Editing Megatokyo (section)

=== Piro ===
'''Piro''', the [[protagonist]], is an [[author surrogate]] of Fred Gallagher. Gallagher has stated that Piro is an idealized version of himself when he was in college.<ref name=piroidealized>{{cite web | date=June 8, 2006 | work=Megatokyo | first=Fred | last=Gallagher | title=i'll take my art back now | url=http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=868 | access-date=June 20, 2006 | archive-date=July 20, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720085435/http://www.megatokyo.com/index.php?strip_id=868 | url-status=live }} A news post by Fred Gallagher in which he states that the character "Piro" is an idealized version of himself (Gallagher) when he was in college.</ref> As a character, he is socially inept and frequently depressed. His design was originally conceived as a visual parody of the character [[Ruri Hoshino]], from the ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' anime series.<ref name=multiplayinterview>{{cite web | date=December 18, 2002 | url=http://www.multiplay.co.uk/columns.asp?m=view&uid=1581 | title=An interview with Fred Gallagher | access-date=August 17, 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051027202600/http://www.multiplay.co.uk/columns.asp?m=view&uid=1581| archive-date = October 27, 2005}}</ref> His name is derived from Gallagher's online nickname, which was in turn taken from [[Makoto Sawatari]]'s [[List of Kanon characters#Piro|cat]] in the Japanese [[visual novel]] ''[[Kanon (visual novel)|Kanon]]''.<ref name = nameorigins/>

In the story, Piro has extreme difficulty understanding ''Megatokyo''{{'s}} female characters, making him for the most part ignorant of the feelings that the character Nanasawa Kimiko has for him, though he has become much more aware of her attraction as the series progressed. Gallagher has commented that Piro is the focal point of emotional damage, while his friend, Largo, takes the physical damage in the comic.<ref name=thepulseinterview2>{{cite web|last=Contino |first=Jennifer |date=September 5, 2002 |url=http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=000120 |title=''Megatoky's Fred Gallagher'' |access-date=August 18, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050816121929/http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=36&t=000120 |archive-date=August 16, 2005 }}An interview with Fred Gallagher at The Pulse</ref>