Alpha

Alpha (born Michael) is one of the five members of the Dandy Alliance on TOME. He is the Fighter class, and has abilities based on Greek Mythology. He is a shy and largely unassuming player, gaining confidence over the course of the series. In Episode 1, Alpha has an encounter with the Forbidden Power and proceeds to gain its power, which takes the form of enhanced fighting capabilities and a static field around him. It seems to only talk to Alpha, and causes pain to other players in the real world. In Episode 10, most of the Forbidden Power is removed from Alpha, but he carries a small piece of it with him, and he merges with it again in Episode 15 to defeat Rubirules.
==Appearance==
=== TOME 2011 ===
Alpha has multiple looks throughout the series. Throughout all of them, he has bright, spiky red hair, a bang covering his forehead, small white angel wings, and a spiky tail made of white feathers. He also has two black markings over his eyes, resembling roman numerals. In season 1, he wears a two-toned blue and purple oversized sweater with matching pants. The sweater is cropped, revealing either a brown shirt or bodysuit underneath. The front of the sweater has a recreation of his orion discs in purple, and his sleeves and pant legs have similar patterns at their ends. This pattern is likely meant to represent angels, as Kindarspirit (an angel) has the same pattern along her waist. He also has brown shoes.
*For Episode 10, Alpha has a special design, retaining his pants but gaining a dark blue tank top and gloves. 
His season 2 design is similar in concept, but takes on a redder palette overall. He wears a dark red sweater that's more fitted, with a bright red Greek alpha symbol in the middle, and his collar and sleeves are lined with the same red. He now wears mid-calf boots with his pants tucked into them, and he gains a belt with the same alpha symbol as a buckle.
Throughout the series, Alpha is taken over by the Forbidden Power, and his character model creates new "demon" forms when this occurs. His clothing remains the same, but his physical body changes; his sclera turn bright red and his pupils become black, his wings and tail turn dark grey, and his overall palette becomes desaturated. His hands also grow to become long and pointy, essentially acting as claws.
When he fuses with the Forbidden Power in Episode 15, his character model takes on aspects of Kajet's model; his palette darkens like before, but he gains a dragon arm with Kajet's head on the end, a dragon wing, two large dragon feet, and a demon-like tail. However, his wing remains white, and his hand remains normal.
=== TOME RPG ===
==Personality==
Alpha is generally shy around people, but can be more confident and talkative when with his friends. He seems to be able to most easily talk with Kirbopher, while he has some problems talking to Flamegirl due to his crush on her.
When fighting, Alpha is skilled but not overly strong, unless he decides to allow the Forbidden Power in. When influenced by the Forbidden Power, he becomes noticeably more confident. Niosi states that "his emotions are unbridled and he can say whatever comes to mind regardless of repercussions."https://www.deviantart.com/kirbopher15/art/TOME-Alpha-268798345 However, when the Forbidden Power is riled up, it decides to take control of Alpha's mind, transforming him into a monster that goes on a destructive rampage and attacks any player in sight. While these aren't Alpha's actions, he feels responsible for the damage caused and is scared of what the Forbidden Power may do with his character.
In Episode 10, Alpha is noticeably more reserved and secluded because of all the players harassing him to get the Forbidden Power. On the other hand, he demonstrates himself to be more confident as he decides to take Zetto's offer and takes charge of the approach to get rid of the Forbidden Power for good.
From Season 2 (Episode 11) onward, he's shown to be a lot more confident and direct with people, likely having overcome the doubts he felt about himself following his encounter with Demon Zetto. As a side effect of his increased confidence, Alpha shows an angrier side of himself; he becomes more easily frustrated at things he can't get answers for or doesn't understand, and lashes out at people like the Netkings or Neomutant. 
Alpha values his friends greatly, as part of his reason for letting the Forbidden Power attach to his character was because it told him he would lose his friends if he wasn't strong. He's willing to fight to the end for the people he cares about, such as Flamegirl. From what is revealed about his real life, he doesn't seem to have any real friends outside of TOME because of his introverted nature. In Episode 14, Alpha has an emotional breakdown after believing his friends are dead.
==Biography==
===Season 1===
In Episode 1, Alpha logs on and is immediately jumped by Kirbopher, but easily defeats him. They decide to meet up with the rest of the group, who are preparing to go out and fight a couple of hackers. Before deciding whether or not to join Nylocke, Gamecrazed, and a few other players, he stays with Flamegirl before the two have to help Kirbopher in battle.
