Milo (Classic)

Milo is a major protagonist in the Lover's Stadium series. On his twenty-second birthday, he discovered his connection to the mysterious cosmic entity, The Hyperlane. As a result, Milo and his friends became danger magnets for other Hyperlane users and villains. Forced to master his abilities to survive in the Integrated Timeline, he and his friends formed the Necro Crew. They became a secret hero team while pursuing a career in comics with his best friends, Xiao and Raymond. 
==Appearance==
Milo is a young man of good height, standing at six feet and of average build. He has shaggy light-brown hair and blue eyes.
In terms of fashion, Milo doesn't typically have a go-to style or sense. As stated by Raymond, Milo has a seemingly endless supply of red tees. However, Milo has also declared that he only "rocks Carhart and Champion." Granted, Milo said in jest, but he was telling the truth. Alongside his shirts, Milo wears joggers or pants. However, Milo's most iconic piece of clothing is his lightweight red pocket jacket and hat. The jacket and hat was a gift from Talula for his eighteenth birthday. However, as he lives in Las Vegas, he wears it primarily at night or in the colder seasons. 
While he consistently, without fail, wears his red jacket and hat, there have been variations in his outfit. It is fifty-fifty if he will wear the hat, but it is rare for Milo not to wear his jacket. The only recorded instance of Milo not wearing his jacket was when he fought Kevin DeWitt because Sarah created a black leather jacket that could protect him from DeWitt's Hyperlane abilities. While it didn't, it was still an exciting moment. 
However, after finding Sapphire Blackwood, Milo's style would begin to change, now involving two equally worn outfits. While he still wears Talula's red jacket, he began wearing a puffer vest with a jean jacket after moving to Downtown with The Necro Crew. This outfit is less outlandish and more conventional. It is typically matched with jeans and Nike Bruins rather than the Nike Mags that he historically wears. Granted, these styles have more variations, but it is always between the red jacket and the puffer vest.
Milo's skin tone is a bit lighter as he is mixed. His father is black, but his mother is white, resembling more of his mother than his father.
File:Definitive Edition.png|Milo's signature hat and jacket.
File:Post-Trilogy Milo.jpg|Post-Trilogy Milo Outfit.
==Personality==
A little neurotic and having ADHD, Milo is a relatively normal guy, which betrays his outlandish knowledge, extraordinary abilities, and unorthodox world. He is widely known for popping pop culture references and making quips at people's expense. Many who know him describe him as a "funny asshole" as he will openly mock and make fun of people for mistakes, but only if he is friends with them. He can be savvy and smooth, flirtatious even, but this is genuinely a facade that only the people closest to him know. The truth is Milo doesn't hold the highest opinion of himself. His primary weakness is that Milo often makes self-deprecating jokes or comments on how he will kill himself, which comes off to people as jokes. Being a single child has made him anti-social, and Milo keeps more secrets than a secret agent. He routinely goes out of his way to avoid social interaction unless it is with his close friends, who are few and far between.
His lack of confidence has led to Milo creating a comic called "Disco Elysium." Milo utilizes the story as a metatext for his social failings and emotional trappings. Using the graphic novel of two time-traveled Samurai in the 21st century, Milo talks about his self-confidence issues, his relationship with his family, his problematic inability to connect with anyone, and more as significant plot points in the story. He has some measure of confidence, as he isn't crippled by it, but deep down, there are traces of self-hatred and a lingering feeling of wanting to belong. However, when Milo did find a friend group and formed a strong bond with them all, he and Xiao manifested powers and began to fight villains. These things led to a savior complex within him as he felt he needed to protect and save everyone around him. Darkly, this has changed Milo as he has used the facade mentioned above more often. Even this wasn't enough, as whenever Milo was greeted with the potential death of Xiao, Milo snapped and nearly killed his future counterpart. 
This event, mixed with his growing savior complex and pre-existing self-confidence issues, led to Milo almost going, as he describes, "Vader" by accepting training from Akuma in his dreams. Training that he keeps a secret and continues to do in hopes of being strong enough never to put his friends in that position of nearly dying again. However, his biggest fear is becoming Necro Milo and plunging the universe into darkness, but Milo has hope. 
