have some feelings for Piro, but often denies or misunderstands them.

Like her mother, she appears to be capable of stealing things without being aware of it [4] [5]. This, and other unusual abilities she is suggested to have (strip 817), seem for many to imply that she is a magical girl of some sort too, as her mother. Miho Tohya has stated to be certain of this.

[edit] Dom

Dom is an employee of Sega's Black Ops, and Ed's best friend and rival. He possesses a seemingly endless supply of weaponry, as well as an unscrupulous personality. Early in the series, he is on a mission to appropriate Ping for Sega, before Ed is capable of carrying out his orders to recover or destroy her. However, after Sega leaves the console business, he seeks to acquire Hayasaka Erika (due to her power to influence the masses) as an asset for his company.

As with Ed, he often resorts to violence as a first course of action. However, unlike Ed, he is also quite capable of complex scheming, verbal persuasion and blackmail. Dom is the more focused of the duo, in that he thinks about and plans what to do before acting--unlike Ed, who is rather more trigger-happy.

Dom speaks English and Japanese and understands L33t quite well. He is the comic version of Dominic Nguyen, Fred Gallagher's associate and the creator of the infamous Shirt Guy Dom filler-strips. The character Dom is also a regular character in Okashina Okashi (and has the same background as the Megatokyo incarnation), as Dominic and Okashina Okashi's artist, Emily Snodgrass, are friends in real life. He's also in good terms with Fred Gallagher (Piro) Sarah Wooden (Seraphim) & Edmund Balan (Ed) too.

[edit] Ed

Ed is an employee of Sony's Enforcement Division, as well as Dom's best friend and rival. Like Dom, he seems to have an unlimited supply of guns, and a trigger-happy personality to match. Early in the comic, he is sent on a mission to capture or destroy Ping (a missing prototype belonging to Sony) before rival companies capture her, although his strange insistence on using extreme measures to do so often leads to his own injuries rather than hers.

After one encounter with Ping in which she hurls a gigantic turtle monster into the skyscraper Ed is standing on, Ed undergoes a plastic surgery which transforms him into a bishōnen. Later, during an attempt of Ed's to snipe Ping with an excessively large and powerful weapon, he is vaporized by an orbital laser strike and subsequently regrown in a growth tank from residual dust left behind after the incident, bearing yet another new face as a consequence. He will probably need such extensive recostruction intervents again, having been defeated in a fight with Miho when his weapon malfunctioned and exploded with enough force to break windows at a distance.

Ed seems to suffer from at least partial insanity, and is exceptionally sadistic. He derives pleasure from explosions, in particular. Despite his apparent lack of self-preservation instincts, he seems to be terrified of Miho, calling her "the real thing."[6] He speaks both English and L33t.

His real life equivalent is Edmund Balan, Fred Gallagher's associate. The character Ed (with the same background and personality as his Megatokyo version) is also a regular in Okashina Okashi, as Edmund is friends with Okashina Okashi's artist, Emily Snodgrass. He and Dominic Nguyen (Dom) are also friends in real life.

[edit] References

Megatokyo by Fred Gallagher

Major Characters | Groups and Minor Characters | Alternate Universes and Omake Theater