Once knocked out, Alpha wakes up and travels through a strange doorway in the Battle Grid that takes him to a chained-up static field. It speaks as if it is aware of everything in Alpha's life, and claims to be "just another friend." By letting it in, Alpha also let it out, granting him immense power.
In Episode 5, the Forbidden Power took over his body in order to hurt Kirbopher and cause chaos after being angered by Tigerlily, under the guise of assistance. However, he lost to a strange and powerful user in ;Mechcity, which caused the Forbidden Power to back off, temporarily.
During Episode 7, a mysterious new hacker shows up and paralyzes Alpha's character in an attempt to rile up the Forbidden Power. He loses control and starts assaulting the hacker until he makes contact with Flamegirl. Cutting Flamegirl causes him to start screaming in pain as he gets angrier. Flamegirl fends him off and successfully turns him back to normal by hugging him, in part thanks to the Antivirus prototype Ravenfreak had given to her.
In Episode 10, Alpha is mentally harassed by the Forbidden Power as word of it spreads around, while other players attack him in an attempt to bring it out, but to no avail. Alpha recieves a message from Zetto telling him to meet at the tournament grounds so the Forbidden Power may be removed once and for all. At this point Zetto explains to Alpha how it is taking control over Alpha's naive mind, and that he needs to destroy it before it harms anyone else. The Forbidden Power takes over Alpha once again in an attempt to attack Zetto, but he grabs Alpha and attempts to drain it from him, only for it to destroy his robotic arm and transfer to him instead, turning him into a demonic incarnation of himself in a manner similar to Alpha. Alpha fights the newly awakened Demon Zetto in an intense battle, in which Flamegirl and Nylocke attempt to interfere (but cannot due to the battle grid being up between them), and tell Alpha to intentionally lose the match so the grid can disappear and allow them to help.
Alpha is slashed by Zetto, and as he is damaged enough for the battle to count as a loss for him, the grid fades. Before Zetto delivers the final blow, Nylocke hops into the arena and pierces the Demon Zetto in the stomach with his sword (Drain Edge equipped to it), effectively absorbing the Forbidden Power from Zetto, but dealing heavy damage to his body as a result.
Alpha is knocked unconscious as voices from the outside the game world are heard (presumably the voices of Alpha's classmates), who refer to him as Michael. The voices fade away as Flamegirl calls him by that name as well, waking him from his unconscious state of mind. Nylocke tosses the Drain Edge as far as possible, assuring everyone that this will be the last they see of the Forbidden Power. Alpha gazes off into the distance, then suggests they do a quest, relaxed now that their worries are gone.
===Season 2===
Alpha joins the rest of his friends in doing the Challenge Of The Netkings in episodes 11 and 12, and takes on the fight with Execk, making good use of his elemental abilities to overwhelm and defeat him. He goes to cheer on GC for the final fight with Webmaster, but later confronts the Netkings about the Forbidden Power, hoping to get some answers on it, as well as Zetto. This prompts them to reveal Zetto and Kizuna are technically Netkings 6 and 7, with Zetto being the combat tester and Kizuna being the bug checker. Before they can say any more the Forbidden Power is released from the Drain Edge and the Netkings force Alpha and his group out of the game so they can take care of it.
==Relationships==
===Allies===
*Kirbopher: One of Alpha's closest friends as well as rival, Kirb sees him as a opponent to test his skills against, but Alpha is rather clueless to Kirbopher's view of him. Episode 5 is where their friendship reaches a crossroad, as Alpha breaks up the argument between Kirbopher and Flamegirl, and also unintentionally hurts Kirbopher with the Forbidden Power.
*Flamegirl: His apparent love interest, Flamegirl is impressed with the power Alpha displays with his Forbidden Power-enhanced persona, and is at a loss for words at his new, confident self. They become closer during the events of the Gemini Tournament, having gotten to spend more time with each other as partners. He also kissed her in Episode 15 to rid her of the Purple Flame that had infected her.
*Nylocke: The two haven't interacted as much as the first two, but Nylocke always refers to Alpha as "Sir Alpha." Alpha seems unphased by his role-playing, but treats him kindly like he would the others.
*Gamecrazed: Alpha interacts even less so with Gamecrazed, whose cold, quiet and mysterious demeanor puts Alpha off at times.
*Zetto: Alpha first encounters Zetto in Episode 5, where Zetto defeats Alpha's Demon form. Zetto continues to be somewhat of an antagonistic force throughout the series, though it is revealed that his crosses with Alpha were only to test the Forbidden Power and learn how to beat it. After he was revealed to be Kirbopher's alter ego.