Milo's views on his romantic relationships and entanglements are based mainly on his upbringing. He is a hopeless romantic. He becomes possessive but not overbearing and jealous whenever he gets into a relationship. However, he refuses to talk about these things. When Milo loves, he loves heavily, even if he doesn't show it often and makes mistakes along the way. And when these relationships end, and Milo is single again, he feels this deeply. He feels so profoundly after a relationship ends because he sees it as unwilling isolation, much like he was as a child due to him being an only. Milo feels he failed his partners in some way. Either he didn't love enough, he wasn't there enough, anything. However, it is Milo's self-loathing talking as Milo is talking himself down to have some semblance of closure. This and his self-confidence issues are why Milo has had only two meaningful relationships. He fears that his ways and his powers will lead him to the possible future of Necro Milo, who turned evil because his heart got broken again.
==History==
==Attributes==
=== The Hyperlane | The Arcadist ===
Milo is a dastardly engaging Hyperlane Conduit. In contrast, many other users have broader concepts of how they can utilize, such as Xiao being a Technomage and Jonathan West being a psychic. However, Milo's is more wild and undefined. He has the unique ability to utilize moves from fighting video games and execute them, as seen in the said franchises. However, this is only specifically for fighting franchises, as he cannot do this for any other type of video games, as he has tried to use abilities from Final Fantasy and Star Wars.
In the beginning, Milo only knew how to do four super moves from the Fatal Fury series. Eventually, Milo began to amass more attacks and currently has over eight styles from various fighting games. The advancement of these moves is locked by The Hyperlane, meaning that he gains new attacks one at a time and at random. There is no rhyme or reason to this ability lock, as he has tried to do attacks from fighting games but won't be able to do them. 
How it works is that Milo will invoke the cosmic energies of The Hyperlane and use it to simulate the attacks, taking the place of Ki or other denominations. Gandalf The White dubbed Milo "The Arcadist" because of his powers, as his capabilities are derived from arcade-style fighting games. Interestingly, his future counterpart, Necro Milo, later gained a secondary mutation to summon items through writing stories. However, Milo doesn't have this ability. Sarah theorizes that because Necro Milo was intervening in this timeline, The Hyperlane could be removing this ability from Milo and improving his combat prowess.
Interestingly, Milo learned during his fight with Necro Milo that he isn't forced to stick to a singular move when he uses it. Milo can combine, mismatch, alter, and completely redo entire actions. This was shown when he combined the Shinkuu Hadouken with the Royal Flush, having the cards explode with the same force as the Hadouken. Milo's body was enhanced to be considered superhuman to compensate for these abilities. However, he is nowhere near as physically strong as Sapphire or Kevin DeWitt. Nor is he as fast as Xiao. Milo is around the same base level of superhuman as Captain America from Marvel. This enhancement led to the funny question, "My birthday gave me abs?" Dexter has also stated that both Xiao and Milo have stopped aging physically, meaning they are immortal in some sense. 
How Milo's attacks are set up is that there are two categories. The first is "Special Attacks," and the second is "Hyper Combos." Special Attacks are moves done routinely and can be done without needing anything. Milo is often seen utilizing these, such as Terry Bogard's Burning Knuckle from Fatal Fury or Cyclops' Optic Blast from X-Men: Children of The Atom. Hyper Combos are finishers, resulting in a massive attack with highly destructive capabilities. 
===Special Attacks===	
===Special Attacks===
====Burning Knuckle====	
====Burning Knuckle====
	Milo can utilize Terry Bogard's iconic Burning Knuckle move from Fatal Fury. Utilizing The Hyperlane, Milo can generate energy around his fist and throw it with devastating force. 
The move comes from a similar attack of the same name from the Fatal Fury series
====Buster Wolf====	
====Buster Wolf====
	The Buster Wolf move is a secondary verison of Burning Knuckle. When Milo uses Burning Knuckle and the hit connects, Milo release an explosion of energy in front of him at the opponent. However, in order to execute this move, Milo has to shout Buster Wolf! This is a requirement. 
This move comes from an attack of the same name from the Fatal Fury series.
