Hey guys, as I've been working on DRAGOONS, I've kinda noticed one big problem:
The second protagonist Flare doesn't really seem to have a point anymore.....
Like, even though I love his design, powers, and true identity, he just kind seems like a really obsolete artifact of when DRGN/DRAGOONS was a parodical RPG. I've always had trouble writing him when he was the original main protagonist, so I switched it to Selena as the focus character (for at least the first bit of the story, anyway.) But, as I've tweaked and changed the other protagonists to give them even the slighter bit more relevance to the plot and group as a whole. (E.I. making Fubuki Selena's friend and roommate beforehand, having Bryce know she's a robot from the get go instead of having that as a plot twist, but keeping her initial purpose as a robot as a secret, etc.) I'm having trouble doing the same with Flare given that he's still kinda the "new guy" to the group from out of town role that he's stayed in since the beginning of the story's development.
I realized that he doesn't really have any wants, needs, or motivation nor anything big in his problem that needs fixing beside "Hey, you gotta dal away these monsters before they destroy the world!" that is the shared goal of the heroes in general. All he wants to do is fight monsters and protect people, and he's still doing that as a Dragoon even though he's now in a tourist town he doesn't like that much. And even then, he can just board a train to visit his old city any time he wants to. Right now, all he kinda feels like is the "No-nonsense all business hot headed leader guy" and punchline of a joke parodying cliché anime, sentai, and JRPG protagonists.
I suppose that's jus ta holdover from DRAGOONS' JRPG origins where you could get away with a bit more of a "Flat" character due to gameplay, but now it feels as everyone and everything in DRAGOONS has evolved so much, Flare really hasn't evolved much at all beyond designs and abilities. He just kind of feels like a relic of an old era that I'm only keeping around for tradition's sake because he was there from the start and every Hero group's gotta have the angry red-colored fire based giant sword wielder with amnesia, angst, a dark past and improbably spiky neon hair!
So I don't know if I should just dump him altogether, replace him with someone else entirely, rename him, or overhaul him a bit like I did the others. And I also don't know how to overhaul to give him more relevance and purpose to the main plot, either. So he (and the story as a whole going forward until I figure this out) are kinda in limbo right now.
What do you guys think? Thanks for the help.