Meta Runner RP

Meta Runner is a web animated series by Glitch Productions. Season 1 was released on July 25th, 2019, Season 2 was released on October 16th, 2020, and Season 3 was released on July 22nd, 2022.

In a future where video games are everything, young Meta Runner Tari must do whatever she can to uncover her past. E-sports, sci-fi, and video games collide in Glitch Production's first fully animated series.

In a futuristic world, society is now centered around video games, serving as not just entertainment, but also jobs in livestreaming and lifestyle. Among the gamers are “Meta Runners”, a group of gaming individuals who replace their limbs with cybernetic arms that allow them to boost their gaming performance.

The series tells the story of Tari, a Meta Runner who was the subject of an experiment called Project Blue led by former scientist, Dr. Sheridan, who was commissioned by the TAS Corp. organization. In a sudden accident causing an explosion, Dr. Sheridan was apparently killed along with a former Meta Runner, Lucinia, inside the laboratory. After waking up in the now abandoned and wrecked establishment, Tari finds herself in Silica City with no memory of what happened except for a few flashbacks. After witnessing a speedrunning tournament of Ultra Jump Mania performed by Belle Fontiere, Tari decides to play the game for herself, but she suddenly gets teleported into the game where she befriends Theo. Intrigued by Tari’s newfound ability, the head of TAS Corp., Lucks plans to use her to benefit his organisation.

Tari and Theo get sucked out of the game and try to escape, but Tari gets captured while Theo escapes and is found by another meta runner, Lamar Williams, who rescues and takes both of them to a hidden base in a ramen restaurant where they meet up with two other meta runners, Sofia Porter and Masa Shimamoto. Together the three are a small undercover group called the MD-5 who've been trying to expose all to TAS Corp. by exposing the organisation's cruel actions to the public, but to no avail. The MD-5 then invites Tari to join them, citing that with her help, they'll finally be able to put an end to Lucks' evil affairs once and for all.

Being a video game character, Theo has very unrealistic and cartoony proportions. He is short but has a large head about the same size as the rest of his body. He has a small, stubby nose and similarly small ears. He has large light-blue eyes and fuzzy eyebrows. His hair is similar to a tree, with most of it being green like leaves and something similar to that of a palm tree sprouts out from the top of his head. He wears a yellow short-sleeved overshirt with a white flower pattern on it and a white vest underneath. He has half a coconut strapped across his back like a backpack that he uses as a weapon as well as brown shorts and a belt with two apples and bananas strapped on. Much like other defining parts of his body, his arms and legs are quite short, although he has a reasonably large bulk. In season 2, the rope around him was removed, his eyes are bigger and his eyebrows are now the same color as his hair. Season 3 keeps the design as normal.

Theo is quite childish, happy-go-lucky, fun-loving, and occasionally stubborn. He doesn't understand the consequences in serious situations, meaning that Tari often has to look after him. He often just accepts that he's going to die in most bad situations, which annoys and concerns Tari. In season 2, he seems to better understand the real world, as he stopped referring to Lucks as an "evil boss" and he called TAS-Corp by its name. He also seems to exhibit a newfound fear of death, as he expresses concern over the possibility of what might happen if Lucks destroyed his cartridge again before Tari reassures him that everything will be okay and sends him out of the game. Not long afterwards, Theo questions what material he's made out of in the real world after glitching again.

So I’m a nutshell, he’s a child who’s mostly oblivious to everything going on, but had a heart of gold.

Derick Lucks is a middle-aged caucasian male with blue eyes, slicked-back blonde hair, brown eyebrows, and light beard stubble, with an earpiece constantly in his ear. His design in the trailer was a dark blue collared jacket with a turtleneck sweater and a purple vest. In Season 1, his usual outfit was a bluish-black jacket with segmented shoulders with lights with a sweater vest with a white undershirt and black tie. In Season 2, he wore a different, grayish-blue three-piece suit that looked more sleek and professional and his eyebrows changed to match the color of his hair. At the end of Fatal Error, Lucks removed his jacket, gained a black eye from being punched by Masa, and lost his tie.

