B'roughs / Inigoth
Blue… Probably the single most ignored color, and there by the most flexible. All the books say about them is 'they make good search dragons'. Now this can be both a blessing and a curse depending on how you like to play. A blue can do anything except catch gold. You can hold any rank from wingrider to weyrsecond, which means if something happens to the weyrleader you could, conceivably be acting weyrleader. Has it happened while I play? Not with blue. But Jill's acting weyrleader at Fort at the moment (as I mentioned earlier), so there are precedents for weyrseconds stepping up and we HAVE had blue weyrseconds on the game. You can be anything, and you don't have to worry about flights if you don't want to. You also don't have to worry about deciding the outcome of said flights (though a good set of dice can help with that problem). Now for the downsides. Each of the other colors has something to go off of, something to either conform to. Bronzes and golds have all the main characters out of the books. The greens are consistently referenced, the browns have Canth as a prominant character to model off of or against. With a blue you're on your own. It's you and your dragon's personality and what you do with it is entirely in YOUR hands. There's not that much in the books, especially the traditional ones to go from or go against. Some people flounder with that kind of freedom. Some people thrive. It remains the chief reason why Blue is and likely always will be, my favorite color to play. There is so little concept of 'but so and so in the book did THIS!' to interfere with my concept of my character and my dragon.
Sissi / Klimth
WHAT'S HOT:
Blues don't get much of a mention in the books, which as far as I'm concerned is just great; they've less of a stereotype — or even a defined role — than any other colour. Which means, riding blue, you're free to do pretty much whatever you want, do the 'be all you can be' thingy (and about the only thing you can't be is Weyrleader). Or alternatively, do the 'as little as you can get away with being' nothing is expected of you; you've got just that extra little bit of leeway. And that makes it lots of fun, be you mad or sane. Aside from that colour starts to matter very little; it's the personality that makes the dragon, and how you choose to play the personality of that dragon. As a bluerider, I've got nothing to prove and all to play for. Just bring along your imagination, tie it to a blue, and go develop every little (or big) quirk you can possibly think of. In my view blue is the best colour, especially if you want your dragon to be what you make it, and not have to worry about conforming to — or fighting against — anybody else's ideas of what dragonriding entails.
WHAT'S NOT:
Maybe I'm incredibly asleep, but I haven't noticed much of the 'blues are boring' attitude — at least, not directed towards me. More of the 'blueriders are crazy' attitude, and hey, that's a compliment! Some people think that the lack of definition by AM of blueriders doesn't help the blue cause; maybe it doesn't excite interest, maybe some people feel it puts blues bottom of the pile and there's some sort of stigma attached to 'only' getting a blue. No only about it — the only thing a blue doesn't do that all the other dragons do is chase goldflights (err, greens don't either, but you get my drift!) No, they're not the biggest, they're not the smallest, they're not the central characters in every story Anne McCaffrey ever wrote, but that doesn't mean they can't be twice as much fun as all the other colours put together. (Yes, I am biased. Yes, I am unrepentant. I love it!)
FAMOUS LAST WORDS:
Strangely enough all those players don't suddenly sort themselves into five well-defined groups on the day of impression: there's lots of overlap! There're no huge differences between the colours when all's said and done — I was reasonably ambivalent about which colour I wanted — but I did want a dragon that was going to be fun. And riding blue is very definitely fun!
Kessaly / Imbrith
WHAT'S HOT:
The ability to play the unexpected! Playing a Blue opens the door to many opportunities. Other colors have stipulations upon them - Greens and Golds must fly in mating flights, metallics are expected to take on Leadership positions, browns are expected to fly both Green and Gold flights, etc. With a Blue, nothing is expected. Are you interested in your character's political advancement? With the exception of the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader positions, the sky is your limit as far as IC positions of power go. And if are not interested in any sort of IC position but a humble sweeps rider, then that is perfectly acceptable. In my experience, Blue dragons have some of the best and most well-developed personalities around. If you love characterization and want to consider your dragon another alt rather than just another overgrown firelizard puppet, a Blue can really open the door for you. Your character and dragon are remarkably free to grow and become whomever you wish them to be - your imagination and creativity are your only limits!
WHAT'S NOT:
Stereotypes! Anne's books have not, unfortunately, done Blue dragons any favors. Every time I read Search applications I cringe - "Blues are the workhorses of the Weyr…their riders are prissy…blues are boring…I'll take any color BUT a Blue…Blue dragons are scatterbrained…All Blue riders are homosexual…" and so on. (I've been known to vote against applicants who have made extremely derogatory remarks about Blues.) Many people feel that Blue dragons are a type of punishment, or that they have Impressed Blue because their RP skills are in doubt or because they weren't "good enough" for any other color dragon. Not so! If you aren't "good enough" for a dragon , then you wouldn't have been Searched in the first place, plain and simple.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS:
Blues allow you as a player the complete and total freedom to develop your character as well as your dragon in whichever way you choose - more freedom with less pressure than any other color can lay claim to.
Your character - whether male or female - does not have to be homosexual if they ride a Blue unless YOU play them that way.
Blue Dragons are not workhorses, boring, or anything else unless YOU play them that way.
Your character will not suddenly become prissy (or have any other sudden character changes) unless YOU play him or her that way.
Blues are not a punishment or any indication of "good" or "bad" RP abilities - unless YOU choose to think of them that way.