LogFAQs > #968167209

Given his position as Max Lords assistant, Miss Waller quickly adopted him into her employ, with L-Ron serving as her personal secretary. Its here that L-Ron really stands out as unique within the context of the campaign. Everyone else is either trying to find normalcy, or trying to find their purpose in terms of saving the world, and then you have L-Ron who feels like a character out of the Office. Hes like if Dwight was the receptionist instead of Pam/Erin. A better example would be Carol from Dilbert, but Scott Adams is a fucking lunatic and he can go fuck himself. The point is that having that office worker from hell makes for such a wonderful tonal shift at certain points in the campaign, especially since most of the time, his presence precedes a visit to Amanda Waller, where there is little in the way of light-hearted amusement. If youre going to see Waller, youd better have your game face on.

Now, you may notice that a lot of my top tier feature characters whove interacted with a large number of PCs. This is because if more players feel compelled to deal with a character, youre more likely to experience other aspects of said characters personality. Given how popular Amanda Waller is, you have to go through L-Ron to get an appointment with her, and this means EVERYONE has interactions with L-Ron in one way or another. As a result, you get situations like Brennus and Bloodfruit (two of the more chaotic and rules-averse characters) just generally being annoyed by L-Rons anal retentiveness. You get Lush scaring the shit out of him due to her status as a security threat. You get Rozetta generally being talked down to because its the only way L-Ron has to assert authority over the Queens golden daughter. Ultimately though, L-Ron is completely harmless, since if he ever steps out of line, theres Waller to stand in her doorway and give him a withering glare.

Its in these interactions that we get some fun character work from L-Ron. He has claws rather than hands, and thus despite regular slights and general rudeness from people, hes incapable of giving a middle finger. That doesnt stop him from raising his claws up in defiance, as though he DID have that capacity. Hes constantly found himself set upon by Data 7 in his (Datas) never ending quest to train (or play around with) every non-human in Zonn Zorr, which just means L-Ron is hilariously harassed and incapable of withstanding even the most minor of injuries without bellyaching. Also, for whatever reason, if you put ANY sort of hat on L-Ron, he will immediately shift his entire persona to that associated with sad hat. He got fitted with a karate headband and started speaking in kanji for crying out loud! Its just a series of wacky traits with L-Ron, and youre just about guaranteed to get something new with him every time he shows up.

Theres also this wannabe sinister side to him thats always plotting and scheming, but since hes incapable of subtlety, you get moments like him bragging about his master plans, realizing hes speaking out loud, then simply muting himself while still pacing around and gesticulating as though hes still at full volume. L-Ron really and truly considers him far above his station, but every action he takes flies in the face of this attitude. Hes destined to be a supporting player to the true power of Zonn Zorr, but I cant help but find him amusing whenever he thinks he can flex his nonexistent muscles as though ANYONE legitimately takes him seriously.

In Peppers case, its important to note that when it comes to Checkmate, shes very much a teachers pet/unbearable brownnoser. While Amanda Waller may not fall for this, and treats Pepper like any other agent, when it comes to office politics, L-Ron is ABSOLUTELY susceptible to Peppers charms. Really, flattery will get you EVERYWHERE when it comes to L-Ron, and Pepper learned very early in his tenure as Miss Wallers assistant that getting on his good side is ideal towards getting what you want. Pepper always makes a point to greet L-Ron warmly and give him a Vulcan high five (hes got pincers, so he can only really go for a high two), and she just generally does her best to be kind and friendly whenever possible. While this may have started out as a bit of a faade, Pepper has genuinely grown to like L-Ron, largely since shes nice to him and hes nice to her right back. Its a cordial relationship.

Having someone sincere with L-Ron I think lets him showcase his adorable side. While struggling with Miss Wallers coffee, Pepper helped him open sugar packets and showed him how he could do so as well, despite his clumsy claws. This endeared her to him from the get-go, and shes shown her loyalty on multiple occasions since. When L-Ron was complaining about everyone forgetting his (fictitious) birthday, Pepper made a point to grab a cupcake from the mess hall, just for him. Granted, L-Ron is a robot and cant ingest foodbut he certainly tried, and smeared the cupcake on himself in the attempt.

Beyond that though, L-Ron has proven a regular victim of kidnappings in Zonn Zorr (if you count twice as regular). Perhaps because of his close connection to Waller, or his former control over the Metal Men, people regularly assume (and rightfully so) that they can just capture and abuse L-Ron for whatever purposes they desire. During Peppers Christmas one-shot, she had to rescue L-Ron after hed gone missing, and it turned out he was kidnapped by Kid Karnevil, who wanted to use him as a means of removing his bomb bracelet so he (Karnevil) could escapeinto the icy wastelands of Antarctica, I suppose. Pepper wound up intervening in this matter, freeing L-Ron alongside her BFF Alice, and despite being zapped several times, L-Ron was no worse for the wear (if a little cocky about being rescued).

More recently though, Kobra attacked Zonn Zorr, and though he captured Sarah and Ari for more nefarious purposes involving their OMAC and Yellow Lantern status, L-Ron was largely just used as a control mechanism for the Metal Men. Poor L-Ron had to stand around, helplessly, as Harry Black used him for EEEEEEVIL, sending the reanimated bodies of the former Metal Men to attack the party and allow Kobras evil deeds to continue, unhindered. Due to miscommunication on my part, Pepper wasnt exactly the one who rescued L-Ron, but he was rescued nonetheless, and Pepper got to land the killing blow on one of the traitors. In the CUTEST moment hes had thus far (and the one that sticks with me), L-Ron sought comfort with his friend, and wound up wrapping his arms around her waist in a hug, like a scared little kid would with their mother. My heart MELTED at that scene, and its a big part of what got L-Ron this high. Hes just such an earnest little tryhard, and I cant help loving him for that.

Hint for #3: Has physically transformed during a field mission.