====Power Dunk====	
====Power Dunk====
	The Power Dunk consists of Milo bashing into someone with his shoulder, pushing them back. As they are stumbling backward, Milo will jumped into the air with his Burning Knuckle and slam down on them. Essentially, "dunking" on someone. 
This move comes from an attack of the same name from the Fatal Fury series.
====Optic Blast====	
====Optic Blast====
	The Optic Blast is an interesting ability as it allows for Milo to release a powerful laser blast from his eyes utilizing energies from The Hyperlane. It is quick and highly effective as a concussive force energy projector. 
This move comes from an attack of the same name from the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
====Shadow-Step====	
====Shadow-Step====
	Milo recently learned that he can utilize a sort of "Shadow-Step." In this move, he can use Burning Knuckle and dash at somebody at blinding speeds and throw a punch with equal or greater force than his movement. Regardless of Burning Knuckle, this ability is also utilized as a movement, allowing him to dash away from attacks freely or to move around faster.
This move is a basic move from various fighting games that have the dash option.
===Hyper Combos===	
===Hyper Combos===
====Royal Flush====	
====Royal Flush====
	During his fight with his alternate timeline self, Milo tried his hand at utilizing moves from other franchises that he loves. His first was Marvel Vs. Capcom which revealed that he could do it. The move in question was Gambit's Royal Flush. Milo simulated this ability by creating a series of playing cards from The Hyperlane and imbuing them with the same energies as his Burning Knuckle move. After this, he threw with them speed akin to Necro's Sonic Boom attack and the cards exploded upon impact. 
This move comes from an attack of the same name from the Marvel Vs. Capcom series.
====Power Stream====	
====Power Stream====
	One of Milo's ultimate abilities is the Power Stream. He will launch into the air and slam his fists on the ground. However, both fists are empowered by Burning Knuckle. Following this, he will unleash an energy explosion from both hands, creating an energy dome around Milo, with his silhouette being the only thing seen. Lastly, Milo releases the energy upward, hurting anyone caught within or near the dome.
This move comes from an attack of the same name from the Fatal Fury series.
====Mega Optic Blast====	
====Mega Optic Blast====
	Replacing the High Angle Geyser, Milo recently learned the Mega Optic Blast during Bears Like This. He will center his feet squarely, manipulate the cosmic energy from The Hyperlane, and use his eyes as the conduit. Doing so, Milo will unleash a large, powerful optic blast of cosmic energy at an opponent. 
This move comes from an attack of the same name from the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
====Shinkuu Hadouken====	
====Shinkuu Hadouken====
	One of the newer moves Milo recently gained is the Shinkuu Hadouken, which is hilarious because Milo seemingly skipped the base Hadouken move. Regardless, this attack involves Milo charging Hyperlane energy within his hands and releasing it outward in front of him as a large, continues blast of power for a few moments. 
This move comes from two franchises: (however, specifically this move is from Marvel vs. Capcom) the first is an ability of the same name from the Marvel vs. Capcom series and the second is naturally Street Fighter series.
====The Raging Demon====	
====The Raging Demon====
	Milo's most haunting yet most powerful Hyper Combo is The Raging Demon. This ability is unnatural and demented. What occurs is that Milo will stand on one leg, glide to the intended target, and grapple them. Suddenly, Milo will cover the area with darkness, and within the shroud, he will move faster than reaction and land vicious and life-threatening blows to the target. He will do this until there have been precisely thirty hits, and then suddenly, just as quickly, the shroud of darkness will vanish, and Milo will have his back to the target. This attack is daunting and has scared those who have witnessed it; even Milo himself was mortified after doing it. It has only been used once, and Milo swore only to use it in dire situations, as this attack from Akuma is intended for murder. The only time he used it was against Necro Milo to end the fight as he was going to kill Xiao, and that is when, as Milo claims, Akuma came to him in a vision and "granted" him the ability. Since that moment, the attack has spawned a great fear of it within Milo.
This dastardly move comes from an ability of the same name from the Street Fighter series.
