Thereâs something that deeply bugs me about Skateboard characterization in the phighting fandom. People seem to assume his entire personality is just skateboards. Reading fanfiction about him can feel difficult because heâs written like a cardboard cutout. Just. Nice. Kinda goofy. Probably smokes weed. Just a Chill Guy archetype whoâs there to be Boomboxâs friend and not do much else. Heâs caring, but heâs not much more.
Boombox has sort of skyrocketed into a fandom favorite and I CAN SEE WHY. He is ADORABLE, heâs handsome, heâs funny, he likes music, but most importantly, heâs a juicy character. Heâs happy on the surface but deeply depressed and lonely deep down, his masking represented by the LITERAL mask on his face. Heâs deeply relatable from multiple angles. Whether youâre depressed or autistic or have a personality disorder or, hell, if youâre just KINDA LONELY, heâs great!
But despite his many similarities, Skateboard has not taken off in the same way, and I rarely see people appreciate him. SOOOOâŚ
In all fairness, a good 89% of Skateâs dialogue is skating related. At a surface level, this is ALL he has going on </3
Like jesus. DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER HOBBIES BRO.
However, the first of Skateâs traits makes itself clear when we examine his history with Windforce.
Boombox was exiled from Splintered Skies and his trauma, and ways of COPING with said trauma, are very clear. We know he:
Is deeply depressed and has low self esteem
Uses music as a way to express his feelings
Masks his emotions to appear cheerier and okay to others
He must be distracted CONSTANTLY and is restless. This may be another reason for his constant skating; he needs to MOVE.
Heâs always working to make things better for others. Although heâs not exactly earnest to a corny extent (see: Sword) he is very caring, just in a quieter way. His letting Coil stay with him whenever he wants is him caring for his friends. He is VERY loyal.
And thereâs one more thing. That I find. Really interesting.
Now for those of you who are unaware, every single piece of dialogue in this game is so so outdated. We really canât learn a lot about the characters from their dialogues because itâs been a WHILE since they were written, and a LOT has changed. These lines are from before the splintered skies lore came out.
But itâs interesting when you think about the fact that Skate WASNâT accepted into Splintered Skies. He was the one who FAILED to prove himself, and was subsequently thrown away. Like he was useless. While his best friend was accepted inâŚ
Of course Boombox came with him and they lived happily ever after, but this. âChill guyâ persona. The way heâs always talking about âgoing with the flow,â the fact that he is seemingly quite braggy and overconfident. Doesnât it kind of seem like heâs trying to overcompensate for somethingâŚ?
Anyways. Iâll leave you with that. I just like this little guy :p
