OOC ± Taxon App
See also the quick and dirty Glitch FAQ/primer and the tl;dr ginormous character survey of doom.
Character name: Glitch
Genre (TV/books/etc): TV (miniseries)
Fandom: Tin Man
Canon point: part 3, as Our Heroes descend into the Realm of the Unwanted. He has since been bumped to the end of the series.
Why this Character and Canon point?: Nearly two years after his canon unceremoniously faded to black I am still endlessly fascinated by Glitch. To borrow a phrase he is a deep well, on the surface a dithering, bubbly space cadet but closer inspection shows more. He is a man with no past who is constantly building his present and striving for a better future. There's a challenge to balancing all of that and I'd love to explore it all.
I believe Glitch would adapt pretty well to Taxon and its inhabitants, as he is from a world of mixed magic and technology and is somewhat accustomed to the hijinks associated with both. He has a trusting nature and could easily make friends, or folks with questionable motives could use that trust to manipulate him. His endless curiosity will have him forever wanting to meet new people, experience new things, and try to figure out how they all work.
Since he's from a closed canon I chose a departure point at which he is pretty stable and more likely to cope with being kidnapped by aliens. It also gives me a little wiggle room in case he gets bogged down with worrying about his quest, as I can bump him to the end if need be.
Programmed Possession:
One (1) hedge maze, large. There are several small "rest areas" scattered throughout it which can have a bench or small table and chairs. The maze looks like this: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y19/kseda/tin%20man%20caps/TinManPart25227.jpg, but is NOT NEARLY that size, as the SciFi special effects folks were clearly going a bit crazy with the cloning tool.
Abilities/Weaknesses:
Once upon a time Glitch was an unparalleled genius. As an inventor he created the TDESPHTL - Tri-Dimensional Energy Stored Holographic Time Loop - and so he is familiar with holographic technology. He also invented a machine called the Sun Seeder which was designed to slow the suns and extend the growing season, indicating a very good grasp on astronomy and physics. Glitch is a "fantastic dancer" with a knowledge of most classical, courtly styles. His excellent sense of rhythm aids him in hand-to-hand (or rather his-foot-to-your-head) combat, and he is quite skilled at a fighting form that resembles taekwondo. No, really: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACdzUXsGxNM
However, due to only having half of his brain he is liable to forget any or all of this at any given moment. A misfiring of his synapses (a "glitch" if you will) can result in simple things like losing someone's name or the track of a conversation, or a total reset when he can temporarily forget who he is, where he, and what's going on around him. Needless to say he has a terrible sense of direction and has a great deal of trouble putting names and faces together. Glitch is also afraid of heights, freaked out by scarecrows, suffers sinus flare-ups due to various allergies, and doesn't hold up well on overly long walks.
A final note: there is a metal zipper on his head, a souvenir from having half of his brain removed. It is anchored at his hairline and runs to the back of his skull where the tab is. This zipper can be opened and one can, if one wants to, peer into his cranium. Glitch would very, very much rather you didn't.
Psychology/Personality:
Glitch has been accused of being a wide-eyed optimist, and if he does tend to look for a silver lining to most situations it with good reason. He has seen true wickedness, and so has a preference for the bright side of things. He is prone to staring into space, wandering off, fidgeting, stating the obvious, and sometimes forgetting personal boundaries and tact. Well aware of his shortcomings Glitch has a self-deprecating sense of humor which can veer into sarcasm, and he loves the occasional bad pun.
It's not always sunshine and rainbows, however, as his mood can swing towards melancholy if he dwells on all he's lost. He also carries the burden of nearly ten years meandering a war-torn realm with the zipper on his head marking him as a criminal. Bad things happened to him, and he did what he had to in order to survive. Most of the memories from this time are buried, and he tends to quickly forget what's put him out of sorts and rebounds as if he'd never felt sadness in his life. In this way his condition acts as a defense mechanism, one of the few good things to come of the headcasing.
