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Colonel Q not costumed?
WaldoMag
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in The Bridge
I just had a voyage with the costumed trait. I was going to pick Colonel Q but I realized he did not have the trait.
I think this is a mistake and he should have the costumed trait.
I think this is a mistake and he should have the costumed trait.
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Call it head canon or retconning but that is what makes sense to me.
Then again, if Q is such the omnipotent being, one might say that all of what we see with regards to Q is a costume, since we cannot actually fathom the true nature of the Q. (As Q himself argues with Picard so frequently.)
That was in my thoughts too as I started thinking about it.
In essence the only non costumed Q is Human Q.
But, I am willing to except Q's in startfleet uniform as not being costumed because of the Star Trek crew not seeing it as a costume.
But clearly then Captain Q must be seen as costumed because Star Trek crew do not perceive him as a captain.
What is a costume? Does it mean a disguise? Does it mean assuming a different persona? Can a holoprogram be costumed? Or is it limited to just when a person puts on an outfit in order to openly masquerade as someone/something else?
Sometimes, it seems to be for a crew member who has put on a different outfit to go on the holodeck, in order to play a make-believe part. Picard as Dixon Hill and Janeway as Lucille Davenport fit this example.
Sometimes it covers those who have been thrown into a scenario by Q -- such as Picard as Robin Hood or LaForge as Alan-a-Dale.
Sometimes it applies to those who are in disguise in order to be undercover -- such as Romulan Picard or Trader Odo. But this is inconsistent, as Romulan Data and 1701 Jadzia do not have the costumed trait.
Sometimes it applies to a holoprogram who combines the crew member's appearance with an alternate persona and unique outfit, such as Falcon O'Brien and Anastasia Komananov. But, again, this is inconsistent, as Duchamps, Goddess of Empathy Troi, and Lady Beverly do not have the costumed trait.
Sometimes it includes sports uniforms, such as Niners Rom or Hockey Paris. But, again, this is inconsistent as Niners Sisko and Anbo-jyutsu Riker do not have the costumed trait.
Sometimes it simply means a festive outfit, as with Convergence Day Quark. But then there's Ambassador and Grateful Lwaxana Troi, who lack the trait.
When it comes to Q, one could argue that every version of every member of the Q Continuum is costumed. After all, their natural state isn't even in human form, let alone wearing specific clothes. They're only dressing up for human benefit. But in practice, it seems to apply to any version of Q not wearing a Starfleet uniform or other contemporary "human" form of dress (as with Human Q and Q2).
With Colonel Q . . . well . . . . Colonel Q didn't choose to dress himself as a Confederate officer. Rather, that's how Janeway and the other Voyager crew perceive him thanks to Q's effort to create an impression of what was happning in the Continuum that their measly human brains could comprehend.
So, as with almost any use of this trait, it depends on . . .
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All the comments are awesome
My vote is costumed / overcover operative.
Who is the one Star Trek crew who sees the Q in civil war uniforms. Only conclusion is Janeway. Every crew member would have a different perception. And, finally there would be no reason for the crew to wear union uniforms.
Edit: one tends to forget that everybody is not human. The reason, they all are human actors. But now not all crew are humans, yet they perceive the Q to be in US civil war uniforms. I don't think so. Another reason to realize the flaws in this episode.
Edit: The episode does have Q make the comment that it is perception.
This is a good point, but I can't see a Gauntlet imbalance being a concern for Colonel Q. His traits are Brutal, Veteran, Interrogator, Q Continuum, three of which are common in the Gauntlet, but his stats are:
CMD (88-199)
DIP (46-88)
SEC (179-367)
I can't see giving him the Costumed trait being a big deal in Voyages, either. It just adds a 25 Antimatter bonus. So really, him not having the trait is immaterial to his game play value and is just a matter of wanting trait assignments to be well rounded.
Proficiency was just the example as I was speaking about characters in general. We don't know what is going on in the DB back rooms when discussing each new character and how they fit in. They have a reason for adding specific skills/base and proficiency/traits to each character and omitting other characteristics and we will never know why. The important point is that it is better to add after the fact after seeing a character in use rather than nerfing something everyone is chasing (remember Polywater Yar's arena skills?).
They could give each character 25 traits to make things well rounded but it's not realistic to do that so they pick and choose. Personally, I don't think Colonel Q should have the costumed trait. Janeway saw their battle in terms of a civil war battle so she could understand what was going on. As such, he is a soldier fighting a real battle and he is in uniform. He isn't on the holodeck pretending or dressing up for spy work. He picked a side, joined the battle and this was his uniform so Janeway could tell them apart. Maybe someone at DB thought the same thing and thus costumed was omitted. In the same way, determining traits (or other aspects of a character) can be very subjective. Conversation on the forums is great for trying to tidy up the game, but in the end of the day, a lot of character development will always be subjective.
He is in uniform because he joined the army and was given a rank and uniform. He isn't pretending at this point like the holodeck or covert operations. His allies may not know his motives but he is fighting with them side by side.
If that was the reason, there are a lot of costumed crew who would have the trait eliminated. Such as, the voyager crew fighting on the holodeck who did not know they were in costume.
They weren't aware of what they were doing, but they were dressed up by the Hirogen. Involuntarily Costumed is still Costumed.
Is it? Mademoiselle de Neuf, GI Chakotay, and Combat Medic Paris are all "costumed", but Katrine, Bartender Tuvok, and Klingon Janeway are not.
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Okay, Involuntarily Costumed ought to be Costumed. God, I hope this week's QoL improvements include the Great Trait Audit.
It would be great if DB looked at the trait audit thread and accepted most of the recommendations there. My point on this thread has simply been that of all the traits, "costumed" is the most arbitrary and confused in the game. I could justify drawing the line in a lot of places as to when someone is or isn't costumed, but none of those lines come close to fitting the current list, as so many crew from the same episode in the same situation are on both sides of the line.
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They are not involuntarily put in costume. But clothing to fit the conflict they had been put in. Combat medic Paris is in uniform representing who he is. It is not a costume to him. Nor any of them. And when they come out of control, it is now a disguise.
I do not know why they have to wear costume or clothing to fit the holoprogram. The holoprogram can make them see anything. I know the holodeck concept is ridiculous. But, for it to be able to make people think they are actually at a location it can most certainly make people see other people in any clothing it deems appropriate for the program. When the program is not running the people would revert to their actual clothing.
For example, they may only want half the characters from the Hirogen episode on voyager to have the costumed trait. They make their choices and assign other traits as well to create a game balance.
Some people may want all of these characters from that episode to have the costumed trait but it isn't necessary. Thus we sit and discuss our opinions (such as whether uniformed characters are costumed or not) on the forums. 🙂
They have to get dressed up because the holodeck characters can tell if they are out costume or not as their clothing doesn't change. It projects images that makes you think there are changes in the surrounding area and creates hologram characters but doesn't alter what users are wearing. You need projection of images and surfaces capable of dealing with those projections for the environment around them. Their clothing isn't necessarily designed to handle the projections so they would have to wear program appropriate clothing.
Well Voyager blows that theory out the door. Think doctor before mobile emitter.
But, you do at least explain the holodeck. It still is nonsense, if you have crew standing shoulder to shoulder, the ones on the ends shoulder touching a corner of the holodeck. Start the program and have the crew try to spread out the line they are in to arms width, the ones on the end should not be able to move past those corners.
I got that argument covered:
NB: The holodeck.... it really is the virtual insanity.