Your take on: Wolf O'Donnell

[Asper Sarnoff]

Okay, here's the big one(for me at least).

Wolf O'Donnell has always been, and probably always will be, my favorite character of the franchise. One doesn't need to be a mindreader to figure out that.

But, what's your take on Lylats biggest anti-hero? Do you like or dislike Wolf? And why?

What incarnation of him has been the best, and what could have been better about him? And all other sorts of things related to this character.

[Kursed]

To be honest I don't think he's a Anti-hero  it's just the jobs he's gotten although I imagine that under that deeep thick shell of a dark guy he's really a kind gentlemen like pantehr although maybe not as...umm flirty.

[Samantha Weltzin]

Wolf is another one of those underdeveloped-but-could-be-awesome characters in this series.

How'd he lose his eye (or does he wear patches over it for fun, since SFII isn't canon)? What's his history with Fox, or perhaps even James? What was his motivation for joining Andross's side? How'd he choose his partners, and how long have they known each other?

We can take guesses at all of this, of course, but it would be nice to see something explaining it.

As he currently is, I like him simply because of how gruff he is. It's fairly refreshing in contrast to the bunch of goody-goodies in StarFox, yet he still has a sense of honor about him, as seen in Assault and Command. He's a fun character, to be sure, and one of my best in Brawl. :P

[Guest Mr. Mario]

Wolf may be rough to everybody even his team-mates but I think he would be better if he kicked Panther out of Star Wolf (flirting too much around Wolf might piss him off).

[Vy'drach]

I preferred Wolf from SF64, since he had the badass voice, was more than a supporting character, and had an actual eyepatch, as opposed to the tech-patch. Also, I imagine he looked better in the 64 style (not the actual graphics), since Assault and Brawl has him in a "street punk" type of setting, with the mohawk, spikes, chains, and leather. Though I will admit I wear a chain on my side, and may get a thigh holster to run it through because of him, but still.

Also, like Asper, I like anti-heroes.

[Robert Monroe]

Ah, Wolf. The character the fandom has made the most varations of, bar none.

For me, Wolf is a "buisness first" kind of guy. Fox is his rival, and he'll do anything to one-up him at his game, hence he has no problem hiring men like Leon (mysterious, murderous, and cold) or Pigma (selfish, brutish, and insensitive). To this, I find the fact Wolf chased Pigma out to be out of character. Wolf doesn't really have a set code of "honor", he's a space desperado. To be sure, he's not villain, and he's not a monster, but he really isn't a guy who'd seem to care about appearances, and considering Pigma has repute as a capable veteran pilot of at least Peppy's standards, yeah.

I also do not see Wolf as much of a sociable person. That isn't to say he has no friends (he arguably knows Leon better than anyone else in Lylat), he just isn't one who shows it around. Where as Fox and Slippy will goof off and play video games, or Fox and Falco will have a few drinks and maintain a friendly rivalry, Wolf is almost entirely an introvert. Silent, understandable "friendship" between him and his mates. Much like his race, Wolf is a loner, but not ALONE. He's a pack leader too. Leading into this, I always saw Wolf as a mentor as well, to some degree, mostly for Andrew. Needless to say they have conflicting personalities, and Andrew most definitely pisses Wolf off 24/7, but Wolf likely sees a man that can be made from Andrew's youthful desire. Wolf might hate his antics, but he doesn't hate the ape himself, as it were.

Above all other things, I see Wolf as MATURE. This is what truly seperates him from Fox. Fox is brash, heroic, and emotional. Wolf is calm, reasonable, and above all other things, mature. He speaks alot without saying alot, but he isn't detatched like Leon is. He simply has a presense about him that speaks for him, saving his words for more important things, like giving orders.

Oh, and he's definitely and anti-hero. Wolf does the job, no matter how dirty. Starfox are mercs, Starwolf are pratically vigilantes for hire.

[Eagle Kammback]

My favorite Character

THough since I've only played SF64, and SF2 on my computer (I heart emulators) I can't say much else, other than he as a BA character

[Konchaski]

Wolf has easily the most variations of his characterization in fandom, and originally because of how his first most common interpretation was in the past and reading many bad fanfics, he never particularly interested me. It was because of ridiculous stereotypes that bothered me such as being a horny wolf who wanted to do everything in sight, extremely angst ridden, and somehow much more wise by a landside than any other character in the series.

However, as I matured so has my interest in Wolf as a character. I realized, perhaps I just read too many fics where he was stereotyped badly, when I looked more at the game I noticed things people ignored. Sometimes they played up his rivalry with Fox McCloud, which while important I don't think it was all that traumatizing in many fanfictions that suggest it to be so. There is a hint of a rivalry, a sort of Enemy Mine trope, I wouldn't be surprised of Wolf from the start was merely a rival who had nothing but the upmost respect for James McCloud, thus the many competitive lines he states to the protagonist Fox McCloud. Clearly, he doesn't follow Andross' cause, he simply just enjoys fighting Fox. I don't think by any means, it was something terrible that happened in the past between the McCloud Family and the O'Donnell Family - but in a strange way a show of his own respect.