On the surface, Lucks appeared to be a man very much in control of his emotions. No matter the situation, he always spoke with an even keel whether it's giving orders or threatening a subordinate. Just beneath that, however, he possessed some strong anger issues and had no problem with making others suffer for his goals. Right before his fate, however, he chuckles as he manages to sarcastically congratulate "him" for his outplaying him, showing no fear at all of his imminent demise, proving that despite being paranoid of his true nature being exposed, Lucks is not a coward and can show genuine bravery even in the face of death. Lucks proved himself to be an opportunist as he saw almost anything as an opportunity in some kind of way and seeked to take advantage of it. This led to moments of obsession, such as his desire to make Tari "his".

He never cared who he hurt or what gets destroyed along the way as long as it suited his goals. He did have some measure of self-restraint, taking precautions not to raise attention when possible. It can be seen, however, that he would go to extreme lengths when necessary to achieve his goals, such as when he shot Masa's Meta Runner arm off or entrapped Theo in a comatose-like state after destroying his game cartridge, as 'collateral'.

Belle Fontiere has carmine colored hair with orange streaks in a messy ponytail with burgundy eyes. Her Meta Runner Arm is on her right. She wears a short-sleeved white jacket with blue threads and a symbol of a phoenix on the back of it, with a midriff cut undershirt, black pants with blue stripes and two white belts, and black boots. In Season 2, she starts wearing a necklace, her eyebrows now match her carmine hair, and her eyes are brown instead of maroon. Her hair also appears to have more orange streaks.

Belle is shown to be both laid-back yet immensely competitive. When it comes to her profession of competition, Belle treats it with absolute seriousness. After Lucinia's disappearance, she becomes tragic, cold, and bitter, and gains a hair trigger temper. It can also be noted that she could look down upon those who aren't as good as her, and might see herself as the best, as when Tari asks to be taught Ultra Jump Mania in Episode 1, Belle replies snidely. After discovering Lucinia's "death", she jumps to conclusions and starts to believe that Tari was responsible. After getting suspicious of Lucks' motives, she seems to have grown more understanding, as she purposefully allowed Tari to steal an online dating sim knowing very well that Tari would use it to contact MD-5. Belle can also be oblivious at times, when she talks to Tari after finding out Lucks knew about Lucinia's accident, she mentions Lucks was always good to his Meta Runners, including Lucinia. But on the night before her disappearance, she asked if they should bring Lucinia, and she heard Lucks saying he didn't need her, showing how oblivious Belle can be at times, since Lucks' negligence was one of the core reasons of Lucinia's disappearance.

Lamar Roland Williams is a black man who has an average build, and is slightly taller then Tari. He has lightish brown hair, sharp eyebrows, green eyes, a faint small moustache and goatee. Lamar wears a black beanie with 2 yellow stripes and red triangle. which is likely its brand's logo, a black and yellow tank top with a hood, grey pants, a black belt with a silver buckle and some logos on it and black shoes. In season 2 not much has changed except extra detail on his jacket and his hair is slightly darker. His Meta Runner arm is on his left, while his right is organic, with yellow and green wristbands.

Lamar is an otaku. A running gag is that he has a new body pillow in almost every episode he's featured in, each based on a character from Nova Explorers. This makes him seem like somewhat of a comedy relief, but he is intelligent and hates risks, shown from his disdain of Operation: Silent Demon. Despite the risks he has to take, he is laid-back and doesn't seem to mind the life he has chilled out in the MD-5 base.

Sofia is a young Caucasian woman with an average build, and is roughly Tari's height. Her Personality is inspired by a Canary which she mentions as her code name while Lamar and Masa are preparing for the Hidden Heroes Tournament. She has blonde hair, greenish blue eyes and black rounded eyebrows. Her hair is about the length of her head and is shaven to a buzz cut on the left. Her attire consists of welding goggles, a silver nose ring, and a green and black jacket that connects to her hands with an atomic whirl on each side. Her jacket is always open near her chest area, revealing a white deep o-neck undershirt. She wears two brown belts, one of which is more standard with a small silver belt buckle, while the other has some bags on it. She also wears black pants and short black rubber boots, and has some grime on her face. In season 2 the jacket's round her waist and the goggles are on her neck.

