Steve

**Steve** is a member of the Tankmen and the deuteragonist of the series. He has appeared in every completed episode so far, and first debuted in TANKMEN, on June 30th 2006.

## Description

Steve is a soldier in the Tankmen faction. He wears a black uniform with a white vest and, in contrast to most other tankmen, has a pair of large round goggles in place of the standard square visor.

Steve can be forgetful as shown in the first episode of TANKMEN where he manages to misplace an entire tank. He is a multi-faceted person, displaying on some occasions placid acceptance and a pleasant disposition, and on others, violent aggression and pessimism. For example, Steve passively suggests that he and Captain surrender when faced with the loss of the tank, but in TANKMEN 2, he shoots an unnamed Thugman for the sake of a joke and kills another with a stolen knife. He has also been known to hiss and growl.

He likes movies such as *The Titanic*, *Indiana Jones*, and *Back to the Future*, and frequently references them in conversation. In fact, he enjoys making references to many things, notably calling the main Thugman character "Randall Cunningham," perhaps in reference to the real life football player. He also enjoys playing paper football and seems to be quite good at it as shown in TANKMEN 2. Despite his good aim in the game, he appears to be bad at aiming the tank's canon.

Steve is often seen hanging out with Captain and it is heavily implied that they are friends. However, in the script for TANKMEN 3, Captain states that they are not friends, only "Friendly." According to the later released audio from the same episode, Steve becomes emotional at this revelation. The two get in their fair share of spats, sometimes at inopportune moments. It was in the middle of a tank chase that Steve confronted Captain over forgetting his birthday, which he was incensed about.

He has displayed intelligence and cunning, having been shown outwitting his enemies and getting the better of them through trickery. He has even gone over Captain's head to carry out his plans despite the fact that Captain is his superior.

In TANKMEN .5 Steve is impatient and aggressive, asking Captain for permission to run over Bill with the tank for standing in their way. He is very defensive over the tank. Bill calls it a "piece of shit tank," to which Steve says 'Buddy, you're ugly and nobody likes you,' which sends Bill into tears. Steve is also partially responsible for Bill's recruitment to the Tankmen. Though unfriendly to him at first, he changes his tune to state that they 'know a lot of nice girls' and that he can hook him up. It is implied that Bill later became close friends with Steve and Captain, as he was very excited to share the news with them that he was going to be a dad.

## Appearances in TANKMEN

So far, Steve has appeared in every finished episode, whether as a major speaking role or as a cameo. He also appears in the TANKMEN 3 script, though his presence in TANKMEN 2.5, if any, is unconfirmed.

*Appearances are listed in order of release date.*

## Trivia

* According to JohnnyUtah, Steve is somewhere around 30 years old, 'give or take 5 years'.
	+ More recently, Steve is referred to by JohnnyUtah as "younger and more naive" than Captain.
* Steve's birthday was allegedly confirmed to be on the 4th of July during a Twitter Space, prompted by fan suggestion.
	+ This may be a contradiction to TANKMEN 2, in where it is stated to be Steve's birthday. It's never mentioned what date or even what part of the year this episode takes place in, but the episode was released on Newgrounds on September 26th, 2007.
	+ It's worth taking this information with a grain of salt, as in the very same thread, Jeff states that Bill's deathday was October 32nd 2095. He also later was confused when fans were celebrating Steve's birthday on the 4th of July, only one month after he confirmed it in the first place.
* When frustrated, he occasionally replaces curse words with other words and phrases like *'aw peanut butter and jelly sandwiches'* or *'aw Cabbagepatch kids!'.* This speech quirk is made even more amusing by the fact he openly uses swears at other times, sometimes *in the same episode!*

## References

1. ↑ "How old are Captain and Steve?" "Somewhere around 30 give or take 5 years" - @JohnnyUtahNG, March 13th, 2021
2. ↑ How Newgrounds Changed Gaming ft. JohnnyUtah
3. ↑ Record of Tankmen birthdays from Jeff's Twitter Space - @Super0yo, May 29th, 2021
4. ↑ "I don’t wanna look like some kind of idiot here but everyone is making Steve’s birthday cakes and I have no idea why i’m serious" - @JohnnyUtahNG, July 4th, 2021