Well, I'd like to discuss Lee if you don't mind and get your opinion on some ideas I had for him.

I knew from the beginning I needed a driving force for him to be the way he is. My original idea was that the director was going to be his father, who never saw him as quite good enough and has done nothing but ridicule him. Instead of being discouraged by this, he continully tries to improve himself to be accepting of his father. However, I thought this may seem cliche, and when I propose the idea to my closest friends at first, they even mentioned that. And again, at first glance it may seem cliche, but I had an idea as to where I was going with this.

This would set up various things. First of all, the viewer would actually feel sorry for him, and not hate him for being a rival to the protagonist. It would also, of course, explain why he is so self improving and competitive. But, most importantly, *Spoilers ahead* it will make it easy for him to be used as a pawn under the director in the second act. It's no surprise that Sol will defect once he learns the full truth, as Zero did before him, and he will be faced against Buster, Rose and Striker. I thought having Striker constantly trying to gain the approval of his father, the director, would make it easy for the director to manipulate him. If I do decide to go this route, I may have Striker killed in act 2, remaining blind and loyal to his father. Again, I plan for the viewer to like him, and think he may be a good character to kill off. End Spoilers

However, as I said, it seems too cliche at first and may not drag the people. So I'm now toying with two other scenarios. Both involve a fiance/serious girlfriend. First scenario is that coming home from a date they were mugged, and Lee tries to fit off the criminal, only to be stabbed in the leg. The ciminal, who has appeared very nervous at this whole exchange, you can tell this is his first mugging, pulls out a gun and points it at Lee, unable to hold it straight. The criminal tries to tell them to just let him escape and he won't do anything harsh, but Lee's signifigant other reacts to him pulling out the gun, heisitates, then jumps in front of Lee screaming "NO!" The criminal jumps at her sudden movements and yelling, and pulls the trigger, shooting Lee's finance. She collapses on to Lee, dead (or slowly dieing) After this scenario, Lee blames himself for not being strong enough to subdue the rookie mugger, and begins to make himself stronger. He takes up martial arts, and various other activities.

The other scenario is a shorter one. Lee and his fiance are going on a vacation, and are rock climbing. One of the safety lines clips off and Lee has tries to catch his fiance. He manages to grab her, but after some time she slips through and falls. Lee then tries his hardest ot make himself stronger, becuase he feels if he was stronger he could have saved her.

They still seem cliche... and I like the first scenario (the father) more as it allows Lee to be easily manipulated. I could go further back into his past, say like his childhood, and have his mother or some sibling die because he was unable to protect them as well, it doesn't ahve to just be his significant other. Bottom line, I want to make it a traumatic expierence, making him mentally unstable. Even then he would be easy to manipulate by the director in the second act. I'm not looking to make a Sasuke, as Lee won't be as foreboding about things. He'll be usually upbeat, and serious when he needs to be, espically when he trains or is trying to protect his loved ones.

So, any suggestions or criticism on what I want to do with Lee?