Much like the other members of MD-5, Sofia follows a personality stereotype to some degree, as she could be described as being a computer geek. She shows high interest in mods and hacks and has far more knowledge about technology than any other major character, besides Sheridan. She seems quite socially awkward and insecure, much like Tari, but tries to hide it more. Sofia does not appear to be a spiteful person, as she holds no hard feelings toward Tari after discovering her involvement with Project Blue, this is seen at the start of the next season when she prioritises getting into contact with Tari to free her from TAS. Corp's hold on her. Even when Lucks reveals that Tari is the A.I. created by Dr. Sheridan — the same A.I. intended for testing and uploading into Lucinia. Sofia reassures Tari that they are still friends. However, Sofia is capable of holding grudges, as evidenced by her anger towards Sheridan for his actions involving Lucinia, especially after witnessing Lucinia under his control

Masa is shown to be taller than both Tari and Sofia and is around Lamar's height. He has dark, shaggy hair, thick eyebrows, brown eyes and some facial hair. He sports a black and white jacket with 2 pockets and his logo, which consists of a Samurai and Katanas, a reddish brown undershirt, black pants and boots. His Meta Runner arm is on his left and reaches up to his shoulder. After the season one finale, Masa now sports a scar across the bridge of his nose and his left cheek and has lost his Meta Runner arm up to his elbow. He also wears a black hooded coat over his season one attire. Following the events of Heart to Heart, Masa had a new, blue cybernetic forearm won from Marco and has opted to remove his black coat. As of Overload, Masa has lost his entire Meta Runner arm up to the shoulder as a result of the explosion caused by his free will overload while controlled by Sheridan's Meta Bugs.

Masa is sensible but is willing to take risks when it's beneficial towards MD-5. However, Masa is also quite, as Lamar put it, "emo". being emotionally aloof and edgy. Conversely, in Soft Lock, it was revealed that Masa was friendlier and had more of a sense of humor before learning of Lucinia's presumed death. He is very skillful at video games, with Battle Blaze being his forte, beating Tari multiple times despite her being able to learn very quickly. After his defeat in Shutdown, Masa became disillusioned and abandoned MD-5, breaking off contact with them and resorting to fighting low tier gamers for money. However, upon learning of the phone with the TASCorp server still on it, Masa immediately became hopeful and willing to cooperate with Sofia and Lamar, showing that Masa is a very determined, goal-driven person. He has an extreme hatred for Tas Corp. and his former boss, Derek Lucks. Despite this, he never wanted him dead. As shown in the season 2 finale when his Meta Runner arm was hacked and shot Lucks dead, he was horrified by what happened and was left traumatized.

Sheridan is an adult man with dark skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair with stubble and a slight mustache. In Season 1, Sheridan's outfit was a white lab coat with blue accents and shoulder pads with a brown vest and an improperly buttoned undershirt. After his accident, Sheridan went into hiding, taking on the disguise as one of Masa's neighbors, wearing a white cloak with a black shoulder cape and an emoting mask. After introducing himself to Evelyn, Sheridan was revealed to have extensive burns across the left side of his face.

When interacting with Tari, Sheridan was something of a father figure. He gently encouraged Tari and pushed her to do her best when training her at games. As he continued testing and completing Project Blue, Sheridan showed more signs of mental instability. He is seen laughing madly and growing more disturbed as time goes on, acting more and more erratic. After the accident, Sheridan snapped, going completely insane, acting childish and gaining a crazed personality with frequent mood swings. Sheridan also revealed his immense hatred for Lucks for allegedly stealing the credit for his invention of the Meta Runner arm and a sadistic, manipulative side.

Lucinia is a woman with bright, long purple hair, pale skin, and a slender build. She wears a black tank top, black shorts with a navy hoodie tied around her waist, including black tube socks and black leather boots, and a necklace with a sky-blue pendant. Her meta runner arm is on her left. In the second season, she does not have the jacket and her shorts have two white stripes on the sides; most of the time she is seen in the TAS Corp. server, appearing as a purple glitter. In the final season (and when Tari saw her in Tempest), Lucinia's Meta Runner arm is gone and she has third degree burns on her left arm and shoulder, with lesser burn scars on her neck and left cheek. The strap on her left arm also appears to be affected from the burns.

