Expatriette and Glowing Doves

So I never noticed this before but there are some glowing doves in Expatriette's backgrounds that seem highly suspicious. They appear in the Flak Jacket, Assault Rifle, Hair Trigger and Quick Draw cards, possibly others that I missed. I know one of Expatriette's big story points is not having any powers, but I'm always suspicious of a superhero with massively powerful parents. who seems to have no superpowers. The doves are indistinct and ghostly, energy being white. Any chance you guys think that somehow this relates to Expatriette in some "power" or spiritual guide sort of manner, or just creepy stalker birds, or am I just reading way too much into this? Do these birds show up anywhere else that anyone has noticed?

Quick draw has some, Hair trigger reflexes does as well (edit - doh. apparently i cant read well at 3am :P)

and they are also featured on the sides of Pride and Predjucde, as part of the gun's decorations. So they are somsort of theme for her - what it means exactly, I'm not sure. But its well to note! 

I always took it to be mostly a visual theme in her cards, but the idea that it's actually something real in the sentinels world is intriguing, especially because, as you say, expatriette is supposed to have no powers.

The real question is, can other's see the doves? Are they only something Expatriette can see, like a manifestation of her instincts/fighter spirit, or something? I always saw them as a reflection of Expatriette's inner focus. There are bullets flying everywhere, explosions going off, but she keeps her cool, and her thoughts are calm and peaceful. But if they are actually a real effect, then it might reflect some real power that no one can really see.

I always thought she was just a John Woo fan and carried doves around for effect every time she made an entrance. 

Yep, John Woo-style reference, I always assumed.

If it is a representation of her inner self, then wouldn't that be a bit...ironic? Here is Expatriette who pumps bad guys full of lead for a living, while there, her inner self is a white dove, a sign of peace and prosperity.

Well, putting dove patterns on the handles of one's guns is already ironic for the exact reason you mentioned, putting a sign of piece and prosperity on a weapon of war.

I was thinking it shows how at peace she is internally with her role in the world. Yes, she kills people every day, but she accepts that what she does is necessary and beneficial to society, and feels no guilt for the lives she has to end in her work. Perhaps this makes Expatriette come across as mildly sociopathic, but still, I feel it gives a certain amount of insight into her character.

The actual doves flying around her are definitely a John Woo reference.

War is the Final step of Diplomacy

violence is often a tool to reach peace, that might be her philosophy - honestly without seeing her inner thought chatter in her comics, its impossible to know.

I suppose the doves could be a hallucination, or an aspect of her mental side that occurs when she thinks about her past. 

I like the thought that its something watching over her, an angel or something that protects her in her mission to bring peace.

Doves are also a symbol of Hachiman, the Japanese god of war.

I've never heard of John Woo - I'd only noticed the doves on Pride and Prejudice and could only think that it might be a reference to the Red Dwarf episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" (though aspects of that episode are covered in one of the books as well).

Expatriette IS Citizen Dove!

Expatriette having a not-yet revealed power ? It's a GREAT idea.

Could there be some planned big reveal in the future ? An expansion where Citizen Dawn dies/retires, and "Citizen Dove" takes her place - either becoming a new villain, or a "team deck" hero of Citizens fighting the good fight ? It would be fun!

THIS SOUNDS BEAUTIFUL.

Highly unlikely--Expatriette doesn't seem like the kind of character that will turn evil. Yeah, she's a renegade, but usually they're the ones who...

(Oh God, I'm so sorry for what I'm about to say, but this is the saying that came to my mind so I have to use it...)

...Stick to their guns...

(Again, sorry...)

...about which side they're on. Legacy turning evil--while still a huge shock--was a little more expected because it's people like him who are "lawful good" that fall the hardest when they befall a horrible tradegy. If their world gets turned upside down, so do they.

However, I'd classify Expatriette as "chaotic neutral." For sure, Expatriette is crazy and probably has some serious bloodlust, but she knows that's who she is and how she can keep it in check to keep herself safe. She might help the other heroes, but she isn't--nor will she ever be--one of them. Same goes for her and the Citizens: she will never be evil like them, but since she grew up with the Citizens and their ways, she can't help but to love fighting and relish violence. She's bloodthirsty, basically. But not to the point of insanity and certainly not enough to go evil.

