She sings, she dances, she wears a sleeping bag to the Met Gala, and she can summon a magical polearm. She is Mira, HUNTR/X’s bad girl in KPop Demon Hunters.
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If you’ve had What It Sounds Like stuck in your head for weeks now, then like me, Rob Pontious, and millions of others, you fell in love with Netflix original animated feature KPop Demon Hunters from the first viewing. It’s not hard to see why. Between an energetic and playful animation style (Sony Pictures slowly stepping up as the biggest innovators in animation), a soundtrack full of earworms, and distinct and engaging characterization for the whole cast, KPop Demon Hunters does everything right and does it well.
On the topic of characterization, I believe Mira has the least screentime of any of the titular characters (and, according to this list, has no memorable lines? An insult!) but is absolutely a fully developed character who jumps off the screen as much as protagonist Rumi and conflicted cutey Zoey.
Who Is Mira?
Mira is the pink-haired warrior with the eyes that say she doesn’t know who you are but she is already done with you. Unless you’re a fan. She would die for her fans.
The world knows HUNTR/X as pop stars, but they are much more than that. Centuries ago, heroes arose to defend innocent souls from the demons haunting the world for their king Gwi-Ma, creating The Honmoon, a shield to protect the world. For every generation since, a new trio is chosen to fulfill that duty.
Mira is stalwart and supportive, a fearless warrior. Nobody can move like Mira. She’s the visual and lead dancer of HUNTR/X, and the band member you would soonest assume hunted demons.
We know from a bit of exposition that she didn’t get along with her family. Even though she shares a deep connection with her HUNTR/X bandmates, and an aforementioned devotion to her fans, it seems like she immediately loses interest in those outside of her circle. We don’t know exactly how she felt when she learned her voice could drive back the darkness, that she was destined to be a demon hunter disguised as a pop star, but she shows the most devotion to her duty. When an ethical questions arises and one of the answers is fighting demons, that’s Mira’s vote.
Building Essence20 Mira
My plans for this build are blurrier than usual. I expect a lot of Power Rangers and My Little Pony options, as the combination of fantastical fighting and teamwork fits those two settings more than G.I. JOE and Transformers. I’ll also peak into Night Vale whenever I feel unconvinced by the options I’ve come up with so far.
We get a good sense of Mira’s backstory, at least, so I’ll start this build with her Origin.
Origin
Rebellious (Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook)
The first thing we learn about any member of HUNTR/X outside of what they do in the band is that Mira’s the black sheep of her family. This gets reiterated in Golden with the line “Called a problem child ’cause I got too wild.” Multiple family portraits have her lounging while her parents and brother pose prim and proper. She might only be a misfit by comparison, but the experience clearly stayed with her.
Rebellious grants a General Perk at 1st level. I’d have preferred a more flavour-infused option since this build doesn’t need a chargen General Perk to work. Before settling on an Origin with a generic benefit (one I’ve used before), I double checked if Cobra Codex had a better option for Mira’s upbringing. Nothing that fit. I wish I’d made a Problem Child Origin. I will keep that in mind. I also looked at Outsider from Welcome To Night Vale, but its flavour tied heavily into the setting, and its Origin Perk was a benefit for a critical failure. That just doesn’t work here. Mira’s a winner.
Role
Graphite Ranger (Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Beneath The Helmet)
Hunch 2nd level alternate Spectrum Perk (Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Beneath The Helmet), My Little Pony Faction and Setting (My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook)
Brace yourself, this is one of those sections that needs a spreadsheet to keep track of. Normally I separate the Role from Role-inherent options, but all of the moving parts work together, especially at low level, so I’ve lumped them together here. Let me start by showing my work.
We’re using the My Little Pony setting swapping rules from Renegade’s Gen Con Worlds Collide: The Pony Puzzle Event – Character Preparations blog post to remove the Zord, Grid Powers, and Graphite Ranger Prime from our Role, instead gaining Loyalty Is Magic, Talent For Loyalty, Pillar of Loyalty, and Princess of Loyalty. Mira uses loyalty way more than she uses a mech.
My biggest struggle was whether to stick with the Power Rangers faction or switch it to MLP as well. As much as I wanted to represent Mira’s energy woldo as a power weapon, how could I deny her Friendship Circle? HUNTR/X work best when they work together. This is never clearer than in the fight onboard the private jet. Furthermore, What It Sounds Like contains the thesis statement lyric “Truth after all this time, our voices all combined, When darkness meets the light, this is what it sounds like”. MLP Faction it is!
That does leave us with one problem not covered by the blog post: Swapping out of the Power Rangers Faction means we don’t get our Armor Training and Grid Equipment, but MLP Roles do not have Equipment Training and Qualifications. Since we only need access to the Long Blade to make the build work, it’s easy enough to hand wave this issue, but I should probably write some errata to address this issue eventually.