In a flashback shown in "Soft Lock", she lacks self-esteem and calls herself an "old dog" teaching new tricks to Belle by showing her a new glitch, saying that if she can't achieve the Ultra Jump Mania record, Belle can. She also mentions how she hasn't had a press conference in a while unlike Belle and Masa. Her low self-esteem were one of the core reasons she volunteered to be a test subject for Project Blue. She is shown to be very kind as she is complimenting Tari's abilities. Lucinia is also shown to be very friendly as when she meets Tari for the first time, she discovers Tari has been in her head, seeing her memories, she was not angry. Instead she was glad Tari was getting something in return from helping Lucinia win games. The two immediately hit it off. Before Sheridan pushed the neural uplink too hard and caused the explosion she hugs Tari, where the two promise to find each other again. Lucinia is also shown to have no tolerance for anything bad said about her loved ones. This is seen when the first thing she does is smack Evelyn across the face after hearing her disrespect Tari.

Evelyn wears a black and grey overall dress, with white stockings and white Mary-janes. Her clothes have lights on which seem to change depending on her mood. For example, Green when she is calm and happy. Yellow when she is neutral, blue when she is sad, and red when she is angry. She has long, bright pink hair, pink eyebrows, and green eyes. Her Meta Runner arm is on her right arm. In season 3 she now has a metal plate and wires attached to the left side of her head and left eye. She also has an open cut on her eyelid that seems to be purple and infected, and another cut under her left eye.

Evelyn is shown to be arrogant, snobby, conceited, and self-centered. She believes herself to be superior towards everyone that she deems "inferior" and often looks down on others. She is also attention-seeking and envious based on how she laments on how Lucks favorites Tari over her and even refers to Tari as a 'science experiment' and a "freak". She even takes a TASCorp worker's game console and claims it hers flaunting her power. Later in the series, Evelyn becomes more despicable and malicious, to the point where she openly attacks Tari and ends up working with Sheridan to enact revenge on her.

Tari wears a blue and white hooded jacket over a white tank top with her Meta Runner symbol, brown khaki pants, white and blue socks, and brown flip flop sandals. She has short blue hair with a fringe covering her right eye (Half of it is exposed in Season 2), blue eyebrows (as of Season 2), and purple eyes. Her Meta Runner Arm is on her left. Her appearance resembles the Blue Jay Bird. In particular, her symbol and the designs on her jacket's shoulders resemble its wings. During her time as a TAS Corp. representative, her outfit switches to a bare-shouldered, black, white and blue TAS Corp. uniform and black tracksuit pants with white stripes, and navy blue slide sandals with long socks with blue stripes. Starting from Soft Lock, she once again wears her iconic blue hoodie over her TAS Corp. uniform but with a few differences, including the thicker black lines.

Tari is depicted as being a very kind-hearted girl who enjoys hanging out with people in order to get to know them, displaying a friendly mood around the people she hangs out with and cares for them and their safety.

Despite her innocence nature, she is shown as being insecure and shy, playing the role as a pacifist when it comes to solving conflicts through words rather than actions which sometimes ends up failing. Her persona is a result of a combination of confusion when trying to understand a problem and a lack of confidence within her ability to solve a situation that makes her very prone to danger.

But in terms of her inabilities in her confidence, she has shown be have grown during her time in TAS Corp., displaying a more mature and "cooler" mood as stated by Theo due to learning from Belle, as well as more reckless and passive-aggressive as she taunts Evelyn to distract her during their fight in the corrupted version of Ultra Jump Mania.

After escaping TAS-Corp and learning about her true identity, she is depicted as a more bolder character, lacking most of her self-sensitive trait, showing confidence whenever a situation presets itself and putting herself at risk to protect others.

But this is most likely because after learning her identity, Tari started thinking lowly of herself as seen in "The End", when talking to the AI version of Lucks, she was willing to rip herself apart to return Lucinia to the friends and life she had before Tari "came along", showing she holds herself in a very low light due to being the one having the fragments of Lucinia's mind that were given to her after Lucinia was blown up.