- Location
- Deepspace
Yeah he's trying to be a hero, he chose to save people when he didn't necessarily need to, I'm trying to go for a good guy since I don't really try to play a hero in most things.Generally, he seems to be more of a "heroic" kind of person than my character (the 35-year-old virgin programmer who liked anime and basically worked himself to death chasing the approval of his coworkers and boss). I say heroic not just because he was a fireman, but also because of his lofty heroic objective. My guy just wants to take it easy and doesn't want to have to go far out of his way to help people. Your guy wants to be a hero, my guy just wants to have a comfy second life.
There is two main reasons I used that image, the first is supposed be a kind of contrast, he doesn't look like the nicest guy or even generally act like the nicest guy but he tries to be a good guy.
That is the right image right? It... I don't really feel like that image (much less the original character it represents) represents your character well, but sure man. Use that image.
The second is that I like the image and want to use it for something
Yeah, I tried to give my character some flavour so that's where the love of bugs, dirt and fear of heights and contortionists came from.
Yeah, I see what you mean, I did end up leaving that section of my character a bit barebones, I'm probably going to edit something into my sheet.
Yeah, going to add a bit more like I said above.
That is an accurate read, he went into it because he wanted to be something to someone, turns out most people don't really care about who saved them, just that they were saved...
Now onto your character
So what I'm seeing is someone who was always the odd one out, never having friends of his own or any role models other than his family. Someone who wanted to feel included and happy so followed the path of his siblings and father looking to be included and happy since they all seemed to be happy and included but never really became his own person.Here's my hat going into the ring.
Name: Jonathan Anderson
Age: 35
Nationality: American
Appearance:
Backstory: Jonathan Anderson lived what could be called an average life. At least as far as when compared to the other male members of his family. He was a third child, his position as the 'baby' of the family being quickly replaced by his little (and only) sister before he had started being able to remember things clearly. He would've liked to say that he didn't mind, though he would often feel envious of all the love that was sent her way. Why did his parents have to be so... so... happy to finally have a baby girl? He did, eventually, grow out of those feelings. Mostly.
As the third brother, he just kind of... followed what they did. They got into video games and anime, so did he. They all followed their dad's lead in working in the computer software industry, so did he. They all got bachelor's degrees in computer science, well, he got one in software engineering (almost the same thing really, but he was able to get a higher starting salary). He even had the same circle of friends as they did... leaving him with none once he moved to the city for his new job. He did end up doing one thing different from his all his siblings, he never got married. Hell, he had never even been on a date. He felt that his life was empty compared to their's, full of friends and new family members.
To try and fill that void, he tried to make some new friends through video games, but he never really felt close to them as he just didn't have the free time to play games all day as they did. Besides most of them were younger than he was, it just felt weird. Not that he had time to play games with his brothers or even his sister, they were all too busy being parents with spouses and kids and all the stress, but also joy, that brought them.
And here he was, just... just... married to his job.
He ended up falling into a deep depression and ended up trying to fill this new emotional void with the only thing he felt was good at: working. He worked and worked and worked. He ended up getting several promotions, getting more and more responsibilities that ended up keeping him from finding time for himself. Though he ended up feeling that maybe, just maybe, his coworkers could end up being a family of sorts? The way they all looked up to him, asked him for help, valued his opinions. It was certainly... something.
Though his workaholicism ended up being his downfall in the end.
A deadline was fast approaching, he started working later and later than usual. So late that at 3 am after working over a 12-hour day he was forced to go home by the nighttime security staff. He couldn't stay any longer because of company policy or something, not even to take a nap on the couch in the lounge.
So he got in his car and drove home.
Well, tried to drive home.
He ended up falling asleep at the wheel on the highway and ended up plowing headfirst into some construction equipment.
At least he died quickly.
Biggest Achievement: His bachelor's degree, becoming the biggest earner out of all his siblings with his high-paying software development job. Mostly because he was able to learn from what they did and make better, more profitable choices. But honestly, mostly it was by dint of not having a wife and kids to take off and so more time to spend working.