His more minor resets or "glitches" can be annoying if one tries to hold a conversation with him. He can get stuck on a phrase and repeat it over and over until distracted via physical contact, or he can loop back on himself and start an entire discussion over again. If he is given a stable environment and a willing person or two to keep him on track, the glitches will be less frequent and he will improve dramatically. This does not mean he requires any sort of constant supervision as he managed to survive nearly ten years on his own and has developed a keen sense of self-preservation. Being underestimated will rile him.
Every now and then one of his glitches will briefly bring forth the old Ambrose parts of his personality and he will behave a bit like he did before the brain surgery. In these moments he is quieter, more lucid, with a touch more of the arrogance and general snobbery that comes with being a member of the nobility.
With his whimsical, scattered nature it can be easy to forget that Glitch is a grown man with all the emotions and experiences that entails. He is also a gentleman to the marrow, and while he's forgotten most courtly etiquette he will still strive to be polite. His loyalty to the people he cares about is unwavering, and once you've become his friend he will stand by you through almost any hardship.
History: (Note that his canon history is somewhat sketchy, I've fused in some generally accepted fanon to flesh it out a bit.)
Ambrose was chief adviser to the Queen of the Outer Zone and had a reputation for being the smartest man in the land. While he dabbled in several areas his true talent was invention, and he devised many marvelous creations to help the people of the realm. He was very close with the royal family, and the Queen thought of him as a friend rather than just a member of her staff.
Then it all went wrong. The queen's eldest daughter became possessed by the spirit of an ancient Witch, her younger daughter was sent to the Otherside (aka Kansas) for protection, and civil war broke out when the Witch began to seize power. The queen and Ambrose were eventually captured, and Ambrose was ordered to give up his plans for the Sun Seeder, as the Witch had a desire to use the machine to bring eternal darkness to the O.Z. He refused and so she had him headcased, a procedure usually performed on criminals that removed part of the brain and rendered them harmless. With the brain matter in her possession the Witch had no more need for Ambrose and so sent him out to fend for himself.
Soon he forgot his real name and began calling himself Glitch, as this is what he did - forget things, repeat himself - and it seemed fitting. For years he wandered the land, until one day he met a girl looking for home, a man who'd lost his heart, and another in need of courage. Together the four of them set out on a quest to defeat the Witch and return the queen to her throne, hopefully finding their own missing pieces along the way.
Arrival Post (Third Person)
That's not something you see every day he'd said when Cain had opened the trap door in the middle of the field. The door had concealed a ladder which lead down into the Realm of the Unwanted, and while Glitch was hesitant to make the descent he knew they would have to. DG's father was down there, and once they found him they'd be another step closer to finding the emerald and stopping Azkadellia.
Cain, with Toto tucked under his arm, had gone first, DG following after him, Glitch himself went next and he watched to make sure Raw had the courage to come along too, which he did. With a satisfied nod Glitch continued climbing down, careful of where he put his feet so he didn't step on DG's fingers.
That would be bad, stepping on his friend's fingers, a princess' fingers no less! It was the sort of thing that was simply not done, although he wasn't sure if it qualified as treason. Of course if it made her let go of the ladder and she fell and hurt herself, that very well could be treason, maybe. At the very least it would make Cain angry with him, and Glitch knew quite well that it was never a good idea to anger a tin man...
All the worry was for nothing as he reached the bottom of the ladder without stepping on any royal fingers. However as soon as his feet reached the floor the heat, smell, and noise of the Realm was suddenly gone, and Glitch found himself somewhere more unfamiliar than usual.
He spun in place, coattails swirling about his ankles as he looked around. The metal room reminded him of something, a cell or a piston shaft and he wasn't sure which was worse. "Hello?" he called hopefully. "DG...Cain?" He chanced looking up and blinked at the absence of the ladder or Raw's fuzzy behind. Despite the fruitlessness he still called out a wistful "Raw?"
Well, obviously he was on his own. Was it possible for his poor brain to misfire so badly that he'd not recall how he ended up here? He didn't remember anything like this ever happening, but then knew he was a very unreliable source. With a puzzled frown Glitch scratched the back of his head until the sound of the zipper's tab striking something else that was metal startled him and he looked at his wrist.
