Summer Tribe Award: Most Zoot-like

Breaking down the Summer 2009 "Tribe Awards" awarded to KTDARPG players by the votes of their fellow players, with tributes to the show that continues to inspire us!

Category: Most Zoot-like

Winner: Tristan

Runner Up: Constantine

Is there anyone more iconic from The Tribe than Zoot? In many ways, he typified the post-Virus world the rest of the kids inhabited. He was ruthless, focused on survival of the fittest in a world that was brutal & violent. But that wasn't the whole story. All you have to do is remember the picture of Zoot with his newborn baby in his arms. This was a man who, had he live, may have changed beyond our wildest dreams ... or not. His reach was long, his followers "devout," and even after his death all the things he had set in motion kept affecting the world he left behind.

Can the same, perhaps, be said of Tristan?

What we as the audience see may be quite different than what the player who created Tristan meant or implied. Still, with an incredible 77% of player votes, there are a lot of parallels to be drawn between Tristan and Zoot. The ruthlessness that seems to have a purpose we can't quite define is a very big part of it. His leadership qualities, the way his "followers" (such as Urick and Blackrose) call him Master or Sensei and obey him completely really takes us right back to the devotion of the Guardian and his Zootists. There's also his amazing - and somewhat puzzling - other side, a tender side he has shown intimately and consistently to Cecily ... his wife. This man is about power and influence and what else? Like Zoot, will his influence continue to spread outward beyond the city? Beyond even his death when it comes?

Time will tell.

Runner up in this category is Constantine (15% of votes). Constantine can be chilling, cold, hard, ruthless, violent without feeling or apology. Where Tristan has evolved, Constantine feels like Zoot at his beginning. Like Zoot figuring out his world and the correct responses to it. We also know that Constantine can be tender because he, like Zoot, had another name once upon a time. Where Zoot was also Martin and in love with Trudy, Constantine was also Scarecrow and in love with Arianna.

Personally, I hope Constantine doesn't go the way of Zoot. There seems to be so much more to this Constantine of ours ... hope, maybe. Another chance at love, if he hasn't given up on it.

Good job, guys. Your characters have some very raw impact that affects all those around you.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "the Tribe"