ok so first, i LOVE the voice already, he sounds like he's having a lot of fun.

SECOND, i love the full name. Nikos Legundo. amazing name.

and i got curious just now, thinking if that name was of Greek origin (i was pretty sure it was either Greek or Roman origin before looking)

so i looked it up, and

Greek origin! yay! i wouldn't have cared much if it wasn't of Greek origin, but it does make me happy that it is.

but, the meaning also intrigued me.

as a writer, DM, and an aspiring game dev, i love putting meaning behind my characters' names that represent them as a character, or their purpose in the story. and i Also love when other creators do the same.

so seeing Nikos mean "victory of the people" is VERY interesting to me, especially because of what Pantheon SMP is.

doing some more research, i saw that Nikolaos, the name that Nikos originated as a nickname for, was a combination of the name of the goddess Nike and laos, the Greek word for "people"

"conqueror of people" and "people's champion". both of these are VERY interesting meanings, based on a) Pantheon SMP is comprised of characters that are champions of the gods, b) Zeus was the KING of the gods, so it is very apt that if his champion were to win he should be named in a way to represent such a feat.

should Nikos win this competition, he would have conquered his enemies in a great show of strength and skill.

should Nikos win, he would truly be Zeus' champion (they're all the champions of their gods currently, but i imagine that whoever wins might get a legend about them being that god's champion in the mortal world). and Zeus being King of Olympus and having much influence in the realm of mortals, Nikos might be considered the people's champion in the end depending on how things go post-canon.

overall, i'm interested to see if this name will come to have any more significant meaning in Nikos' story in the end.

(I started writing this after already watching Shelby's, Apo's, and Abolish's POVs and added to it as I continued watching others.)

Shelby

• I LOVE pan!Shelby so much already!! The backstory and meaning behind the blindfold is great! I wanna know more about her life before she died. Seemingly was very wealthy and had everything done for her. Had no say in her own life. Potential arranged marriage?? She was happy about it, though.

• Not as stoic as I expected based on her character portrait, but definitely more so than Shelby's usual characters, which I like a lot! I've been saying for a WHILE that I want Shelby to have a more stoic/loner character, and this is the closest we've gotten in a long time! Hoping she leans into it more as the series goes on.

• Not gonna lie, I am lowkey really annoyed that Shelby is already getting so close to Scott and Drift. Don't get me wrong, I love them as a trio generally, but I feel like Shelby tends to stick around the same few people on every single SMP and I was hoping for some duos/trios/groups that we haven’t seen before for this series.

• Despite what I said above, I actually ship Shelby and Drift much more in this series than I do in Vampires or The Flight so far. I saw them more as friends in Vampires (but maybe thats because I very much shipped v!Shelby with that freak that burned her house down), and in The Flight their ship felt too forced in my opinion (I was so happy when the switch to Driftsey happened). I did like Shubbledrift on SBK, though! Sad it didn't last longer.

• Also, her powers are really cool! Love that pretty much all of her abilities are a 50/50 chance.

• Not a fighter??? Wasn't even aware she was wearing armor until Drift told her??? The armor isn't hers and she doesn’t know where it came from??? Maybe a gift from her goddess??? Interesting...

• She says she's not a fighter, but I'm hoping she's, like, secretly really strong. Like sleeper build kinda. Like she has some kind of power deep inside that even she doesn't know about. I want people to assume she's an easy target and then she kicks their ass. There’s no way all this sick ass armor is for nothing.

Apo

• I still think Apo's design is my favorite of the whole cast.

• Wasn't always an oneiri?? Used to be human?? Interesting...

• "Owen, become a woman." I see now what Owen meant about he/she pronouns very much fitting his character after ep1 LMAO

• Trust, and who she does and doesn’t give it to, is very much a big deal for pan!Apo. Makes sense given her backstory.

• Who is that voicing who I assume is Morpheus at the end? I swear I recognize the voice but I can't place it. Is it Tibby?

Abolish

• Loving Abolish and Cleo as a sorta duo so far! I posted a while back that I was very much hoping for a Shelby/Abolish/Cleo trio for this series, and it's almost happening! There's still time! Alliances can change and shift as the series progresses. No one is really locked down yet. In fact, Abolish, Cleo, and Shelby seem to be the most loner-type characters so far, so it'd make sense for them to come together and team up.

• Love that Nikos calls him "Pretty One" LMAO

• Not much more to say, but I'm very interested to know more about his character. Very secretive so far. All we really know is that he was a gladiator/entertainment fighter of some kind.

• His skin looks so much like Joey Graceffa's LMAO

Cleo

• WHAT DO YOU MEAN CAMBAM IS DIONYSUS???

• I'm liking Cleo and Drift's dynamic so far. Very much pessimist vs optimist.

• Also very secretive. Can't wait to learn more.

• Of course there's a labyrinth. Somebody call Aimsey.

Nikos (Legundo)

• I love when creators come up with reason for their character to have such weird names LMAO. Like, who the hell would name a child Legs? Making Legundo the last name makes so much more sense.

• He's called, like, 3 different people "Pretty One." Nobody, Abolish, Scott....

Pearl

• Also didn't have wings before, just like Apo

• I remember seeing somewhere that Pearl is planning to play a sorta antagonist in this series, so I'm excited to see how that plays out.

• Very stab happy

• Not specifically related to Pearl but she mentioned it so OMG THIS MAP IS SO BEAUTIFUL HOLY SHIT I LOVE IT SO MUCH

Pyro

• Wait so he can just see the current status of everyone else at all times??? That's an insane ability!!

• Also seems kinda loner-ish. He's part of the Feather Holders, but, like, to the side. Purposely basing away from the others but within line of sight.

Owen

• Ok so he is ACTUALLY blind, unlike Shelby who just chooses to wear the blindfold

• Oooh, the eye animations from Vampires are back!!

Scott

• Scott Antonus Mateos Pegona Pavlos III - Wait so there are two other Scott Antonus Mateos Pegona Pavlos??

• His death is actually one of the scariest, oh my god... Dying on a stage in front of an audience while screaming for help but everyone just thinks you're acting....

Drift

• Omg Drift's song has the same DDR mechanic as the mages from Bannerfall

• Was she killed by her lover???

Nobody (Martyn)

• "One day you're prepping for Troy, and then... this." Interesting...

• Seeing Pearl's void ability from the other perspective is scary omg

Sausage