Name his tainted counterpart Steve The Whole and make him be a big ball of fur.

Going by the theme of being dull, maybe Tainted version could have a gimmick where any items he gains can do nothing besides affect stats or health. All other effects are negated. He can't have tear effects, no pickups or cards dropped, no invincibilities, anything. However, all stat increases are doubled to make up for it?

Also for any items that don't have any stat/health effects and would thus be useless: he gains a random stat up? The degree to which it is increased could be based on item quality.

I'm also of the opinion that Steve and his tainted form should both have base stats. Obviously it works balance-wise with the above Tainted gimmick.

On the other hand, I get that regular Steve getting base stats would be a nerf, whereas now his increased stats help to balance his complete lack of a gimmick, but I feel having base stats would make sense logically with the lack of gimmick. If anything, I feel having only a *slightly* higher-than-base damage, like around Blue Baby level (between 3.55 and 3.75ish) would still have him pass for being a "dull" character with no gimmicks. The way it stands now, it feels like his gimmick, while simple, is having all-around good starting stats.