Eugene Black

Eugene Black
Voice Actor	Jon Graham
Gender	Male
Affiliations	Eugene Black's clan
First Appearance	Reapers
Last Appearance	Apocalypse
Status:	Deceased
Online Status	Inactive
Gamertag	Unknown

"The way I see it, either God doesn't exist, or he does, and he's the biggest mastermind troll in the universe; and I can say that I'm merely following in his footsteps."

— "Black"

Eugene Black was a major antagonist in the Arby 'n' the Chief series. He was the leader of an infamous and notorious unnamed online clan. He serves as the main antagonist in the Season 7 and the posthumous central antagonist of Season 8. He serves as Arbiter's second arch-nemesis.

Personality

Eugene was the founder and leader of a trolling clan, who believes that while they should cross the line of reason, they should draw their own lines. Despite his principles, he still greatly enjoys antagonizing other players, humiliating them inside and outside the gaming world and stating that their tastes in real world things "suck" compared to his own. By entertaining himself at the expense of others, he makes enemies out of them. He is also very merciless to others who try to gain attention from his clans reputation and is short-tempered when playing with others. Eugene has also been demonstrated to be apathetic and cruel outside of Halo to his fellow students at school, and has been known to attack or vandalize their belongings with Tyler should any of them anger him in any way.

When he is not trolling other players, Eugene respects and is kind toward people who like his playing style which is how he and Arbiter get along the first time they met. He also respects Arbiter for his acts against Trent Donnovich and Chaos Theosis. Michelle has stated that when not playing Halo, Eugene is known to be tolerable and at times "enjoyable" to play with, until he is surrounded by his friends, where he takes on his other persona.

Eugene also cares and worries greatly for his sister Madeline, who has been diagnosed with leukemia. This along with living with his abusive, equally apathetic, alcoholic father as well as his problems in school have contributed to his cynical outlook on his position in life.

Eugene is an atheist, as opposed to Arbiter, who is an agnostic.

Season 7

Eugene was addicted to Halo, and spent most of his time trolling in online matches, along with Colin Hunt and Tyler King, the co-moderators of the clan which he led. He was apathetic toward school, and was failing most of his classes. He was also abused by his father, and had a sister named Madeline, who had been diagnosed with leukemia a few years prior. 

Eugene first met Arbiter late at night during a match of Halo: Reach. Eugene recognized Arbiter after seeing him in Severely Outdated Information Magazine, as one of the players who crashed the wedding of Trent Donnovich and who stopped Chaos Theosis from taking the network down. Quickly befriending him due to their similar views and situations, (and ideals to a degree) he told Arbiter about his sister's condition, and sent him a friend request over Xbox LIVE, which Arbiter accepted.

Two days later, Eugene, along with Colin and Tyler, joined an RP server uninvited, and recognized two of the players there, Brody Mitchell and Kyle Mathison from school. Eugene insulted both Brody and Kyle for their tastes, but in response, Brody revealed that he had seen Eugene crying at school, and criticized Eugene and Tyler's poor performance at school, and their unsatisfactory grades. Some time later, Tyler told Eugene that he had punched Brody in the face for what he said, and made sure to remain unseen. Brody, who suspected them, tried to take the matter to the school faculty, but was unable to prove that either of them were behind it. Afterward, Eugene stole Brody's bag and threw it in a river. As a result of this incident, the other students at the school were willing to comply with whatever Eugene or Tyler wanted out of fear.

On the same day that Eugene confronted Brody and Kyle at the RP server, he met Arbiter again along with Master Chief. He took an immediate liking to Chief due to his sense of humor. He also introduced the two to his girlfriend, Michelle and had a short argument with her about his use of obscene language while playing online. After Michelle left, Eugene displayed remorse for what he said. Arbiter asked about Madeline, to which Eugene calmly told him about her collapse earlier that day and admitted that he remained hopeful, as she kept a good sense of humor about her condition.

Michelle spoke with Eugene again two days later. Michelle revealed to Eugene that she was considering ending their relationship, but after speaking to Arbiter for help, decided not to. Eugene thanked Arbiter (after pretending to be angry about his conversation with Michelle), and introduced both Arbiter and Master Chief to Tyler. He also invited them to join his clan, to which they both accepted.

Eugene later spoke with Colin, who, after disappeared for a short time, returned, having completed a project for use by the clan - Fragban 2.0. After Colin tested it, the two used it to wreak havoc over the network, without Tyler, who was unable to access it until Eugene handed him a physical copy on a USB drive the following day. Unknown to Eugene at the time, Brody had overheard the two, and copied the contents of the USB for himself while Tyler was drunk.

Eugene then decided to show Fragban to Arbiter and Chief, unknown to Colin. Although Chief was pleased and excited by it, Arbiter was not, and revealed to Eugene that he thought it was immoral. However, he agreed not to tell anyone about it. Chief asked Eugene if he could have a copy of Fragban anyway, but Arbiter unplugged their console before Chief could get a response.

Shortly afterward, Eugene encountered Arbiter yet again, and apologized for their previous disagreement. Eugene informed Arbiter that Madeline's condition was now even worse. Arbiter also told Eugene of his own hardships in his life. After what Arbiter told him, Eugene made another attempt to convince Arbiter to use Fragban.

The following day while Eugene discussed Fragban with Colin, Arbiter and Master Chief joined their server, and told Eugene that they decided to accept using Fragban. However, Colin, who didn't trust the duo, tried to frag them. Eugene was able to stop him, by reminding Colin that he owed Eugene for helping him out of a legal issue years ago. Eugene then gifted the duo with Fragban.

