Well, Rotor has been gone for a while now and it seems someone has started to fan the flames of fandom turmoil, asking if the happy purple dude will get 'boticized in the near future. And frankly, it's a good thing they did, because it will give us a chance to prepare ourselves for his loss. Remember back in StH #47? When they suddenly dropped Sally to her "death"? That got a heckuva reaction from the fandom, namely because they didn't see it coming. Same deal with Lupe in SSS #13. Why use these as evidence for Rotor's "demise"? Simply: precedent.

Recently, we've been losing alot of characters to Egg-Botnik. We've lost Valdez, Lupe, and if thought about the right way, most of the Robians. (yeah-yeah-yeah, they've already been 'cized, but they were essentially taken over again). And while they weren't lost to Robotnik, we've lost Valdez at the hands of Espio, and we're on the edges of our seats (some of us) wondering what will happen to Queen Acorn. For the past 6 months or so, we've been subjected to a great deal of loss. Rotor is very likely to befall the same fate.

Another matter is Nate Morgan. While they may not have meant to do it, he's Rotor's stand-in. Stop booing, I know how you feel. Look at it: they're both physically odd-ducks. Rotor was much larger than the others in all accounts, and definitely stood out in a crowd. Nate's a pint-sized Overlander. They're both tech-genius', and they are both well-liked by the FF. The big kicker is that Rotor was limited. He learned and did things on the fly. What do you expect? He was a teenager growing up in a global war. He ain't gonna know everything exactly. Nate, however, is age more than a fine wine and knows exactly what he's talking about. When Nate isn't sure about something, it's like a scene from Star Trek when the ship is in peril and the focus character of the episode says, "Well, maybe if we do..." They trust a hunch, and it works, and they get a happy ending. Nate serves the same mind-numbing purpose.

With Nate filling the active void Rotor left (note I said "active", not "spiritual" or "emotional"), and with the long run of losses recently, it's a safe bet that we won't be seeing Rotor in the flesh in the future. He went to find his family who disappeared in the coup. Lupe did the same, roughly. That's all she wrote, folks. The fat lady is tuning up for her final number. The only way Rotor might get through this intact is if he disappears into the dusty back corners of some writer's mind. We'll miss him, but at least we'll know he's not a bot.

SYOTFS,
Ian the Potto
E-mail: mailto:ianpotto@mindspring.com