"That's not something you see every day. Well, certainly not something I see every day, I think," he said and studied the bracelet, wracking his half-a-brain for any memory of having it before. Turning up nothing he sighed in frustration. "Cain's going to be mad," he muttered. "But...no, it's not my fault this time. I was following him! I was following him! I was follow-"
Thankfully the loop was broken when he looked around and spotted something that was definitely a thingy or a whosit or maybe a whatchamacalit on a pedestal.
With a smile he peered at the doohickey. "Hello. Where'd you come from?"
Additional Third Person Sample:
Preseries
There was a fine line between hiding somewhere and being hidden somewhere, and Glitch was in the precarious position of not knowing which side of it he was on. All he could do was keep reminding himself to stay still and be quiet, a plan which most of him was happy to comply with. His nose had objections as he was hiding/hidden in a very dusty crawlspace, but if he kept still then the dust would stay where it was and not make him sneeze.
He wished he could remember if the people who lived in the house knew he was there. That would make everything so much simpler. If they did, and were keeping him hidden, then there had to be a reason they'd left him alone so long...long enough for the spider he'd been watching to finish her web. It was a pretty little thing, a neat orb cast between floorboards and a support beam.
Glitch let himself get lost in the details, words like radial and spinneret tickling the empty edge of his mind, the context right there but the full meaning muted. The web was artwork, not deathtrap, and in a flash he recalled dew-beaded silk in the light of the first sun, jewel doves stirring in the lilac bushes, the smell of bread from the kitchen windows-
The floorboards creaked and Glitch gasped, the palace gardens immediately gone from his memory. He had to escape he had to- no, be still, be quiet, if he was found he'd be...it would be bad. There was more creaking, and the soft thump of footsteps, and he covered his mouth with his hand, his dust-covered hand and his poor nose did not like that at all.
The thump-creak stopped directly above him. His eyes watered as he fought to keep from sneezing, even as he solemnly thought that it was involuntary and merciful Ozma he was done for now, he was sure of it!
The trap door lifted, destroying the spider's web, and the farmer's wife peered down at him with furrowed brow.
"He's gone," she said, and offered a hand to help him up. "And you'd best go too before he gets back, all right?"
Glitch tried to respond, but all he managed was an explosive sneeze.
Character name: Glitch
Genre (TV/books/etc): TV (miniseries)
Fandom: Tin Man
Canon point: part 3, as Our Heroes descend into the Realm of the Unwanted. He has since been bumped to the end of the series.
Why this Character and Canon point?: Nearly two years after his canon unceremoniously faded to black I am still endlessly fascinated by Glitch. To borrow a phrase he is a deep well, on the surface a dithering, bubbly space cadet but closer inspection shows more. He is a man with no past who is constantly building his present and striving for a better future. There's a challenge to balancing all of that and I'd love to explore it all.
I believe Glitch would adapt pretty well to Taxon and its inhabitants, as he is from a world of mixed magic and technology and is somewhat accustomed to the hijinks associated with both. He has a trusting nature and could easily make friends, or folks with questionable motives could use that trust to manipulate him. His endless curiosity will have him forever wanting to meet new people, experience new things, and try to figure out how they all work.
Since he's from a closed canon I chose a departure point at which he is pretty stable and more likely to cope with being kidnapped by aliens. It also gives me a little wiggle room in case he gets bogged down with worrying about his quest, as I can bump him to the end if need be.
Programmed Possession:
One (1) hedge maze, large. There are several small "rest areas" scattered throughout it which can have a bench or small table and chairs. The maze looks like this: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y19/kseda/tin%20man%20caps/TinManPart25227.jpg, but is NOT NEARLY that size, as the SciFi special effects folks were clearly going a bit crazy with the cloning tool.