This is why in my personal opinion, he didn't join Andross out of money, revenge, or even Andross' madness - but instead perhaps to fight against McCloud, now full knowing that he'd be able to face off against him since Pigma was on the Emperor's side.

In ways, they serve as foils to each other. To add onto this subject, like Rob and I personally agreed we don't think he's a social person, he's fairly mature, a no nonsense type of guy and likely this aloof, introverted person who would walk into a bar. He is a loner, but he's not alone and I do personally agree he does have one major rule with him, basically don't betray him. Which Pigma did, however one thing to note is that Wolf ... didn't exactly seem too shook up about it. While the Starfox canon is poorly written in many aspects due to different writers likely and companies bouncing it about, I do think this is an interesting thing to consider. He also allowed Andrew to go and do his own thing as well, not much of a hassle or struggle of the sorts. To a degree, I believe he admires loyalty to comrades and even if he's annoyed by a person in his group he'd certainly not kick them out for 'little' annoyances as long as they served a purpose and had some skill. However, at the sametime he wouldn't beg people to stay either if they chose to leave it.

Though personally I wouldn't be surprised though if he was like "Get out of here, never show your face here again, or I'll kill you." to Pigma though when that happened. But then again, Assault has many stupid moments, but some little bits of gold in it, I personally wouldn't have killed off Pigma that way, it was extremely anticlimactic.

Basically, for the most part I think I have a consistent view of what Rob has. He'd be an interesting character to see more of, for the most part.

[Guest FoXXX]

I like Wolf, especially in SF64.

[Guest DRL]

To me he is an interesting character, but to

me, there are too many questions left unanswered.

As an anti-hero he does a great job, althrough I really

like it that he has a code of honor.

[Dermot]

:wolf: My thoughts on Wolf?  Wolf is...well...kinky.  It may be difficult to explain to a Western cultural perspective.  But he's actually the most blatantly unsubtly gay character in the series.  Yes, it's possible to be gayer than Leon.

Wolf is what Japanese would term "hard gay" type (named after a famous Japanese TV pro wrestler, Hard Gay).  Hard gay is the most prominent gay stereotype in Japanese culture today.  And though I generally don't like gay stereotypes, this one is generally tolerable and that it's not quite as offensive - its characteristics are muscle, badass power, machismo and vanity (okay, to be vain is kinda unflattering), and sometimes also leather, domination, sadomasochism, etc.  Basically, he can kick your ass into next week, and never stop looking hot doing it.  He's walking gay fanservice.

Unfortunately, Wolf's personality doesn't seem too much deeper than this, other than his nature as a leader and the nature of his relationship with Fox.  It's not to say that he can have no deeper personality or association with other characters, it's just that he never has an interaction that doesn't play heavily to his charisma, his animal magnetism, his boasts and/or is his might.  That's not necessarily a bad thing - as long as there is genuine chemistry, that can be adventurous.  Or end in a train wreck. He's basically an alpha male, and every other male is either a beta, an omega, or a rival alpha.

I'd like to see a deeper, subtler side to Wolf's personality in the future.  Maybe something like this?

He looks amazing in his dark A-shirt from Brawl, BTW.

[SlyJedi]

He is a great character in my view. In SF 64 he was a tough guy mercenary working on Andross's payroll, but he did not have a whole lot in terms of personality other than he was straightforward shoot them down type. He was quite a cool one though, I admit. I felt his rivalry with Fox McCloud made up for that, for stuff like that helps with story and character.

In Assault, the rivalry was still there, but after 9 years of being absent in the storyline, Wolf appeared to have matured. For he showed hints of respect towards Fox and of caring for the greater good for the Lylat system. Seeing them help StarFox against the Aparoids was fun to watch. And this could be built upon in a competent sequel.

Command, well... Let's not even go there...

[Samantha Weltzin]

Command, well... Let's not even go there...

I'm curious to know why you said that, as Wolf really didn't change much in Command from the other games he was in. He was one of the characters who really didn't make any significant personality changes in that game, the way I saw it.

[SlyJedi]

I'm curious to know why you said that, as Wolf really didn't change much in Command from the other games he was in. He was one of the characters who really didn't make any significant personality changes in that game, the way I saw it.

