Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. Only one card from Loud as a Whisper, and I never got to it in the original Rolodex, so let's do it now...
PICTURE: Riva appears with his "voices" to make him fully functional (at least according to the start of the episode). It makes him unique, since no other personnel cards have more than a couple people featured (dual-personnel). He's still at the forefront, and we get strong vertical lines from the alien architecture. He looks smug, which was his main character trait.Colors are a little drab. Let's go with 3.8.
LORE: The fact that he was deaf mute wasn't so "famed" on the show (I sometimes got the impression that Picard and crew were ill-informed or poor at research), but as a mediator, yes. The chorus gets a line to explain the image. There was room for some of those "famed" accomplishments. A 3 should do.
TREK SENSE: If you're going to tell me he's a Diplomacy specialist, then yes, I'd completely agree. His fame (and confidence) justify the x2 and the VIP. Any more skills would remove the Mission Specialist status and go against that, even though a powerful diplomat could have things like Anthropology or Law (which didn't exist yet) to support the Diplomacy. Telepaths? Shouldn't they also have Empathy? I'd say no, because the group is only attuned to Riva and he to them. The chorus doesn't really figure anyway, not even in the attributes. They were only tools, and got killed as a block. Still, one wonders why a dilemma strikes at all four of them and not a single one, etc. It's wonky. For Riva himself, we have middling Integrity given his arrogance and self-pity. High Cunning since he did figure out a solution and was good at his job. And he's no fighter, so Strength 3 is fine. I make a lot of excuses for him, but I think the 3.5 is deserved.
STOCKABILITY: Federation Mission Specialist decks are easily assembled, and Riva not only gets you the +5 points to every one of the Feds' many Diplomacy missions, but can act as 2 Diplomacy when needed. You'd think the Feds would have more Diplomacy Mission Specialists, but they don't (so it's too bad he's not a universal). Classification and attributes are whatever. 3.4 here.
TOTAL: 13.7 (67.5%) He's not very interesting, but he gets the job done.
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