Celena Harte was the second member of the B-Team to appear in the “classic” Elmer Studios era. While popular, her she also had her share of problems. However, in her case the issues came less from character and more from utilisation. And while the new approach to the B-team solved a lot of those problems, it was still good to take a look at the character and see what could be done with them.
It seems to have worked. So far, Celena has put in as many “modern” appearances as she did classic, with more on the way.
What worked?
Celena had a rather distinctive look to her that made her stand out from the other female characters; while both Rebecca and Natasha were tall and athletic, Celena is just huge. Big, tough, muscular and powerfully built, she was possibly the most physically powerful of the characters. The rest of her look; the red hair, the scar and the like only served to accent that much. It also gave her an air of being able to do what she wanted, with physical intimidation allowing her to get away with a lot unchallenged.
That also went well with her personality; she was blunt, direct, forceful and to the point. Celena didn’t take crap from anyone, and knew that she had the strength to back it up. It wasn’t that she was violent or aggressive, but rather simply could look at someone and say ‘don’t even think about it’.
What didn’t work?
Celena’s biggest flaw was not one of her own making. Rather, as an ‘action girl’ character, she got a bit lost with the other two ‘action girls’, Natasha and Rebecca. While her personality stood out in the host segments, she never really developed a distinctive riffing style which, combined with the aforementioned problems, meant that she had problems standing out and we had problems with finding uses for her.
Her appearance in Crisis of Infinite Temps is a good example of this. Celena was picked less because she fit the fic and more because we hadn’t used her so far. Looking back over it, we could have found better spots for her or, at least, prioritised her over others (like Karen and Janice).
What’s changed?
Appearance-wise, Celena’s pretty much the same; big, muscular, scarred and angry. The mess of curly red hair helps her stand out even more, and it’s been used to amusing affect so far. Her personality has been turned up a little, making her even more blunt and direct, as well as more then a little blokeish.
This carries over nicely into her riffing. She likes to say what she wants and isn’t afraid to hide her opinions or tippy-toe around others, and rather revels in it (there’s a few unused skits that are simply awaiting opportunity that will address just this). Likewise, she seems to almost enjoy annoying the others (especially Dan) because she can.
What’s stayed the same?
Celena didn’t need that much changing, rather just some fine-turning. She’s still the most physically powerful member of the team and is still aware of it, and she’s still just as blunt and to the point. Of the B-Team, she’s probably the least changed overall, only now finding a different and, more to the point, far better utilisation.
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