Well, Samantha let me put it this way. I said that because it has already been touched upon. Aside from the fact the he looked stupid (like how he looked shorter to me, his head like Fox's looked like a bell) like everyone else in Command, he came off like somewhat stereotypical jerk type as DRL well described here: http://forums.starfox-online.net/index.php?topic=6306.0

[Robert Monroe]

Well, Samantha let me put it this way. I said that because it has already been touched upon. Aside from the fact the he looked stupid (like how he looked shorter to me, his head like Fox's looked like a bell) like everyone else in Command, he came off like somewhat stereotypical jerk type as DRL well described here: http://forums.starfox-online.net/index.php?topic=6306.0

Wolf IS a jerk.

"You IDIOTS! What are you FOOLS doing now!"

"You're GOOD, but I'm BETTER."

"You'll be seeing your DAD SOON, Fox!"

The guy is a his core an asshole whose entire being revolves around being a dick to Fox McCloud for reasons unknown.

[Milkyway64]

My thoughts on Wolf?  Wolf is...well...kinky.  It may be difficult to explain to a Western cultural perspective.  But he's actually the most blatantly unsubtly gay character in the series.  Yes, it's possible to be gayer than Leon.

Wolf is what Japanese would term "hard gay" type (named after a famous Japanese TV pro wrestler, Hard Gay).  Hard gay is the most prominent gay stereotype in Japanese culture today.  And though I generally don't like gay stereotypes, this one is generally tolerable and that it's not quite as offensive - its characteristics are muscle, badass power, machismo and vanity (okay, to be vain is kinda unflattering), and sometimes also leather, domination, sadomasochism, etc.  Basically, he can kick your ass into next week, and never stop looking hot doing it.  He's walking gay fanservice.

I... I really have no words for what I want to say to this.

...

Okay, I think I got some. HOOOOOWWW? WHHHYYYYY?

There is nothing, NOTHING to suggest Wolf's sexuality, let alone any evidence to state factually that he's BLATANTLY GAY.

[Robert Monroe]

I... I really have no words for what I want to say to this.

...

Okay, I think I got some. HOOOOOWWW? WHHHYYYYY?

There is nothing, NOTHING to suggest Wolf's sexuality, let alone any evidence to state factually that he's BLATANTLY GAY.

Except his costume in Brawl.

But Brawl basically took that from Assault so pffft.

[Milkyway64]

Except his costume in Brawl.

But Brawl basically took that from Assault so pffft.

But then so is Falco, and I suppose Krystal has evidence for being lesbian now too.

Elaborating on this, Falco has somewhat similar character design (admittedly, Falco has what could be called "tights" and that's about it aside from ridiculous shoulder pads) and if Krystal is fanservice appealing to the stright, why is it that Wolf is blatant homosex?

Dem female furries need love, too!

[Guest Mr. Mario]

I'm pretty sure the next Smash Bros. game, Wolf would come back in his 64 Costume.

[Dermot]

I... I really have no words for what I want to say to this.

...

Okay, I think I got some. HOOOOOWWW? WHHHYYYYY?

There is nothing, NOTHING to suggest Wolf's sexuality, let alone any evidence to state factually that he's BLATANTLY GAY.

Like I said, it's rather difficult to explain to a Western cultural perspective.  There's also good old-fashioned common gaydar - the same reason why none of Ricky Martin's fans were surprised when he came out of the closet.  Trust me.  It's hard for Wolf to be any gayer than he already is.  Also, as I said, Wolf plays heavily to Japanese stereotypes - that being, if you're hypermasculine, strong, and a showoff, you're significantly more likely to be thought of as gay.  The Western stereotype of gay femininity doesn't really apply - in fact, men who are woman-like are often more attractive to Japanese women, and are usually written as straight characters.

[Asper Sarnoff]

Like I said, it's rather difficult to explain to a Western cultural perspective.  There's also good old-fashioned common gaydar - the same reason why none of Ricky Martin's fans were surprised when he came out of the closet.  Trust me.  It's hard for Wolf to be any gayer than he already is.

Ehh, what? I'd say it's harder for Wolf to be more ultra-old-fashioned-macho-man than he allready is. O_o

[Robert Monroe]

Like I said, it's rather difficult to explain to a Western cultural perspective.  There's also good old-fashioned common gaydar - the same reason why none of Ricky Martin's fans were surprised when he came out of the closet.  Trust me.  It's hard for Wolf to be any gayer than he already is.

What he's saying is that Wolf is designed to be appealing, but this does not inherently make him "gay", because he appeals to the female demogrpahic too.

[Guest Mr. Mario]

What he's saying is that Wolf is designed to be appealing, but this does not inherently make him "gay", because he appeals to the female demogrpahic too.

I don't think Wolf even cared about Krystal...

[Milkyway64]

I don't think Wolf even cared about Krystal...

He let her in his team? What does this have to do with anything anyway?

[Robert Monroe]

I don't think Wolf even cared about Krystal...

I mean the FANS, you know, the GIRLS who play vidya gaems?