Now let’s talk about what we actually get from our Role.
Ends up it’s a good thing we got that General Perk from Rebellious after all, because we need Spectrum Shift to gain the Advanced Spectrum Graphite Ranger Role. The Graphite Ranger is a variant Silver Ranger, swapping out some of its more flexible abilities for pure fight.
1st level is not perfect. The MLP Perks bear the load of the Mira-specific options with Loyalty Is Magic, Talent For Loyalty, and Friendship Circle. We get Power Heal, which lets us spend Personal Power to heal ourselves. A useful ability, but not the first thing that comes to mind with our build objectives.
Level 2 and 3 reflect Mira much better. Instead of Silver Ranger’s Danger Sense, Graphite Ranger gains a kiting ability called Fight Me. And instead of Power Boost we get the very fun Brute Force. This Perk lets us either do additional Blunt damage or give enemies we hit a penalty on certain Skill Tests. I appreciate the flexibility of the ability, and can totally see Mira using it to thwack a demon with the handle of her polearm, or use it to trip up an enemy going after one of her friends.
Maybe controversially, I’m also switching out the frankly very good Grid Surge for the much weaker and circumstantial generic Alternate Spectrum Perk, Hunch. The thing is, Grid Surge is good in ways that do not reflect anything we see Mira do. Conversely, her having a hunch that something’s up with Rumi is a major plot point throughout the second act of the movie. So we make the sacrifice for authenticity’s sake.
The final two Role Perks are hit and miss. Duty of the Graphite is a teleportation ability that I can’t even come close to justifying. Power Adaptation, on the other hand, lets us choose from a selection of new ways we can spend Personal Power to gain a temporary boost, which is handy, and broad enough that they all apply more or less.
Influences
1st Bard (My Little Pony Roleplaying Game: Knights of Canterlot)
2nd Crowd Pleaser (My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook)
3rd Oathbound (Power Rangers Roleplaying Across The Stars)
Scrolling through the Influences compiled by Spy from the Renegade Discord Server, I may have the longest name-only shortlist of any build.
Crowd Pleaser, Angry, Artisan, Bard, Checkered Past, Cynical, Destiny, Fearless, Hunter, Intense, Life Interrupted, Local Legend, Nimble, Oathbound, Outsider, Rebellious, Vigilant, Violent.
Part of what makes this a tougher than usual section is that Mira’s Role and Origin cover two major pillars of her concept. We still need something for her musical performance (which is why Crowd Pleaser tops the list) and her aggressive attitude. A lot of Power Rangers Influences cover having a destiny, which would be a fun corner of her backstory to explore.
I narrowed it down to Bard, Crowd Pleaser, Oathbound, and Rebellious.
The first two both cover the KPop in KPop Demon Hunters. One shows how Mira’s music emboldens her allies.The other shows how her fans make her a better performer. It would be easy to say that one had to go to make room for an Influence that covered different thematic ground, but how can I cut one of two Influences that fit so perfectly together.
I also really like Oathbound. It focuses on the duty all hunters swear to perform, which Mira follows to a fault in the movie. Speaking of fault, the Hang-Up basically says by swearing to fight demons, demons seek Mira out to fight her. That happens every other scene in the movie.
That leaves Rebellious on the chopping block. While it certainly suits Mira’s personality, and the reroll Perk would be useful, the theme (and name) overlap with our Origin. It’s not as necessary as the other three shortlisted Influences.
Essence Scores and Skills
Social 5: Performance (Singing) +d8
Speed 4: Finesse +d6, Targeting +d2
Smarts 4: Alertness +d2, Culture +d4, Technology +d2
Strength 3: Intimidation +d6
Wow, that was easy.
Normally assigning Essence scores can be challenging. Main characters do more than a balanced build can, and secondary characters often aren’t skilled in areas that make a fun character to play. But Mira’s a secondary character who kicks butt. I just needed to give her a lot of Performance. Otherwise, every Skill I invested in is broadly useful. Except for Technology, which I had to because Graphite Ranger.
Conclusion
If you haven’t watched KPop Demon Hunters yet, fix that.
And if you are in a position to license out the RPG rights of KPop Demon Hunters, let me know. I’ll get you in touch with the right people to bring this amazing setting to Essence20 for real.
Resources
Field Guide to Action & Adventure
My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
My Little Pony Roleplaying Game: Knights of Canterlot
Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Across the Stars
Power Rangers Roleplaying Game Beneath The Helmet
Gen Con Worlds Collide: The Pony Puzzle Event – Character Preparations blog post
Ryan Costello is one of the designers of the Essence20 system and an author on the G.I. JOE, Transformers, and My Little Pony Roleplaying Game Core Rulebooks. As of this writing, he’s written over 300 000 words for Essence20, contributing to over a dozen products and counting.