===Forbidden Arts===
There has been a newly found third category. While not having an official name and Milo secretly being trained by Akuma within his dreams, the term he gave it was "Forbidden Arts." After being encountered by Akuma during his fight with Necro Milo and feeling inadequate to protect his friends, Milo has secretly begun his quest for power through Akuma, who has unlocked a few darker and demented moves for Milo that are intended for murder and violence. With these new attacks, Milo is more dangerous and powerful than before but keeps it a secret, not out of fear, but knowing that The Necro Crew would disapprove and that this is the path toward Necro Milo.
====KKZ (Kongou Kokuretsuzan)====	
====KKZ (Kongou Kokuretsuzan)====
	The KKZ, or Kongou Kokuretsuzan, is the first of the Forbidden Arts that Milo learned. What occurs is that Milo will raise his hand in the air and imbue himself with the darker energy of The Hyperlane, signaled with blood-red cosmic particles. Then, Milo will reel his fist back and slam it into the ground, where lightning from The Hyperlane will strike his fist. Following the lightning strike, the darker and more demented energy is released outward in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree sphere for five yards in a geyser formation. Anyone caught within the radius, enemy or friend, is hit with unimaginable pain; if not at least superhuman, they are either killed or worse. 
This Forbidden Art comes from an ability of the same name from the Street Fighter series.
====Ashura Senku====	
====Ashura Senku====
	The Ashura Senku is a Forbidden Art allowing Milo to "teleport." However, what occurs is that Milo will utilize the dark energies of The Hyperlane to make himself momentarily intangible and glide at a swift speed to a different location. This effect only lasts a few seconds, giving Milo little time to do anything outside of dodge. What makes it a Forbidden Art is that Milo uses the demented energies to unnaturally change his body's physiology, even momentarily. 
This Forbidden Art comes from an ability of the same name from the Street Fighter series.
====Deadly Rave====	
====Deadly Rave====
	The Deadly Rave is the quickest and one of the most intense Forbidden Arts thus far. Milo will charge himself with the dark energies of The Hyperlane and lung at an enemy. If the lung is successful, Milo then unfolds into a series of high-speed and dastardly dangerous attacks that involve jabs and kicks. At the end of the onslaught, Milo will use the remaining energy to unleash an overpowering blast to knock the enemy back or potentially even kill them.
This Forbidden Art comes from an ability of the same name from the King of Fighters series.
===Milo's Equipment ===	
===Milo's Equipment ===
====The Hoverboard====	
====The Hoverboard====
	Hours before Milo went to face off against Jonathan West, Sarah had delivered a package at Raymond's house, and within the box, it contained her prototype hoverboard. Using gravitational technology, the hoverboard allows its riders to slide across surfaces horizontally and vertically as it locks the rider's feet onto the board whenever they step onto it. Milo claims that without it, he would've died against Jonathan West.
====DeLorean DMC-12====	
====DeLorean DMC-12====
	Milo was gifted a DeLorean DMC-12 by Pops Racer for his race against Speed Racer and Racer X. At first, it was just a stock DeLorean, but whenever Pops finally gave it to Milo on the day of the race, it was outfitted much like the one from Back to the Future. While it couldn't travel through time, the flux capacitor was used as a boost, akin to NOS. However, Sarah began to theorize ways to utilize the car as a time machine, which worried the Necro Crew as Necro Milo had a time traveling DeLorean when he first appeared.
===Abilities===
As mentioned before, Milo is an extreme nerd. He makes quips and references to pop culture on a near-constant basis and has a great deal of knowledge about pop culture. He has seen most things in the cultural zeitgeist and has strong opinions about many franchises. Milo likened his experiences to Ben 10 and Spider-Man to better understand what was happening to him. 
This even led to him having a "With Great Power" moment after he nearly destroyed his life with his abilities. He was inexperienced with his abilities, and Milo gained a mantra based on his pop culture knowledge, "Real world, real consequences," after fighting Jonathan West. His pop culture knowledge is a conduit for his remarkable intelligence, but it isn't what makes him valuable.
What makes Milo valuable is his research capability. Milo will research anything that interests him. It stems from his childhood. As an only child until his parents revealed his half-brother, Milo spent most of his time reading and learning more about different subjects. His unwilling isolation led to a preferred solitude that begat his ability to mass absorb information quickly. This ability was due to untested ADHD, but after gaining medication for it, Milo has become even better at it. 
