Rusty Gordon

[Ben Warren]

Rusty Gordon was one of my favourite characters - he was a perfect henchmen and actually seemed like an intimidating bully, unlike Rodney. The thing is, when Darkness Before Dawn came around, I kinda felt like he was coming around a little bit, ya know? He wanted to take down Jellyfish and didn't really want to have anything to do with Blackgaard anymore. He had softened a little.

The thing that always bothered me about "bringing back" Rusty for albums 46-50 as the blogger/writer that trashed Odyssey is that it seemed a little uncharacteristic. The Rusty that the show left us with doesn't seem like the Rusty that would take the time to trash the town through a book-deal and a blog. I've been re-listening to these albums again, and - although I'm enjoying those episode immensely -- this is something that's never quite seemed to fit. Or am I wrong?

Anyway, I'm curious to know what everyone else thinks about this


Ben

[arwen]

I thought it was very characteristic and I didn't see him becoming a "good guy" at all.

[Arkán Dreamwalker]

I quite agree with you. I noticed the very thing myself. It seemed to my like to would turn good.

[Blitz]

He didn't want to take down Blackguard. He was helping Rodney get rid of Jellyfish for his own good.

[Pound Foolish]

Very excellent observations Mr. Warren, but one's actions in the face of a crisis hardly determine how one will be behave in general. Yes, the Blackgaard saga was a process, involving character development for him as well as all the major characters involved. But not enough that Rusty would turn down an opportunity to make money, and he certainly didn't seem to necessarily be heading in a certain direction as far as integrity.
And after all, in Narnia, Susan is very likable, yet in the final book, with little explanation, abandons Narnia.

[Doll]

You can't expect every character to turn good, even after it seems like they should have learned their lesson. That's just the nature of some people. I think if he had turned into a nice guy, it would have seemed too fake, especially since Butch already turned good.

[Shadow]

And he blew jason's cover. I mean, why,it would just get him in trouble.

[Bob]

I was irritated by his portrayal there for a number of reasons. Mainly, I felt it was rather beneath him. I always saw him as a "highwayman" sort, a villain with style, and I wasn't keen on the self-identification as a "thug" (even if it wasn't always inaccurate), or the whole concept of him writing a book just to make juvenile comments about people. Also, I thought the canonicity of him commenting on Liz (a younger girl who came along quite a bit later after he dropped out of the picture) was very weak.

Anyway, all that aside, Rusty was one of my favorite villains when he was on the show, possibly my favorite younger 'bad' character until Jay. He had a great mixture of poise, intelligence, strength and villainy, as well as an endearing amount of conceit and a sarcastic sense of humor, that made him fun to listen to. Also, he exhibited a sense of loyalty in his last on-screen appearances that made him more human than other Odyssey villains. I never would've assumed that he was a good guy, or becoming one (although it's worth noting that he did make an appearance on Kids' Radio as a voice actor in "The Twilife Zone" one time -- so he wasn't totally on the outs with the 'good guys'), but he was Rodney's friend, and you could tell that he wasn't keen on dropping him, unlike the rest of the Bones, who apparently couldn't care less.

I don't think he should've become "good", but overall I wasn't impressed by the way they brought him back into the series.

[Shadow]

Note: Vance did the same in Pinnochio, so it's not showing his niceness, of course, that shows main character was Jay and Rusty'swas Sam