There’s 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 he’s written like a cardboard cutout. Just. Nice. Kinda goofy. Probably smokes weed. Just a Chill Guy archetype who’s there to be Boombox’s friend and not do much else. He’s caring, but he’s not much more.
Boombox has sort of skyrocketed into a fandom favorite and I CAN SEE WHY. He is ADORABLE, he’s handsome, he’s funny, he likes music, but most importantly, he’s a juicy character. He’s happy on the surface but deeply depressed and lonely deep down, his masking represented by the LITERAL mask on his face. He’s deeply relatable from multiple angles. Whether you’re depressed or autistic or have a personality disorder or, hell, if you’re just KINDA LONELY, he’s great!
But despite his many similarities, Skateboard has not taken off in the same way, and I rarely see people appreciate him. SOOOO…
In all fairness, a good 89% of Skate’s 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 Skate’s 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.
He’s always working to make things better for others. Although he’s 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 there’s 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Now for those of you who are unaware, every single piece of dialogue in this game is so so outdated.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 can’t learn a lot about the characters from their dialogues because it’s been a WHILE since they were written, and a LOT has changed. These lines are from before the splintered skies lore came out.
But it’s interesting when you think about the fact that Skate WASN’T 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 in…
Of course Boombox came with him and they lived happily ever after, but this. “Chill guy” persona. The way he’s always talking about “going with the flow,” the fact that he is seemingly quite braggy and overconfident. Doesn’t it kind of seem like he’s trying to overcompensate for something…?
Anyways. I’ll leave you with that. I just like this little guy :p
