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Here he is, the subject of this year's Sonic Villain October Contest! fav.me/ddhvtwi

Now, I'd like to say a few words about this character. Zavok is the fan favorite of the Deadly Six and he's the only one of them to appear in multiple canon games (so mobile games don't count). This guy is somebody's baby over at SEGA and that's all well and good, but it's disturbing that the leader of the Deadly Six is… constantly by himself now. What happened to the other Zeti? Did they just die? If so, how does he feel about that? These are interesting things about his character to explore, but SEGA just doesn't. What a surprise… _

As for me, I didn't like Zavok at first. I didn't like any of the Deadly Six. Or Lost World as a whole. But, I've given him some thought and researched him out a bit and I feel it's safe to say… I still don't like him XDDD I can tolerate him, to a certain extent. He's just kinda there most of the time.

Which is a real shame when you think about it. Zavok has the most personality of the Deadly Six, which isn't a high bar, I know, but still. XDDD I think with some tweaking he could be an interesting character. For starters, it'd be great to know just what his goals are. No joke, it's not clear what Zavok's intentions are in the various games he appears in.

With Robotnik, it's simple. World domination. With Eggman Nega, it's a tad more complex. Destroy the world because life is pain and misery and death is the opposite of life. Hard to wrap your head around, sure, but it's clear what his objective is even if the why is somewhat foreign to rational people. But Zavok? Man, I don't know what he wants.

Does he want to destroy the world? If so, why? Does he want to destroy the world because he has some grudge against the inhabitants? Does he want to destroy the world to prove he's the strongest there is? Does he want to destroy the world because he stubbed his toe on a rock? Who can say?

What about the Lost Hex, what's his stance on that wacky place? Does he consider it home? Does he consider it a prison? Does he want to protect it, empower it, abandon it? What about the other Zeti? We know he cares for Zik, which is sweet and all, but what about the other 4? Does he consider them minions? Siblings? Children? Friends? Does he care for them? If so, how much or how little? Does he have favorites?

There's just so many basic questions that we never get the answers to about him and that's my biggest problem with him. There's just not much to grab onto! What do we have for Zavok right now? He's evil, mean, prideful, he's shown small moments of sarcasm, and he has some sadistic moments. That's… that's it. That's not much more than a generic Saturday morning cartoon villain.

If I was to write him, I'd make him a Leonardo type (from TMNT). Someone who is caught up in being the leader and feels the weight of that responsibility pressing down on him. Someone who is mindful of tradition, level-headed, thoughtful, with a sense of honor (even if that honor is twisted). Someone who dotes on his team when he can, but chastises them when necessary, someone who knows their individual weaknesses and pushes them to be better.

I'd even take some cues from the 2012 Leonardo, give him some things he can geek out about, make him awkward around girls (maybe not awkward. Perhaps inexperienced would be better), play up his dry humor and sarcasm, I'd even put in something about being proud of the Zeti and giving him a fixation on his race, similar to Vegeta.

I don't know man, there's so much you could do with Zavok that would greatly improve how he's portrayed right now. I'd like to take a crack at it someday soon. And I sure will, in a YouTube video, so stay tuned for that. All in all, I think he shows a decent amount of promise, but his potential hasn't been tapped into yet. The same complaint I have with every character in this series. :/