Guy Gardner - DCU
player info.
name/handle: Christy
contact info: Chiisuchi @ AIM, evybay[at]gmail[dot]com
personal journal: tsunderes
previous characters: veracitatem and house_1_god_0
character info.
character name: Guy Gardner
canon & medium: DCU, Comics
age & species: uh. Mid-to-late 30s? Human definitely.
appearance: His hair is less bad
timeline: post Sinestro Corps war
background/history link: His history is less weird than most
personality:
Guy Gardner is a lot of things. He's a hero (and a damn good one, as he'd be glad to tell you), a pervert (the man likes his boobs, what can he say?) and most of all, a class-A asshole. In fact, on that last point, everyone else he has encountered would be glad to tell you that, too. Guy will gladly moon Batman in space, taunt Cyborg Superman with a sexy construct of Supergirl and cop a feel on the ever-so-sweet and sixteen year old Mary Marvel. He's not a guy with a lot of tact when it comes to getting a rise out of people. He'll say whatever the hell he wants, and if you want to fight about it, he'd be glad to take you. As far as he's concerned, he can kick your ass to Pluto, no problem.
But even though that's what a lot of people see when they meet Guy Gardner, he's so much more than that. His background is a bit complicated because of partial and muddy retcons of his characterization, but early on, he wasn't that different from Hal Jordan. Guy was an inspiration and a man that could overcome any obstacle--it's what made him a candidate for a Green Lantern. He had come from the most humble of beginnings and ended up showing the world that he wasn't just another white-trash delinquent. Guy was a pretty mellow person. So what happened?
But after suffering brain damage after a coma that lasted for three years, Guy became a completely different person. The "real" reason was that the writers simply wanted to take a different direction with Guy, but of course this doesn't fit in with comic book logic of the universe, really. This change in writing direction made Guy go from a mild-mannered special education teacher in Baltimore city to a rude, impulsive and asshole-ish cowboy of a character. Pretty big change! The psychological implications of this change are never really explored (the 80s wasn't that big on character development), but it's not like today's Guy doesn't have resonance to the original characterization. Quite the opposite!
In the 2000s, I'd like to think that comics have gotten...better about continuity and building on previous interpretations of characters. People will disagree with me, but at least in Guy's case, this seems to be alright. In the JLI-days, Guy was rude, impulsive and downright mean because of brain damage--not that it's ever directly said that's why. Now, we know that Guy is an ass because he wants to be. But he's gotten a better hold on his life. He's not going to ruin missions because his temper gets out of hand--he's matured past that. For the most part. He doesn't resent the Corps as a whole, just the Blue Guys in charge. Instead of returning to the delinquient character you would have expected from him as a teen, the best way to put modern Guy is that he is a bro.
He's a great teammate as soon as you earn his trust, which admittedly, doesn't take as much as you would think. His smug gruffness is hardly an act, but getting to know Guy, it really isn't anything personal. It puts people off of him, but the ones that stick around Guy is sure are good people to stick with. It doesn't mean that his casual rudeness is dispelled, but it does mean that he'll at least try to be a nice enough so that people don't kick him to the curb.
It's a small window into a mostly hidden part of Guy's personality. After going out with Ice, losing her, getting her back again, and their relationship is currently "rocky" at best, Guy is more sensitive in a lot of ways. The majority of people won't see it, but friends will realize it. He's the kind of person that will do anything to cheer you up--If you like looking at the night sky, he'll take you to the most gorgeous nebula in the universe and just chill and let you relax. He'll stand up for you when you need it, too, even if he doesn't particularly like you. He has a big hatred of injustice, and takes his job as space cop very seriously. He'll do the right thing when it's needed. It's why people can put up with him, even if it's begrudgingly.
That's basically all you need to know about Guy Gardner--he's crass and downright rude, but he has a great and big heart. He's a Green Lantern through and through, so his willpower will overcome anything he damn well pleases, even if it's a crazy ogre rickshaw.
abilities:
Guy has a ring that makes shit out of light based on his willpower. It's a lot more badass than it sounds. Guy is able to fly, make forcefields, or even busty constructs of hookers to feed him marshmallows. Guess which one he is the most partial to!
All of the powers of his ring will be removed, save for his ability to make stupid constructs. He can still make things that might injure people, but he can't fly or make mech-suits like Kyle does.
any plans for your character here?
Guy is going to be a general asshole for a while, but after discovering Shizuo's abandoned bar, he will effectively put it under new management.
possessions:
- Normal civilian clothing
- His Corps ring
- A bunch of "Warriors" swag (He was in the process of moving all his crap to Oa)
samples.
sample journal entry:
Okay. I've seen some weird shit in my time in the Corps, don't get me wrong. Been to alien planets made of space goo, kicked some yellow bastards all the way into Oa's cells right where they belonged.
But last time I was in some goddamn paradise or whatever the shit this is supposed to be, I distinctly somethin' tryin' to eat me. So whoever interrupted my beauty sleep to ship me off to Guantanamo Disneyland, come on out! I get grumpy when I'm chained up somewhere too long, so let's tumble. I'll stick my foot so far up your ass that you'll get a whiff of the soil on Oa!!
And to all you other chuckleheads that I'm guessin' are hangin' out here, someone better be enough of a wiseass to be able to tell me why the hell my ring ain't doin' what it's supposed to or what I said before is gonna apply to all of you. I'm Guy Gardner of the Green Lantern Corps, and I want some answers!!
third-person sample:
If everything had gone according to plan, Guy Gardner would be sitting pretty on Oa right about now. Well, as "pretty" as you could possibly use for Guy Gardner. He and Kyle had worked out a deal with Salaak (amazingly) and had gotten a pretty nice apartment, all things considered. Not many Lanterns decided to actually live on Oa, but both of them had things they were running from. For Guy, it was the fact that his girlfriend had come back from the dead and turned into a total bitch. Translate that back into Tora-speak and she had said she wanted to "take things slow."
Yeah. Right.
But the prospects of a new pad on Oa and even starting a bar there, that was looking a lot better than his relationships. A hell of a lot better. Or, it was until he ended up in Willaknap.
Now, Guy Gardner had dealt with a lot of shit in his time. A dad who was loose with his fists once he got a proper drink, Hal Jordan showing him up constantly in his early career and the Corps and all the various missions that went with being a space cop. But crawling around in some living planet that decided that it wanted you for a meal was preferable to ending up in on one where it looked like a unicorn might pop out of the bushes and maybe impale you on its stupid girly horn.
First thing was first, though. He was getting better at this whole protocol thing. Guy squinted as he looked around before bringing his ring closer to his mouth.
"Okay ring, where the hell did we end up today?" he asked.
The answer was less than satisfactory. "Unknown planet in unknown sector. Return to Oa immediately.
He had never gotten an answer like that before. Guy shrugged, tapping the ring like that would make it given a better answer. None given, of course. He materialized his uniform, and just like any time before, Guy Gardner was off to the stars to consult the Smurfs on their latest fuck-up.
--Except that wasn't at all what happened. The ring's forcefield covered him briefly and lifted him up a few inches before it dissipated. Guy stumbled on his feet at suddenly not being airborne like he had hoped.
"What the hell?" he murmured not at all quietly, trying again. And again. And again. But nothing was happening. His first thought was that it was some kind of weakness to yellow thing going on again, but there actually wasn't any yellow around. Good to know that at least cleansing the impurity was the truth, so far. But it wasn't much of a comfort. In fact, Guy was getting pissed, unsurprisingly. So what other option did he have left?
Pick up the cellphone and give whoever was on the other end a piece of his mind, of course.