Plus, this game already has a hero-turned-villain character, so it's highly likely they won't do that again. They said they never want to repeat an idea, and another hero going evil would fly too close.

Expatriette would do anything for doves, but she won't do that.

Strong work, everyone.

Oh my god Christopher... that is almost as bad as [Redacted] ....

Yes, I found something interesting and clue worthy

Maybe…

More likely that I'm just pleased with the level of detail and attentiveness.

Such skills will serve you well in the times to come.

I hope my analysis of Expatriette's personality is somewhat accurate, because that's how me and the writer for Rook City Renegade see her, and so that's how he's going to write her: a bloodthirsty anti-hero with good intentions--for herself.

However, if Expatriette did finally take down Dawn and inherit the place of leader of the Citizens, that'd be really interesting. I'd love to see how she would handle that. I like to think she wouldn't turn evil.

Honestly, she's probably the hero I'm the most interested in getting to know more about. That's kind of why we're making Rook City Renegade about her. It's certainly not because doing special effects for her would be easier than any other hero...

No, really, we just want to do a character piece on her. 

You know, thinking about it, I would be a little surprised if Expatriette didn't have any superpowers, and not for the reason you might think. I mean sure, her parents were both powerful, super-powered individuals, this is true, but also, it would be hard for her to do the things she does without them, mainly for one reason: she only has one eye.

I know that seems really obvious, but think about that for a minute. She has nearly perfect aim with those guns of hers, and can target and shoot an enemy the instant she spots them. And yet she has no depth perception. One has to wonder how she does it. I think she has some sort of sixth sense, like a mind's eye of some sort. She probably just interprets it as her instincts guiding her, but that's the only explanation I can come up with for how she does the things she does. I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that even if she lost her second eye, she still would be able to fight just fine. That's just the impression I get from her. 

I like that idea, ian.hankin. I'm personally fond of the fanon concept that there are a lot more people with superpowers in comicbook universes than realize it because they're primarily things like a sixth sense that could be easily integrated into their daily lives and would be the sort of thing you wouldn't compare with other people to realize that you're odd in that respect.

Also, why IS she so good at shooting? Would the Citizens have taught her? I can see them teaching her hand-to-hand, but guns are for lowly humans to try to bring them up to the level of the Citizens, and it seems like they kept up hope that she would have superpowers for a long time. She obviously had something she could use against Dawn. Did she have anyone on the inside who helped her out? Did she practice in years for secret (couldn't have been THAT many years, she's 23)? Or is she just preternaturally good?

Ive always wondered who that guy in Quick Draw is. I always feel like he is some sort of Mentor to Expat, who after time has become a sort of nemisis (i think of him as some sort of Ra's a Ghul type) - so did he have something to do with training her?

I think, going off of memory since I don't have my cards, he's supposed to be the detective from the Rook City environment. The confrontation is police vs good mercenary which is why they've both drawn, but neither has a bullet in them yet.

Tony Taurus, his name is ;).

Tony Taurus is the Brown haired PI (and I just noticed he has the keyword Private Eye on his card, that's not being used anywhere is it?), while the guy on Quick Draw is a Blonde haired Police Detective (I assume that the shiny thing on his belt is a badge).

The medulla-wild-speculator part of my brain wants to say that the Police Detective and Expatriette are star-crossed lovers, each on the other side of the law, neither prepared to back down... and hoping that the other doesn't either because that's why they like him/her, their belief in justice (whatever flavour it is).

Not sure I can see Expatriette as a Star-crossed anything, but I like the general direction

Thats why I said mentor, only the detective is more willing to work with the law and expat wants to work outside it.

Perhaps a HAWK to Expatriette's DOVE?

…

Nah, that'd be too close.

she only has one eye

What do you have against monocular people?

