The Bonnes: Dread Pirate Roberts, or Jack Sparrow?

[satoh]

So here's the deal... it seems to me that a lot of fans might see the Bonne's a bit differently from me...I don't mean like and dislike, but rather who they actually ARE.

Personally I've always seen the Bonnes as impressive looking, but otherwise total nobodies.
No characters ever seem to recognize them except the few other pirates we see in the series, and I don't think Bola and Klaymoor actually know who they are at all.

In fact, even the protagonists seem to be oblivious to their presence until they out themselves in MML2.
Only Trigger and Roll seem to know who they are at all.

However it seems to me that a lot of fans see the Bonnes as more like AAA rockstars of the pirating world, people who are known and feared throughout.


...but there's actually a third possibility. Perhaps the world consensus on piracy in the Halcyon era is much more cavalier in general... it could be that Pirates are treated as ordinary folk, until they actually take something and attack. It could be that the world understands that piracy is just the only resort sometimes, and that pirates are just people who can't make a living otherwise...

It's hard to say really, considering people in the era have no qualms about replacing body parts with machinery simply because its better suited to their line of work (Prosthetics, gun-arms, camera eyes, armor that grafts onto the skin, as described by Inafune in an interview, which I believe is available at the Reploid Research Lavatory)


So how do you see the Bonnes, and why?

[RyanLEO]

I think the bonnes are very powerful pirates, and had the possibility to take anything they wanted. If Megaman wasn't around then I think everyone would be screwed, because of their special robot's and invincible servbots too.

In the game though, they always looked clumsy because you were always beating the crap out of them. Eventually they looked like complete fools, because even with the gigantic bruno they never got any use out of their most powerful weapon because you blew it up right away. Another thing proving they are fools was teisel blowing all the money used from the largest refractor seen in no time.

[satoh]

Ah, but the question is, how well known are they? Are they infamous, or unknown?

[RyanLEO]

They don't seem very well known since nobody in the first game really uses their name. The police just always say "the pirates". They're more on the unknown side

[Dashe]

I always saw them as a bunch of rich kids hit by very difficult circumstances, who had to figure out how to survive in the world the hard way and resorted to pirating. We know for a fact that their mother is dead (a supplementary text up on TRRL said the dad died, too, though it was never actually stated in-game.) The only one of them who really has any aptitude for the business is Tron, mostly just because of her mechanical inclination. If she weren't a mechanical genius, they'd all be pretty screwed.

It's pretty evident in the way Teisel fashions his room that they're accustomed to a more well-off lifestyle. Seeing as he's the oldest (and spent the most time living whatever life they led before becoming pirates), he'd have the hardest time adjusting. For someone who's considered intelligent in the manual, he's pretty careless about how he spends his money and where he gets it from. It'd make sense that he was just really used to having a ton of disposable income.

Once they got the prismatic Kattelox refractor, they immediately used it to try and quit pirating, which supports the theory that they're pirating moreso out of personal necessity than anything. So ultimately, I'd say they're unknown.

[Loken]

/\ What Dashe said! Rich kids turned pirate. Although they have shone themselves to be very good at it. In misadventures Tron does some remarkable stuff, and from the MML1 intro we know that they have had at least 1 'flawless operation'. Not to mention the Kattelox police had no chance against them, as well as the people of Sal Kada.

I would like to know the origins of the Bonnes. We kind of have a little fan theory that the Bonnes' parents were the lawless type as well. I'd like to think that Teisel blew all of their inheritance soon after their parents deaths. Maybe he tried taking up the family business and failed, resulting in them having to become pirates. Maybe the pirating was the family business. Imagining them having to resort to pirating to survive is a bit dark and a little heartbreaking. It's a story I'd like to see told.

[satoh]

Aug 18, 2013 1:08:45 GMT -5 Dashe said:

I always saw them as a bunch of rich kids hit by very difficult circumstances, who had to figure out how to survive in the world the hard way and resorted to pirating. We know for a fact that their mother is dead (a supplementary text up on TRRL said the dad died, too, though it was never actually stated in-game.) The only one of them who really has any aptitude for the business is Tron, mostly just because of her mechanical inclination. If she weren't a mechanical genius, they'd all be pretty screwed.

It's pretty evident in the way Teisel fashions his room that they're accustomed to a more well-off lifestyle. Seeing as he's the oldest (and spent the most time living whatever life they led before becoming pirates), he'd have the hardest time adjusting. For someone who's considered intelligent in the manual, he's pretty careless about how he spends his money and where he gets it from. It'd make sense that he was just really used to having a ton of disposable income.

Once they got the prismatic Kattelox refractor, they immediately used it to try and quit pirating, which supports the theory that they're pirating moreso out of personal necessity than anything. So ultimately, I'd say they're unknown.

Aug 18, 2013 1:55:00 GMT -5 Loken said:

/\ What Dashe said! Rich kids turned pirate. Although they have shone themselves to be very good at it. In misadventures Tron does some remarkable stuff, and from the MML1 intro we know that they have had at least 1 'flawless operation'. Not to mention the Kattelox police had no chance against them, as well as the people of Sal Kada.

I would like to know the origins of the Bonnes. We kind of have a little fan theory that the Bonnes' parents were the lawless type as well. I'd like to think that Teisel blew all of their inheritance soon after their parents deaths. Maybe he tried taking up the family business and failed, resulting in them having to become pirates. Maybe the pirating was the family business. Imagining them having to resort to pirating to survive is a bit dark and a little heartbreaking. It's a story I'd like to see told.