A section of his room in Raymond's house is filled with organized notebooks and journals on various topics—everything from detailed outlines of future novels to a 1-to-1 translated account of the Crucifixion of Jesus. His occult knowledge is his true "superpower" and his leg up against his more powerful peers. He has studied several translations of the Gigas Codex, the works of H.P. Lovecraft, tore through Dante's Inferno, and has even dabbled in Paradise Lost.
==Relationships==
==Other Appearances==
===Radiant Convergence===
File:Alternative Milo.jpg|Radiant Convergence
Within Radiant Convergence, Milo is a character among the pantheon of heroes. Taken by Vlad Plasmius after Bears Like This but before Mezzanine, this version of Milo became an alternative reality version after a universal reset at the hands of an unknown entity within Radiant Convergence. This reset resulted in this realities Milo being unable to return home and leaving him stuck in the Radiant timeline. While actively seeking a way home, Milo has since ingratiated himself in the new landscape he found himself in. Sadly, Milo still remembers his friends and life in the Integrated Timeline.
==Trivia==
*Milo is addicted to nicotine. Often calling himself a "Nicotine Soldier" or a "Nicotine Warrior."
*Milo is allergic to seafood.
*Milo has won to Jack Kirby Awards and an Esiner for "Disco Elysium."
*Milo has published six books and his comic is ongoing.
*Milo cites Dwayne McDuffie, Jack Kirby, and Donny Cates as his inspirations.
*At San Diego Comic Con to promote his book on a panel, Milo was given a replica of Luke Skywalker's Ceremonial Yellow Jacket by a fan. It was in reference to the Disco Elysium storyline called, "Many Men" which had the one of the two samurai protagonists wearing a similar jacket. Milo wears it often.
*Rap music is Milo's favorite genre of music.
**His favorite rapper is Danny Brown.
* Milo has an expansive CD collection.
* Milo does own a Playstation 5 and a gaming desktop.
*Milo graduated college with a Film Degree and a Masters in Creative Writing.
*Milo has seen and watches more cartoons than he cares to admit. Same with comics as he is often seen reading them or playing video games.
*Milo is very surprised that he has a secret identity and that it is still a secret.
*Milo takes Adderall for his ADHD.
*Milo has often let his intrusive thoughts win when it comes to conversation. There have been a notable instance in which he has said some of the most outlandish shit to people's faces.
**When encountering a Zombie for the first time, Milo stated blatantly, "My god, you're unattractive." Which garnered a confused look from everyone in the room, the zombie included.
* Milo owns a Roland SP-404 MK. II and takes it with him randomly to make music. He has released two sample-based hip-hop beat tapes on Bandcamp under the name of "blasphemous."
==Creation Notes==
Many of Milo's characteristics, stories, and friend groups are all roughly based on his creator, Morpheus', actual life, with a few notable exceptions and differences. Morpheus planned to make Milo a joke for something else entirely, but when he sat down to write it, Milo became an actual character with his problems and life. Even the name Milo is a reference to Morpheus' nickname. 
For Morpheus, Milo is a way to weave pop culture into writing with more than subtle hints or references, so Milo's abilities are based on some of Morpheus' franchises. These are Kingdom Hearts, Star Wars, Fatal Fury, and others. Milo's personality also takes cues from Morpheus but still allows Milo to be a character without feeling like a self-insert. 
The idea for Milo's overall story arc of "keeping him perpetually single until the end of the universe" came from Morpheus' friend, Tony. It was said whenever Tony was drunk, and they were making jokes about characters, but it became real when it came time to write Milo. However, the idea for Milo to write a comic book called Disco Elysium to talk about his life through metatext came from Morpheus' creative partner, NeoFantasy.
==References==
Category:Main Characters
Category:Season 1 Characters
Category:Season 2 Characters
Category:Season 3 Characters
Category:Season 4.5 Characters
Category:Season 4 Characters
Category:Humans
Category:Browse
Category:Male Characters
Category:Hyperlane Users
Category:Morpheus Creation
Category:Characters
Category:Heroes
Category:Classic Characters
Category:Necro Crew Members