I've been in on the COMING "phenomenon" since day one. I was among the first group of people that conspired to come up with the idea. My representative, Landon Morisato, was the first of the COMING guys to be accepted and placed into the FPL. I was the first one to make it to the Main Event. While I might not have been the originator of the COMING, (the idea is the brainchild of ThreeDark) I seem to have become the most visible member, and Landon seems to have arguably become the most popular of the COMING guys.

Now... to be honest, Landon IS me. Seriously. Save for the fact he can talk to his cats, lives in Khazan, and has an exaggerated sense of tactics, Landon in every sense of the word IS me. Some of the other COMING characters do take more liberties with their "source material," like The Green Nyght being female and Josh having supernatural powers. I've done my best to keep Landon as down to earth as possible. His personality is my personality. Everything he says and does is something I would do. He is the very definition of the Self Insert character. He is me in this story.

This is where I think Landon succeeds. Quite frankly, he's one of the most honest characters out there. Honest in that I'm making no attempt to make the character look good. I'm simply presenting myself with 250 points tacked on to me. Most people, naturally, want to make their characters look good to the public. They want to have their character stand out and be head and shoulders above the rest. With Landon, I KNOW that I'm just a normal guy, so I don't even try to make him look good. He's just Landon. Me. Maybe, in some way, people pick up on that, and that's what makes Landon so likable.

Eh... maybe not. Landon's just a dork like me. People must just like dorks.

Going back to the COMING as a phenomenon. I think there's a general sense of fun about the whole story. None of us are trying to make groundbreaking, original characters. There's a time and place fo such ideas and themes, but there's also a time and place for silly fun and bad puns. This is something I think that the COMING picked up on and ran with. They were joke characters, yet they had a backstory. They were joke characters, but they had the development of many serious characters. Basically, they got you to laugh while still having something left over after the joke faded. Few characters have that dimention to them. Elwin D'Larthi, Ensigns J&J, and a few others come to mind, but in all honesty, the COMING has a sizable dominance over the humorous "story" characters. That's why they do so well.

Oh, and I've heard that some people actually have some hostility towards the COMING. I'm not talking about the people who just don't get it or don't care, but genuine hostility. From what I've heard of their so-called critiques, it sounds like they just don't know how to have fun. That's all the COMING is about, making fun characters based on ourselves. If the fact that a few people are having fun offends you... sad indeed.

Just as a note for everyone, Great Teacher Landon will likely mark the end of my Landon characters. There just isn't anywhere else for me to go with Landon as far as his FPL status goes. He'll definately remain as an IC force, but as far as the FPL proper goes, this is the end.