also crossposted

because /b/ the board is difficult to describe, /b/ the character is also hard to describe. You can't pigeonhole /b/ into any kind of static description, because /b/ itself is never in agreement on anything (yes, even raids).

...which is what led to the character description on 1d4chan. There's a paragraph there but it doesn't actually SAY anything other than "contradictory and unpredictable prankster who hates everything including himself."

That's probably the best way of handling the character, have him be a kind of wild card that fits any situation, as long as he doesn't take anything seriously. He could be knowledgeable and helpful or clueless and provocative. (At the rate we're going he'll probably end up as knowledgeable and provocative, aka a sort of antagonist.)

It might be an interesting character concept to have /b/ be, in a sense, already dead. He has little to no control over what he does, because he's at the mercy of Anonymous and Anonymous is generally merciless (but not always!). Since /b/ is already dead, he's' not concerned with self-preservation or much of anything else. (Anonymous as a force on /b/ doesn't really happen until late '04 when shii convinces moot to turn on FORCED_ANON. Until mid '04, moot was encouraging users to namefag.)

I'm going to pass on discussing his role in the story because /b/ has been said to be either the landlord, or the antagonist, or not even involved at all. /b/ can't be not involved, but /b/ doesn't really interact with the other boards unless it's hostile. Then it just begs the question of why have him at all if he doesn't do anything except interrupt. There are better characters for comic relief. (As an aside, I would posit that /b/ right now is a pretty friendly place.)

As far as an actual character design, I would posit that /b/'s form changes either gradually or suddenly and unpredictably. i.e. From an overweight cynical man to a normal hipster youth. Not that /b/ has any control over it. Maybe his one consistent trait might be eyes with a pronounced white iris that changes to black when he is in control of minions.

I always thought of /b/ as sort of an enigma. A guy who is always just off screen, who none of the other boards really like.

this should be his face

I always considered /b/ as a hyperactive roommate who tended to be emotionally unstable beneath a facade of indifference. He'd be novelty-seeking, contrarian, anarchic, gleeful, destructive, misanthropic, and occasionally obsessive. I do think he can be altruistic (though he would hate for anyone to know this), though, and those who know him could once rely on him for frank advice, if you caught him in a good mood, but /adv/ sorta took up that role.

I generally think of him as having a jewfro, but perhaps it's a result of the habbo raid character.

>>52
yeah, I think all the profiles people have come up with for /b/ (aside from the one-line comments) say pretty much that, maybe with different words. Just because there's a board with that topic doesn't mean /b/ doesn't cover it, though. There are still discussions about anime, vidya, warhammer, magic, etc etc in /b/, it's just not as common.

There's still no good consensus on what /b/-tan looks like, though, but maybe it's best to just leave it up to whoever is drawing /b/-tan at that moment.

What would be cool is if /b/'s name wasn't brought up often, even though it should be obvious who he is. Not because of any "rule 1&2" reasons, but because most people don't like talking about /b/. Maybe there would be hilarious moments when someone would say it in passing and then /b/ shows up. "Speak of the devil..."

>Shortly after /g/uro's death, /b/ was diagnosed with DID

I think he may also have cancer

The famous "cancer that is killing /b/"

>>68
He is the 'Cancer'....

>>69
They didn't start the cancer, it was always there and now its everywhere
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAOymC6XKeQ )

>>70
Hmmm true but /b/ is the board. so he is effected by it.... So in a sense he is the cancer as it is apart of the board.

He should be kinda like Morrison's joker. He reinvents his persona every once in a while. He can be a internet superhero, a retard or just a fucked up person all at the same time.

Not different personalities, just one constantly changing one. No remorse, no disgust with some of his actions. He acknowledges and accepts every change he has.

>>72
Interesting.... it fits...

84 get

>>73
clearly you are not a /b/tard, /b/ does not accept the changes it goes through, hence "YOU ARE THE CANCER THAT IS KILLING /b/"

>>85
that's why he hates himself more than he hates anything else

He does hate himself. Actually, it seems like he downright despises himself these days, considering that there are raids that he failed (except he doesn't like talking about it because he is a sore loser.).

One raid that I would like to mention that had become popular is the Tumblr incident. However, it 'backfired' somewhat.

Now he has a fangirl. Actually, a few. Let's just add Tumblr to the list of fans that he currently possess.

inb4 I mention Gaia Online tan and the meme items incident.

>>22
perhaps some of the other boards can be personalities that /b/ despised so much it caused them to split like /soc/

tumblr-tan~

>>112
I don't see /soc/ coming out of /b/ despising itself, more like the tumor got so big it split off and went to dick around by itself.

and whenever a new board is made from /b/'s former interests, /b/ forgets that interest, like it never had it in the first place.
---------------
“Ugh, my head. Where am I?”
/tg/ rubbed his head and pushed his long hair out of his eyes. He sat up in bed and looked around. He was in an empty room, without windows. The only light source was a lamp fixture on the ceiling in the center of the room, which was turned on, for some reason. There was a desk with a computer and the bed that he was in. The walls were completely bare. The only obvious exit was a door.