Not at all. It's a fact of life that the loss of an eye comes witht the loss of a great deal of depth perception. There is a reason so many species have two or more eyes, having only one can be a serious hinderance, especially for a species designed to have two. Our brains are wired to recieve input from two eyes, so that we can tell not just what something looks like, but how far away it is, how fast it is moving, etc. I would think that having only one eye would pose a serious challenge to a master marksman. Contrary to what film and comic books would tell us (looking at you Nick Fury), losing an eye does have consequences besides making you look like a badass. In real life, it can seriously impair us. The fact that Expattriete does what she does despite this handicap makes her all the more impressive. I just thought her level of skill might actually be somewhat superhuman rather than just exceptional.

I just love the use of 'Monocular' in a sentence.

Binocular depth perception is actually not as important as you'd think. There are a whole lot of other cues your brain can use to determine how far away something is, and you can learn to compensate for the lack of an eye and be (almost) as good at depth perception as you were before.

I have no experience at all with guns but I've shot with a shortbow before, and only the eye on your dominant side is used for sighting. I'm actually right-handed but slightly left-eyed, and I had to overcome this and learn to ignore my left eye. I assume that shooting a pistol or rifle or whatever is the same - if you were to look at the sight with both eyes you'd get a double image of the target, and vice versa.

I reckon Expatriette would have no trouble at all shooting with one eye. She'd have no problem sighting, and presumably she learned to shoot instinctively (i.e. "from the hip" or without sighting) before she lost the eye so that ability's still there. Even if it isn't, it's absolutely learn-able, especially to someone who's naturally gifted as she appears to be.

Expat's super power is dual weilding those hand cannons.  Wrists of solid Iron.

Fun fact: if you look really carefully at Hair Trigger, you'll notice a glowing white bird one the ground casting a shadow. (I know that some other people have mentioned the birds, but none mentioned the shadow.)

Also, you might notice that Expatriette's ear rings are glowing the same color on her character card.

Also, also, hello!

which begs the quesiton: are there any doves in Time Crisis?

But not all.  It's still possible to gauge depth from other visual clues, like perspective and relative position.  Expat would have to be very sharp indeed to shoot people faster than two seconds with only one eye, but Batman/Punisher-type characters are always being portrayed as ridiculously pushing the boundaries of "normal" human ability, despite their supposed lack of superhuman powers.  They never seem to suffer from the frailties of daily life.

My father had no binocular depth preception.  It was really not a big deal.  Later on he lost an eye, and the issue there was not the depth perception but the much larger blind spot.

If you look at ground-dwelling prey animals, many of them have very little binocular vision since their eyes are on the sides of their head rather than both at the front like humans or predator types. (I guess the trade-off of some depth perception for pretty much 360 vision is worth it.) But my pet rabbit with his side-of-head eyes doesn't seem to have any problems judging distance, he happily negotiates obstacles including stairs, objects deliberately stood up in his path so he'll knock them over, and a daft old sleeping Labrador. ;)

Bringing this back up after playing Expat today

There has been some talk that because of the Flak Jaket being able to stop any damage amount (3 or greater, of course) that her 'Super Power' might be some sort of pheonix like deal - Rejuvenation or perhaps Rebirth (the Doves being her personal 'phoneix' - a reference that has not been made here before but my girlfriend pointed out right away)

To support this, somewhat, look at the flavor text on Assault Rifle - A card with the doves

'Ha! You missed me. I wont miss you!'

... Missed her? or did she just come back from the dead and not know it?

I cannot quickly recall (nor quickly spot in a skim of the preceding parts of the thread) whether it's been pointed out that, in Christian tradition, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove.

The power of love is a curious thing
make a one man weep, make another man sing
Change a hawk to a little white dove
more than a feeling that's the power of love

I was playing with some friends the other day, and one of them played her for the first time and said "what's with all the birds?" So I think there's definitely SOMETHING going on there.

I believe it's a pun. The first time Expatriette says "miss" she's referring to the fact that she left home. The second time, she's telling her mother she's gonna shoot her.

... switch those around. She doesn't say "did you miss me?" she says "you missed me." As in, they shot and missed. The second one is "I won't care once you're gone."

I think either of those interpretations is possible, and indeed both of them could be true at once, increasing the punning to unforeseen levels.