Eugene and the other four then started actively banning players all over the network.

Six weeks later, Eugene heard about an online memorial service for a player known as Blumpkinbeast666, and decided to investigate it. He decided to crash the funeral and told Arbiter, Chief, Tyler and Colin about it.

Ten minutes before the funeral began, Eugene's server was infiltrated by Brody and Kyle, who had gained access to Fragban. They tried to frag Eugene and Colin, but Colin noticed them and they were forced to flee. Eugene figured out that the two of them were Brody and Kyle, recalling seeing him after giving Tyler the USB, and sent them a threatening message.

At the funeral, Eugene, Tyler and Colin first fragged all of the guards. Afterward, Chief and Arbiter arrived, who Eugene requested to take point for the remainder of the attack. The clan fragged everyone present at the funeral.

After the funeral, Eugene decided to focus on removing Fragban from Brody and Kyle. He spent an entire day watching Brody's house, waiting for him to leave, intending to confront him. However, Brody never left. Eugene remained persistent, realizing that Brody and Kyle would have to either leave their house or sign into Xbox LIVE eventually.

Eventually, they did sign in again, after which Eugene invaded their server along with Tyler and Colin. Eugene fragged both of them, after threatening to ruin Brody's life and even have him murdered if he didn't cease his efforts to stop the clan.

After witnessing Eugene's ruthlessness in eliminating Brody, Arbiter and Chief planned to eliminate any kind of connection with Eugene's clan. Eugene invited to them to a game to explain his actions, taking the precaution of using a hologram and watching them from above. When the toys attacked the hologram, Eugene and Tyler used plasma pistols to take out their shields, and Colin fragged them both with a well-placed shot.

Afterward, while telling offensive jokes with Tyler and other members of his clan, Eugene received a call from Dr. Harris, who informed him that Madeline's health had declined significantly, and requested that they discuss it at the hospital. Eugene asked him what happened, and was told that Madeline had passed away.

Later on, Michelle met Eugene in a server, having learned of his actions and Colin's pedophilia from Arbiter, to discuss them. Eugene admitted that they were true, so Michelle broke up with him. As she was walking away, Eugene revealed to her that Madeline died, and begged her not to leave. Michelle expressed sympathy, but didn't change her decision. On her way out, Eugene fragged her. With Madeline gone and Michelle cutting all ties with him, any humanity in Eugene died.

After telling Tyler and Colin about Madeline's death, Eugene learned from the former that Brody had attempted suicide by overdosing on pills, only to be taken to hospital for medical treatment after his brother found him. The trio also realized that although Arbiter and Chief would likely not be taken seriously if they talked to the police about the clan's activities, there was still nothing stopping them from sending Fragban to the network administration, which would likely lead to the patch's effects being nullified. Thus, Eugene suggested that they get the utmost enjoyment out of the software while it was functional, leading his clan on a massive fragging spree across the network.

After acquiring their new Xbox, Arbiter and Chief confronted Eugene and his clan in a server. After they fragged Tyler and Colin (the former was mauled by his dog Charlie, and the latter was arrested by the police in his own home for soliciting sex from a minor online), Eugene then left the server and went to another one, which he invited Arbiter and Chief to. They joined, only to find his Avatar idle. After several moments of silence and no response to the toys questions, Eugene bidded them goodbye (Saying "So long!") and committed suicide by gunshot. 

Immediately after the gunshot, Eugene's Avatar was killed by a young female gamer who boasted about her kill and lambasted Arby and Chief for their supposed idling. After her departure, the toys still stood in horror of to Eugene's actions for some time. Arbiter soon migrated across the map to the anticipated respawn point of Eugene's Avatar. Chief followed him and the two found the Avatar idling at the location. Arbiter studied the Avatar briefly before killing it with a headshot. Chief questioned his action and Arbiter explained that they still needed to Frag-ban Eugene's Avatar as a final act of closure. The toys left the server as the game ended. Unbeknownst to them, Eugene's Avatar disappeared and the respawn countdown chime was heard, signalling it somehow survived the Frag-ban. 

Reception

Eugene's character was highly acclaimed for his personality and menacing nature, with some hailing him as one of the series' best antagonists. Eugene's chemistry with Arbiter was also universally lauded. Eugene's backstory also made him the subject of sympathy among regular watchers and fans of the show, with some going as far as to call him a tragic villain. Eugene's character was also widely praised as an example of a young adult who was cyber bullied through online gaming while at the same time, one of his close relatives was being treated of a terminal illness, and his character explores the darker side of the internet and online interactions with other people after the passing of a loved one, and how your behavior through online interactions incorporates themselves into the real world and can hurt others through heinous and violent acts of retribution.

His ultimate demise was most likely a reference to someone suffering from Apathy, which can, if left untreated lead to suicide.

Trivia

• It is implied that Eugene is from the United States, when referring to Arbiter how Canadians are "way too nice".
• In "Blast Radius", it is hinted that Eugene used to smoke cigarettes to the point of addiction, saying that nicotine withdrawal "is a bitch".
• In "Black", it is implied that Eugene has a form of respiratory dysfunction (possibly asthma), as he uses an inhaler.
• Some fans suggest that Eugene is actually Toad from the L.A series due to his voice and post-series personality; Which seems believable considering the fact that Jon Graham does most of the voices for the characters. (With some exceptions) 
• In a See Me After Class Podcast episode, series creator Jon Graham has confirmed that Eugene is dead, and won't be coming back.