Abilities/Weaknesses:
Once upon a time Glitch was an unparalleled genius. As an inventor he created the TDESPHTL - Tri-Dimensional Energy Stored Holographic Time Loop - and so he is familiar with holographic technology. He also invented a machine called the Sun Seeder which was designed to slow the suns and extend the growing season, indicating a very good grasp on astronomy and physics. Glitch is a "fantastic dancer" with a knowledge of most classical, courtly styles. His excellent sense of rhythm aids him in hand-to-hand (or rather his-foot-to-your-head) combat, and he is quite skilled at a fighting form that resembles taekwondo. No, really: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACdzUXsGxNM
However, due to only having half of his brain he is liable to forget any or all of this at any given moment. A misfiring of his synapses (a "glitch" if you will) can result in simple things like losing someone's name or the track of a conversation, or a total reset when he can temporarily forget who he is, where he, and what's going on around him. Needless to say he has a terrible sense of direction and has a great deal of trouble putting names and faces together. Glitch is also afraid of heights, freaked out by scarecrows, suffers sinus flare-ups due to various allergies, and doesn't hold up well on overly long walks.
A final note: there is a metal zipper on his head, a souvenir from having half of his brain removed. It is anchored at his hairline and runs to the back of his skull where the tab is. This zipper can be opened and one can, if one wants to, peer into his cranium. Glitch would very, very much rather you didn't.
Psychology/Personality:
Glitch has been accused of being a wide-eyed optimist, and if he does tend to look for a silver lining to most situations it with good reason. He has seen true wickedness, and so has a preference for the bright side of things. He is prone to staring into space, wandering off, fidgeting, stating the obvious, and sometimes forgetting personal boundaries and tact. Well aware of his shortcomings Glitch has a self-deprecating sense of humor which can veer into sarcasm, and he loves the occasional bad pun.
It's not always sunshine and rainbows, however, as his mood can swing towards melancholy if he dwells on all he's lost. He also carries the burden of nearly ten years meandering a war-torn realm with the zipper on his head marking him as a criminal. Bad things happened to him, and he did what he had to in order to survive. Most of the memories from this time are buried, and he tends to quickly forget what's put him out of sorts and rebounds as if he'd never felt sadness in his life. In this way his condition acts as a defense mechanism, one of the few good things to come of the headcasing.
His more minor resets or "glitches" can be annoying if one tries to hold a conversation with him. He can get stuck on a phrase and repeat it over and over until distracted via physical contact, or he can loop back on himself and start an entire discussion over again. If he is given a stable environment and a willing person or two to keep him on track, the glitches will be less frequent and he will improve dramatically. This does not mean he requires any sort of constant supervision as he managed to survive nearly ten years on his own and has developed a keen sense of self-preservation. Being underestimated will rile him.
Every now and then one of his glitches will briefly bring forth the old Ambrose parts of his personality and he will behave a bit like he did before the brain surgery. In these moments he is quieter, more lucid, with a touch more of the arrogance and general snobbery that comes with being a member of the nobility.
With his whimsical, scattered nature it can be easy to forget that Glitch is a grown man with all the emotions and experiences that entails. He is also a gentleman to the marrow, and while he's forgotten most courtly etiquette he will still strive to be polite. His loyalty to the people he cares about is unwavering, and once you've become his friend he will stand by you through almost any hardship.
History: (Note that his canon history is somewhat sketchy, I've fused in some generally accepted fanon to flesh it out a bit.)
Ambrose was chief adviser to the Queen of the Outer Zone and had a reputation for being the smartest man in the land. While he dabbled in several areas his true talent was invention, and he devised many marvelous creations to help the people of the realm. He was very close with the royal family, and the Queen thought of him as a friend rather than just a member of her staff.
Then it all went wrong. The queen's eldest daughter became possessed by the spirit of an ancient Witch, her younger daughter was sent to the Otherside (aka Kansas) for protection, and civil war broke out when the Witch began to seize power. The queen and Ambrose were eventually captured, and Ambrose was ordered to give up his plans for the Sun Seeder, as the Witch had a desire to use the machine to bring eternal darkness to the O.Z. He refused and so she had him headcased, a procedure usually performed on criminals that removed part of the brain and rendered them harmless. With the brain matter in her possession the Witch had no more need for Ambrose and so sent him out to fend for himself.
Soon he forgot his real name and began calling himself Glitch, as this is what he did - forget things, repeat himself - and it seemed fitting. For years he wandered the land, until one day he met a girl looking for home, a man who'd lost his heart, and another in need of courage. Together the four of them set out on a quest to defeat the Witch and return the queen to her throne, hopefully finding their own missing pieces along the way.