Very intriguing thoughts, both of you. I had always sort of considered them former 'upper class' citizens from somewhere, but I never really thought hard about it.
I think if I ever get actively into my collection of MML side stories again, I will have to write one up about this.

Immediately it seems like their family was probably mercantile to begin with. That would explain a number of things, for one, why Teisel decided opening a store was a good idea. It would explain why they had money, how they could afford their Gesselshaft in the first place, and actually also why Teisel is so bad at business.

Being the first son of a wealthy merchant, he was likely over-pampered and never paid attention to the principles of business. Being somewhat entitled, he just assumed the business would be a success.
Tron being much younger didn't get much of this treatment, and was most likely forced to grow up under much harsher circumstances, considering the loss of one or both parents, making her a more economical and practical person... though still retaining a bit of haughtiness as her heritage.

The real question though, is how long have they been pirates?
If Bon is, as I've heard claimed, a baby in a sort of ride armor, then it must not have been long, because I can't see that being a normal thing for a merchant family to do with their kids... it is most likely something Teisel and Tron did when turning to piracy... But this means we have to look at Bon's age... he's clearly a toddler at best by his wordless speech and vocal pitch... but that only lasts so long... Most children speak a few words even without active teaching by 4 years of age. (this is assuming carbons aren't severely mentally deficient or something.)

So, there's three possibilities Bon brings up... 1, the Bonne's have only been pirates for about 2-3 years...
2, Bon is adopted...
or 3, Bon is actually a robot body with some small amount of 'leftovers' of a child that suffered some horrible near-fatal event, and has thus been unable to grow out of his infancy.

Or a 4th... technically... Bon might just as well be an AI. This is what I'd always assumed in my youth, but it seems other people have come up with slightly less random explanations than "Oh, Tron built a robot baby."

Honestly I still prefer to see Bon as a robot... Perhaps their parents built him, and Tron advanced the technology when she built her kobun.... but I must admit, a baby COULD fit in that massive head, and I think there's evidence that supports it written somewhere I don't remember where... so the robot theory seems out.

But that brings us back to the problem... The Bonnes seem to act like they've been pirates a while, but I don't think they can have.

It;s been a while since I played it, but what if MoTB was one of their earliest heists? It takes place before MML doesn't it?

[Mikéy]

MoTB does take place before MML, yes. Teisel took out a huge loan from a very sleazy businessman so he could pay for the parts to build the Gesellschaft sooner/faster. When Teisel failed to pay the loan on time, that's probably when Tron began letting the Bonne name take off in piracy. Even when she met her goals, the sleaziness from the businessman showed no bounds.

[Yo bro. I heard you like interests, so I put interest on top of your interest, so you can cry while you cry!] Or something like that.

[Dashe]

BATTLE NETWORK 1 SPOILERS AHEAD!

I figured Bon might've been the original intended recipient of HBD, before Battle Network was even an idea. They might've been attached enough to that potential plot that they gave it to Hub Hikari instead. Or as well, if they wanted to make that kind of connection with the games, only they're living in a world with different technology than the Battle Network world so whatever tech enables Bon to survive, it doesn't let him age very well.

Even Tron seemed to be keen on building the rocket with higher quality parts instead of opting for a discount at the end of MML2. Somehow they managed to get the materials for the Servbots before they even started on the Gesellschaft, too. I think the parents must've left them some average amount of money to ensure that they can live comfortable, average lives, but neglected to think that someone like Teisel would probably panic, announce that they'd all have to live as pirates, and throw the whole nest egg into building a bunch of airships and minions instead of investing it.

[Kyle]

I'm inclined to believe that Bon is a Carbon toddler. TMMN specifies his age as three years old during the events of MML1, plus he's only allowed to drink milk during strategy meetings. The Bonnes being pirates would easily explain the necessity for his armoured condition, too. As Mikey mentioned, MoTB takes place a year before MML1, so he'd possibly be two years old at that time. Since the Gesellschaft itself was recently constructed, it's possible that Tron and Teisel had only gotten into the piracy business a short time before construction had actually begun. Lex Loath has been shown to add ludicrous amounts of interest to his loans in a small time-span, furthering the claim of their newbie status.

Personally, I wouldn't say that MoTB sparked their career choice. Tron and the Servbots had no scruples whatsoever about pillaging Ryship Island, plus Glyde showed (albeit in a patronizing manner) some knowledge and respect for Teisel's piloting skills, so it's safe to assume that they've committed similar acts on at least one other island beforehand.

[Mr. Foetus]

I've always seen the Bonnes as "Brilliant Wannabes". I got the impression that they (and their family) put on the appearance of being rich and well-off, but they're fakes and are always at the edge of going broke because they always end up spending most of their money on pointless, expensive crap and parts to keep up their appearance. Their having to resort to borrowing money from Loath supports this theory. No one who has always had it well-off could be that obsessed with splendor and fortune--people like that would take splendor and fortune for granted. They have fantasies and visions of grandeur, so they surround themselves with expensive things to make themselves feel more rich and make others perceive them as such.

As for Bon, at first I got the impression he was just a robot built by Tronne. But then I started thinking he was a carbon child that was on some sort of stable life-support system--his "head"--which Tronne built an exoskeleton around. Or, if not a life-support system, then maybe he's just allergic to everything and needs to stay in a bubble. He hasn't progressed much mentally because of his limitations.

(satoh, I love your threads)