Blue Hour/Characters

Tropes for the Team:

 * King Arthur: The team is named for the mystical location Avalon, the place where Arthur is sent after the climactic final battle at Camlann to rest and recover until his return.
 * Theme Naming: Their surnames all come from Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom.

Dimension Police
The Hero of Blue Hour, a rookie player whose loss to Samuel starts him on his journey to the Nationals. Notably the most reckless of the team, Robert also lacks confidence in his abilities, most often when he loses. However, he possesses natural talent at Vanguard, allowing him to fight effectively even against vastly more experienced players.

Tropes:

 * Attack Attack Attack: Because his strategy revolves around giving Power to the Vanguard, often his plans can be easily undone by Perfect Guard Units, as Joel demonstrates.
 * The Hero
 * Time to Unlock More True Potential: His deck's theme is giving Power to the Vanguard to unlock extra abilities, such as extra Criticals.
 * Naive Newcomer: Averted. Though Robert is a relative newbie, he knows the rules of the game well enough from the start.
 * Only in It For The Money: Played with. Although Robert's aim is to get money, not only does he want it for his mother, not himself, it's not his only reason to compete as part of Team Avalon.

Shadow Paladin
The Lancer and The Rival, Samuel is a skilled player who is hinted to have come from very high up in Vanguard's competitive scene. He holds the philosophy that to achieve your aims, you have to make sacrifices, which carries into his Shadow Paladin deck. As the most skilled player of Team Avalon, Samuel is admired or hated by most of the cast, but under the surface he has his own issues relating to his past.

Tropes:

 * The Ace
 * Big Brother Mentor: To Robert.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: His Shadow Paladins.
 * Equivalent Exchange: His belief that you must make sacrifices to achieve your aims. However, he himself questions it sometimes.
 * Expy: As some reviewers have commented, Samuel's overall character role bears a large similarity to Kai.
 * The Lancer
 * The Rival
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Interestingly used in that Samuel considers the sacrifices of his Units to be a necessary thing, in line with his philosophy.
 * You Remind Me of X: One of Agatha's greatest problems with Samuel is that he reminds her of Gabriel.
 * You Remind Me of X: One of Agatha's greatest problems with Samuel is that he reminds her of Gabriel.

Pale Moon
The only female member of Team Avalon, Agatha is the only member to have been on the previous shop team. She is devoted to her personal idol, Gabriel, The Ace of that previous team. As such, one of her motivations for joining the shop team is to find Gabriel again. However, she quickly finds herself as second fiddle to Samuel, and while she is just as supportive of Robert as he is, she feels troubled by Samuel due to both his claiming of the team's top spot and how he reminds her of Gabriel.

Tropes:

 * The Beast Master: A major theme of her revamped deck is Chimeras, while her boss card in this deck is Golden Beast Tamer.
 * Big Sister Mentor: To Robert.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Uses Pale Moon, but is heroic.
 * Hero Worshipper: Of Gabriel, albeit a serious example.
 * Mentor Ship: Admittedly one-sided, but her devotion to Gabriel has very ship-y implications.
 * Mythology Gag: Agatha's name is slightly similar to Asaka and both not only run the same Clan, but both have blue hair.
 * The Resenter: She has issues with Samuel, particularly how he effectively walks into the shop and immediately takes her spot as the best player.
 * The Smurfette Principle: The only female main character.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Leads to a Mythology Gag.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Leads to a Mythology Gag.

Oracle Think Tank
The fourth member of Team Avalon, most notable for appearing later than the original three, who all debuted in the first chapter. Charles is eccentric, somewhat theatrical, and a bit of a dick. He is often mistrusted and snapped at by Agatha and Samuel. However, Charles has reached Nationals level and is a competent player.

Tropes:

 * Informed Ability: Several readers have noted that Charles' 'theatrics' are not that evident.
 * Jerkass: If someone needs to say something nasty to Robert, chances are it'll be Charles.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: He never hesitates to point out that he has been at Nationals as evidence for why he should play instead of Robert. Not that it ever usually works.
 * The Unfavorite: The author does not really like him. It shows.

Kagero
The leader of Raging War and the former top player at shop Avalon. Gabriel is the object of Agatha's admiration, and he never truly fails to demonstrate just why that is. After the former Team Avalon's loss six months before the main story, Gabriel left under unknown circumstances, leaving no way for his former friends to contact him. He then resurfaced in the present at the Regionals, leading a new team - Raging War.

Tropes:

 * The Ace
 * Badass Longcoat: Specifically mentioned to be wearing a red one when he reappears at Regionals.
 * Big Brother Mentor: To Agatha.
 * Expy: He runs the same Clan as Kai and has a similar habit of dealing out Curb Stomp Battles.
 * Iconic Item: Blazing Flare Dragon.
 * Kill It With Fire: His deck's theme.
 * You Have Failed Me: Richard mentions that after the previous Team Avalon's loss at Regionals, Gabriel became much more harsh towards them.
 * Iconic Item: Blazing Flare Dragon.
 * Kill It With Fire: His deck's theme.
 * You Have Failed Me: Richard mentions that after the previous Team Avalon's loss at Regionals, Gabriel became much more harsh towards them.
 * You Have Failed Me: Richard mentions that after the previous Team Avalon's loss at Regionals, Gabriel became much more harsh towards them.
 * You Have Failed Me: Richard mentions that after the previous Team Avalon's loss at Regionals, Gabriel became much more harsh towards them.

Phoenix Colosseum
The second-in-command of Raging War, Joel is Italian by birth, and serves as a truly scary opponent prospect. He stands as a player almost as skilled as Gabriel, using a very nasty Phoenix Colosseum deck to overwhelm his opponents. Joel's purpose for fighting is to help his family, specifically his brother, who it is implied is ill and requires surgery.

Tropes:

 * Evil Counterpart: To Robert. Both are fighting to help their respective families by getting the prize money and sponsorship deals from winning Nationals.
 * Iconic Item: His Arena Master Phoenix Feather card is regarded In Universe as his trump card.
 * Kill It With Fire: Phoenix Feather.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He delivers one to Robert before he.
 * Shoot The Grade 1 First: The major gimmick of his Phoenix Colosseum deck is using his attacks to retire his opponent's Grade 1 or lower Units for skills.
 * Wake Up Call Boss: He blocks one of Robert's most powerful combos with ease, even commenting in essence that Robert needs to wise up and get better if he wants to reach Nationals.