===Enemies===
*Rockoon: One of the first hackers Alpha faces, he is a raccoon with the ability to throw bombs. He holds a grudge against Alpha for defeating him with the Forbidden Power, and in Episode 4 is shown to fear him.
*Hackers: Alpha, much like the rest of his group, often fights hackers throughout the series.
*Neomutant: In Episode 13, Alpha, Nylocke, and Flamegirl are forced to ally with this hacker in order to infiltrate the base of D-Buggers.org. Their relationship is strained, at best. When Neomutant reveals that he was leading/manipulating them on all along, he taunts Alpha and says Flamegirl's death was his own fault. Alpha tosses an Orion Shield at Neomutant in anger, decapitating him.
==Abilities ==
*Orion Shield: A powerful spinning shield that doubles as a discus attack which can be thrown in a barrage of projectiles.
*Vulcan Fist: A charging dash attack in which the user is enveloped in searing flames. Makes for a good finishing move, and next to the Orion Shield is likely one of Alpha's favorite moves, as he's shown using it a lot.
*Poseidon Wave: A slow, but forceful projectile attack with a wide range, made of high-pressure water.
*Zeus Rage: A quick and precise shot of electricity with a long-range that can paralyze the opponent if timed right.
*Vulcan Rocket: A powerful team technique Alpha and Flamegirl developed for use in the Gemini Tournament. As its name implies, it is a combination of Alpha's Vulcan Fist and Flamegirl's Rocket Burn attacks.
*Forbidden Power: An unknown energy in the form of circular waves of statics and runes that can inflict pain to other players in real life, it can also be used as a shield. From Episode 10 to Episode 15, Alpha has had the Forbidden Power extracted from him, leaving him incapable of using this power for the period.
**Virus Fusion: In Episode 15, Alpha strikes a deal with Kajet, allowing himself to be fused with the virus willingly. This fusion grants him increased agility and power, as well as advanced forms of his original abilities.
***Forbidden Power: Only used as a defensive technique in this form; Alpha uses it as a cocoon to absorb hits, and then scatter the energy as an attack.
***Virus Shot: A powerful energy blast fired from Alpha's right arm.
***Virus Shield: Alpha's Orion Shield, enhanced by Kajet. It's much larger than his typical shield and can absorb much stronger hits.
***Virus Slice: A powerful slice capable of splitting even the toughest of materials, used to defeat Rubirules in his golem form.
***Energy Eater: Alpha's right arm functions as Kajet's mouth and can be used to bite and latch onto enemies to zap them with virus energy.
*Besides these attacks alone, Alpha is capable of putting up decent hand-to-hand combat; in Episode 10, Alpha is shown to exhibit enough strength to rival Demon Zetto in physical combat, while in Episode 11, he is capable of kicking Execk's swinging hammer back to his face as a finishing move, knocking him out in the process. Alpha uses this high kick repeatedly throughout the series, and against Zetto in AvZ.
==RPG Adaption==
In the RPG, Alpha (born Alphons) is a newcomer to the TOME video game, much like in the original. However, in this adaption, it reveals that Alpha and Kirbopher were friends in real-life since high school, with TOME being their only means of communication when Alpha moved for college to get his BA in Illustration. Alpha is also revealed to have a liking for 16-32-bit games from the '90s due to their simplicity, growing up on classical RPG games on newer console releases during the early 2000's, after Kirbopher showed and taught him about them. Alpha's Roman/Greek attire and username came from his obsession with Greek mythology in junior high.
==Gallery==
*Alpha/Gallery
== Trivia== 
*Alpha's ID number is 010-292-689. This makes him the most recently registered of all the main characters.
*Chris Niosi has said that Alpha is the youngest of his group of friends, being a year younger than Flamegirl at most.
*Alpha's real name (revealed to be Michael in Episode 10) and personality is based on that of Chris Niosi's best friend Mike Luckas. 
**This fact strongly influenced the development of the character in the RPG adaption, as the character Alpha is friends with the RPG's Kirbopher character in real-life, with Alpha moving to college and them reuniting on TOME. This is a nod to how Luckas' move for college influenced he and Niosi to develop the TOME concept.
*In the ending scene of Episode 15, where all the players meet up in real life, Michael is actually played by Mike Luckas, the original inspiration for Alpha, instead of his voice actor, Blake Swift.
*Mike Luckas was also the original voice of Alpha in TOME's predecessor TV TOME Adventures. He reprises the role in the April Fools Special.
*Alpha's appearance in the RPG adaptation resembles Pit, the main character of Nintendo's Kid Icarus series.
==References==
== Navigation ==