Arrival Post (Third Person)
That's not something you see every day he'd said when Cain had opened the trap door in the middle of the field. The door had concealed a ladder which lead down into the Realm of the Unwanted, and while Glitch was hesitant to make the descent he knew they would have to. DG's father was down there, and once they found him they'd be another step closer to finding the emerald and stopping Azkadellia.
Cain, with Toto tucked under his arm, had gone first, DG following after him, Glitch himself went next and he watched to make sure Raw had the courage to come along too, which he did. With a satisfied nod Glitch continued climbing down, careful of where he put his feet so he didn't step on DG's fingers.
That would be bad, stepping on his friend's fingers, a princess' fingers no less! It was the sort of thing that was simply not done, although he wasn't sure if it qualified as treason. Of course if it made her let go of the ladder and she fell and hurt herself, that very well could be treason, maybe. At the very least it would make Cain angry with him, and Glitch knew quite well that it was never a good idea to anger a tin man...
All the worry was for nothing as he reached the bottom of the ladder without stepping on any royal fingers. However as soon as his feet reached the floor the heat, smell, and noise of the Realm was suddenly gone, and Glitch found himself somewhere more unfamiliar than usual.
He spun in place, coattails swirling about his ankles as he looked around. The metal room reminded him of something, a cell or a piston shaft and he wasn't sure which was worse. "Hello?" he called hopefully. "DG...Cain?" He chanced looking up and blinked at the absence of the ladder or Raw's fuzzy behind. Despite the fruitlessness he still called out a wistful "Raw?"
Well, obviously he was on his own. Was it possible for his poor brain to misfire so badly that he'd not recall how he ended up here? He didn't remember anything like this ever happening, but then knew he was a very unreliable source. With a puzzled frown Glitch scratched the back of his head until the sound of the zipper's tab striking something else that was metal startled him and he looked at his wrist.
"That's not something you see every day. Well, certainly not something I see every day, I think," he said and studied the bracelet, wracking his half-a-brain for any memory of having it before. Turning up nothing he sighed in frustration. "Cain's going to be mad," he muttered. "But...no, it's not my fault this time. I was following him! I was following him! I was follow-"
Thankfully the loop was broken when he looked around and spotted something that was definitely a thingy or a whosit or maybe a whatchamacalit on a pedestal.
With a smile he peered at the doohickey. "Hello. Where'd you come from?"
Additional Third Person Sample:
Preseries
There was a fine line between hiding somewhere and being hidden somewhere, and Glitch was in the precarious position of not knowing which side of it he was on. All he could do was keep reminding himself to stay still and be quiet, a plan which most of him was happy to comply with. His nose had objections as he was hiding/hidden in a very dusty crawlspace, but if he kept still then the dust would stay where it was and not make him sneeze.
He wished he could remember if the people who lived in the house knew he was there. That would make everything so much simpler. If they did, and were keeping him hidden, then there had to be a reason they'd left him alone so long...long enough for the spider he'd been watching to finish her web. It was a pretty little thing, a neat orb cast between floorboards and a support beam.
Glitch let himself get lost in the details, words like radial and spinneret tickling the empty edge of his mind, the context right there but the full meaning muted. The web was artwork, not deathtrap, and in a flash he recalled dew-beaded silk in the light of the first sun, jewel doves stirring in the lilac bushes, the smell of bread from the kitchen windows-
The floorboards creaked and Glitch gasped, the palace gardens immediately gone from his memory. He had to escape he had to- no, be still, be quiet, if he was found he'd be...it would be bad. There was more creaking, and the soft thump of footsteps, and he covered his mouth with his hand, his dust-covered hand and his poor nose did not like that at all.
The thump-creak stopped directly above him. His eyes watered as he fought to keep from sneezing, even as he solemnly thought that it was involuntary and merciful Ozma he was done for now, he was sure of it!
The trap door lifted, destroying the spider's web, and the farmer's wife peered down at him with furrowed brow.
"He's gone," she said, and offered a hand to help him up. "And you'd best go too before he gets back, all right?"
Glitch tried to respond, but all he managed was an explosive sneeze.