Im actually really confused why the matriarch is tachyon’s nemesis. I dont see any connection between the two. All the other nemesis pairs makes complete sense but this one. Am i just missing something
They are related, I think cousins.
Oh really?
Yep, Lilian is Meredith's younger cousin and grew up always being compared to her - "Oh, why can't you be more like your cousin?", "Look at Meredith, she's doing really well for herself", etc, stuff like that. And as she became a teenager she got all emo and jealous and stuff like that, so when she found the mask in a junk shop and put it on, she detected a presence in the sky or something so "reached out" and tried to pull it into her, at which point the sky filled with birds. So then she was all "Ha, I have power now - eat that, cousin!" and set forth to do mayhem and stuff...at least until Tactics when she's pesumably given up on being an arse because she ends up joining Dark Watch (and replacing Nightmist, who's disappeared or something by then) and becomes known as Pinion.
From a gameplay point of view, it makes some sense. Hypersonic Assault is a *great* tool against Matriarch. Accelerated Assault somewhat less so, but still pretty impressive.
And though not exactly the same
the two play a similar game
they go as fast as they can
with a bird or burst spam
While attempting to kill hurt or maim
Matriarch vs. Tempest makes about as much sense as Absolute Zero vs. Proletariat.
You mean Matriarch vs Tachyon? There is a family fued component. Makes fine sense for a nemesis rivalry.
Proletariat despises what Absolute Zero is and represents. I'm not sure how much of that animosity flows both ways though, their rivalry isn't as publicly fleshed out as say Legacy/Baron Blade. But the thematic connection is fairly large and easy to grasp, so It makes fine sense.
I still like the theory that Absolute Zero represents toxic capitalism to Proletariat. He's a hero for hire that is in for himself so he can make enough money to pay off his suit and be a regular schmuck who can just live by himself for himself. That, of course, changes in Tactics, but I find those nemeses far more interesting than Matriarch and Tachyon.
But Frost isn't a mercenary, his options are fight for money he'll never see, sit in a prison, or die.
He isn't the greedy capitalist, he's the victim of capitalism. His only crime is not rebelling, I can see that being their relationship, Proletariat fights him, telling him to throw off his oppressors, and Frost wants no part of it.
With the ongoing threat of what came to be known as the Cold War, Aleksandr Tsarev was cryogenically frozen and kept in a unlisted bunker in the USSR, waiting to be deployed at the hour of their greatest need. Decades passed, and the decline of the Cold War resulted in the few that knew of this secret soldier conveniently forgetting his existence.
But he manipulates the very force that kept Proletariat in check. Everyman was kept in cryogenics so it could very well be that a frost manipulating hero could remind him how he was kept on ice.
Plague Rat didn’t rip off Chrono-Rangers arm, but if you want to discuss the redeeming qualities of were-vermin and how misunderstood Rat is by the oppression suffered by all facets of Rook City due to the system imposed by Chairman Pike and the horrors his chemicals wreak on our systems then be my guest. I’ll not be sucking that irreducible energy damage…
But in all seriousness Proletariat thinks that Baron Blade is overthrowing a force more sinister than The Vengeful Five in Vengeance. My guess is Blade spewed a lot of slander on Zero and Proletariat believed it. There are a number of one-sided nemesis relations (story-wise, anyway) in Sentinels. I think Proletariat’s misguided and confused nemesis dynamic works pretty well.
Tachyon and Matriarch, meanwhile, also makes perfect sense but I find it to be very boring compared to other nemesis dynamics.
I always thought it was simply resentment, Proletariate was trained and experimented on purposely to be a USSR super soldier, a literal one-man army. When he wasn't needed he was frozen and forgotten until Baron Blade arrived.
AZ on the other hand was never trained, his powers were an accident, and yet he was released to be a member of the all-american Freedom Five whilst Proletariate was left frozen long after his handlers had told him he would be, and on top of that, he initally turned them down and only agreed because of the bordom of his room.
Simply put he hates AZ because not only were his powers an accident and yet he's gone on to be a big hero to the capitalist america, but because he was given every chance that he, the man who should be the hero of Communist Russia, was denied.
I read Proles bio and I don't get resentment or blind capitalist hatred, I get a man who believes in his cause, believes that Capitalism exploits the workers, and Ryan Frost is the perfect example of the Capitalist system screwing someone over, it fits his ideological narrative perfectly.
Like I said, I can get that causing their nemesis relationship, in more of the Captain Cosmic vs. Infinitor style of nemesis. Proletariat is dedicated to showing Frost that he's being used, that he should fight for his freedom. Not by purchasing it back, which he can never accomplish, but take it back by force, probably with the help of Baron Blade, who liberated him.
Absolute Zero represents the worst of capitalism -- Both the use of money to manipulate people (Fight with us or no suit for you) and individuals acting on their own self-interest (AZ choosing to fight for things he doesn't believe in just so he can have the suit).
Proletariat believes that Absolute Zero should be a comrade of his. Abused by the capitalist system, Frost should naturally understand the need for the people to rise up and throw off their overlords. What does he do instead? Whine about his situation and then sell-out as a mercenary -- fighting not because he believes in his cause, but for his own convenience.
So here is someone who should be a comrade, to be loved as a brother, but has instead chosen the selfish, capitalist path. Love is the flip side of hate.
I agree, but Frost doesn't have much agency at all, his option minus the suit is to never leave his protective environment. Also paying off the suit and earning his freedom is not realistically in his power, or at least it sounds that way in Tactics, I mean the FV had saved the world so many times and the Wraith had to buy out the rest of his debt.
Also remember he spent two years in a box before he agreed to the terms. Two years in that tiny box and most people would do anything to get out. The narrative for his choice to stay with the FV in tactics could easily and believably be Stockholm Syndrome.
I think the most tenuous link between two nemeses is The Sentinels and La Capitan. She appears to show up in their lives by accident, randomly running into them from time to time. (See what I did there?)
Between Haka and Ambuscade it really only seems like Ambuscade really cares about it. You look at the art on Haka of Shielding and at most Haka seems mildly annoyed.
*clapping* Bravo! Well done! Wonderful play on all the things.