/tg/ pulled the blue covers off himself, and realized he was wearing jeans and a red shirt with a clearly angry yellow frowny face. He got out of bed and cautiously opened the door. It opened into a large dark room illuminated only by the light of a television. The middle of the room was crowded with couches, and a solitary figure was sitting on one of them, intently looking at a TV with a videogame controller in his hand. /tg/ stepped out into the room, and closed the door behind him. It had a nameplate on it: “/tg/ - Traditional Games.” /tg/ guessed that meant him. Aside from gunshots and explosions from the TV there was no noise. The figure there didn't seem to notice him.

Looking around, /tg/ saw two spiral staircases going up as well as a number of other rooms on the floor. He moved silently upstairs, wishing for a sword or hammer to ward off any monster that might appear. The spiral staircase continued upwards, but this seemed to be the ground floor. The floor above had the same basic layout, but no couches or televisions. Orange light filtered through the curtains that opened onto the ground level of some sort of suburban street. It was clearly early morning. There was an exit to what seemed to be a yard, through a revolving door. There were doors to rooms on this floor as well. /tg/ looked around at the nameplates: “/e/ - Ecchi,” “/t/ - Torrents,” “/a/ - Anime and Manga,” “/b/ - Random.” Before he could get a better look, a man in a blue suit, fedora, and mask walked through the revolving doors, stretching and yawning. There was a slight pause as each eyed the other. /tg/ opened his mouth, but the masked man turned and fled upstairs before /tg/ could say anything.

“Looks like I failed that initiative roll...”

/tg/ stepped outside through the revolving doors, and breathed in the morning air. It was chilly, but /tg/ looked at the front of the four story building before going back inside. There was a sign hanging above the revolving door, that was just readable in the morning light: “4chan.” /tg/ walked inside and was greeted by a man with dirty blond hair and a Green Lantern hoodie.

“So, you must be new here,” he said, extending his arm for a handshake and taking a few breaths before continuing. “I'm /co/, welcome to 4chan.”
/tg/ reached up for a handshake. “Uh, hi, I'm /tg/, I think,” /tg/ trailed off.
“Well, don't worry, you'll find that this isn't too bad a place once you get used to it,” /co/ said, shaking hands.
“So, I guess I live here now?”
“Yep, welcome to the gang,” /co/ said, letting go. Most everyone is sleeping now, but you'll meet them soon enough.”
“ I don't really know how I got here.”
“None of us do, that's the great mystery of life!” /co/ said, slightly dramatically. “Where are you staying?”
“My room is downstairs, or so I've gathered.”
“Well, you can take some time to get settled in,” /co/ said. “I'll get /ck/ to cook you a nice breakfast. She should be getting up soon.” /co/ looked off into the distance, as /tg/ stared at /co/. “Oh, that's right,” /co/ continued, looking at his wrist watch. “The dining room is just upstairs. Breakfast will be ready in half an hour.”
“Thanks,” /tg/ said hesitantly.
“Don't worry about it!” /co/ said, smiling. “This is your home now, too! We'll be seeing lots of each other, I'm sure of it.” /co/ turned to go back upstairs, then paused, turned around and walked up closer to /tg/. “Oh,” he said, in a quieter voice, “everyone here is a bit of a character. Don't worry if you don't get along at first, just don't be too provocative.”
“I'll keep that in mind,” /tg/ said, wondering if this man had good intentions in mind or not. “Thanks, /co/.”
“See you in half an hour!” /co/ said and bounded upstairs.

/tg/ heard a loud “GODDAMNIT” from downstairs. He went back down, but nothing had changed. It must have been the guy with the controller. /tg/ snuck back into his room, and closed the door. So this was his new home? He didn't have much time to reflect on that, as he realized he wasn't alone in his room. On his bed, with on leg on the ground and one on the bed was what looked like a teenager with a scowl on his face. He was wearing torn jeans with chains on them, and a black t-shirt. A shadow seemed to emanate from him, making him look more sinister. There was a case at his feet.

“Hey,” he said, not waiting. “You like Warhammer, right?”
“Yeah,” /tg/ said, not sure how this person knew what he himself just realized.
“Here, you can have these,” the boy picked up the case, slightly carelessly, plopped it on the bed, and opened it up. /tg/ inched closer to look at it. Inside were Space Marines. The Marines were painted black, with green helms with something written on them in white: “No Picture Available.” There was a common motif of a snake-like white cat, and a four-leaf clover. One of the space marines had no helmet, and was wearing a red bandana on his head. Another had a black afro, and a third had a silly grin on his face and a T-rex on his chest plate. The attention to detail was impeccable. As /tg/ was admiring the minis, he didn't notice the boy stand up and slowly walk to the door.
/tg/ heard the door open, and looked at the back of the figure standing in the doorway. “Wait, did you paint these? And you're just giving them to me?” The minis looked like a labor of love.
“Yeah, you can have them,” the boy said, standing in the doorway, not looking back.
“Are you sure? This is a great paint job...”
The boy stepped through the door. “I don't want them anymore.”

/b/-tan with a V mask.

>>115
Very well written. It's a shame that it won't tie into the rest of the stories, but definitely good potential. I'm curious though, why would he abandon those?

>>130
The idea I wanted to convey was that /tg/ only came into existence because of /b/'s Warhammer Wednesdays. After that, I imagine people who wanted to discuss traditional games (Warhams and whatever) would go to /tg/, not /b/, so /b/ lost that part of himself.

Maybe it's not so much as an abandoning as a passing of the torch.

A screenshot of early /b/. It should be obvious that at one point, he was anime/random.