Biggest Failure: Never finding love. Never even having gone on a date. Waiting until he was 'financially stable' to do so and never, ever actually getting around to that. The only kiss he ever had was because his sister dared him into kissing one of her friends when they were in high school.
Personal Wish: To have somehow been able to live a completely different life. To have been unique in his family, kind of like his sister was. To have been his own self, to not have missed out on life by being basically a carbon copy of his brothers.
Likes and Dislikes:
Likes
Dislikes:
- Anime, Cartoons, Video Games, Books, media in general: Jonathan likes this for the same reason most people do, it's an escape. Getting to be int he shoes of various characters, all struggling their way through their trials and through life and (usually) ending up triumphant. Those kinds of stories were what kept him going through college, kept him struggling at his job. Eventually, eventually, he'd win too.
- His family: Despite the way he regretted making himself into a sadder copy of his other brothers, he never hated them or anyone in his family. Simply because they were always there for him and he too, was always there for them.
- Pets: A small fuzzy creature that gives you all of their love for simply taking care of their basic needs? Amazing, uplifting, and (most importantly) oh so very huggable and cute. Jonathan had several pets growing up, a couple of dogs, a cat. His siblings also got pets. Though he never got one before the end, his city aparment simply didn't allow them.
- Helping: Something he shares with the rest of his family. He feels a deep, inner joy when he's genuinely able to help someone else. Though chasing after this feeling is what led to him becoming a workaholic.
Objectives In New World: Make a new life for himself, one that's different from the one he had. Most importantly, make some really close friends and maybe, just maybe, find love this time. Try not to get roped into any sort of engineering profession. He'd certainly be good at it, but it'd be counterproductive to his goals towards living a different life to his last one. Well, he guesses if people really, really need help...?
- Loneliness: Something that Jonathan grew to hate and loath with a passion during the last decade of his life. There was a reason he spent every weekend he could having out at his parents or one of his sibling's houses, he had no other real relationships.
- Low Quality/Microwave Food: During his college years, he had his fill of this bland shit. Even for several lifetimes. Eventually, it all ends up tasting like sadness in the end.
- Being out of shape: Sitting at a computer all the time, day in and day out, did no favours for his figure. Which is why Jonathan started exercising in the last couple of years. Besides, it was something different from staring at a computer screen all day and a good excuse to watch anime while at the gym.
- Arrogant Incompetence: When you're trying to whip a team of developers into shape this was just... the worst. The absolute worst. You can't teach these kinds of people, the ones who think they know it all- have all the right ideas. All because they read in it a book or heard it at a seminar once (FOR A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FIELD). Even if those ideas are impractical in practice or flat out wrong. He's had to deal with this kind of people both above and below him in the organizational structure of his job. It's been enough to drive him to drink a couple of times (though it was also the holidays so he did have an excuse).
The image seems like a good fit for the type of character your making, fit but not covered in muscles and slightly scruffy looking.
Your likes and dislikes make sense from what I can tell about your character, nothing stands out as unusual and seems like a real person.
His wish and Goal makes sense, he wants the things he never got in life, love and the ability to relax which, for a character that seemed to be in a high-stress situation, is realistic, he just wants to be able to enjoy his life without having to worry about the next paycheck or waking up in bed alone, or even just being upset as people around him talk about their plans when his probably only consists of gym, work, home and sometimes shopping or watching a movie.
All in all I find it as a rather realistic character who could feasibly exist, he isn't perfect he has flaws and that is one of the best parts about him, a lot of people make characters that can be best described as "generic anime protagonist 2395" with few flaws or the present flaws far too exaggerated to be interesting.
The death it's self is interesting in that it's the direct fault of the character due to multiple mistakes made by them, the first being overworking themselves and the second is the fact that they chose to drive knowing they were that tired.
Their final thoughts are a bit iffy to me but no one quite knows what will go through someone's head as they die and it can be seen as them trying not to think about the prospect of dying by distracting themselves with silly thoughts.
