JOURNAL NOT IMPORTANT!!! Application post *is*...
Player Information:
Name or Handle: Tophie
LJ: later_days
Email: metalbenderpwns@aim.com
AIM/ MSN / Plurk name: metalbender pwns / Tophie
Any current characters here?: nope
Character Information:
Character Name: "Uncle" Chan (no one knows his real first name, most everyone calls him Uncle)
Age: ...At least in his 70's. He's canonly a Dog in the Chinese zodiac, and mentioned it had been 60 years since he last saw his buddy, Wing, when he left the Peking Opera. If the series took place in the late 1990's to early 2000's, he was most likely born between January 28, 1922 and February 14, 1923, which would make him... almost 80.
Canon: Jackie Chan Adventures
Appearance: Uncle does indeed have Corellian brandy-brown eyes that peer over a pair of glasses that perch on his nose, without the assistance of ear bits (sad fact: I wear glasses and can't tell you what the ear bits are called). Seriously! I squinted at a picture on his wiki page, and they are, indeed Corellian brandy-brown. I can attest to their amazing, chocolatey hue-- Okay, no, I can't do this for 79 more paragraphs.
ANYWAY. Uncle is a couple inches to a head shorter than most of the other male characters in the series (he's also about 1/3 of Tohru's size, but that's an outlier), and an extra inch or two may be tacked on with his grey anime-style hair. His arms, legs, and torso are thin, but still flexible, even in his old age.
Personality: Generally, Uncle comes off as grouchy and abrasive, even to family. Normally, he can be a bit demanding, such as asking for tea (which he usually complains about being too cold or too hot, and not drinking anymore after that), and then topping off one or two requests or pieces of information with "ONE MORE THING", which tends to get on everyone else's nerves. On at least a couple occasions, Uncle admits he says "one more thing!" too much, but he still does it, most likely due to force of habit. His crankiness is MULTIPLIED TEN-FOLD when sleep-deprived. The books laugh at him and his current problem, re: Dark forces, rush around inside his head like crazy. But even after sleeping (under the power of a powerful sleeping potion *cough*JADE*cough*), he wakes up as his usual cantakerous self. Jade aptly puts it that "all the tea in China couldn't cure Uncle of his crankiness".
On a similar vein, if Uncle does not like you, you will know it. Automatically, the forces of Darkness earn his ire. There is a difference, however, between him being merely annoyed or irked with someone, but actually caring for them, and genuine dislike. The best example is Tohru's mother. He has an arsenal of spider-related nicknames for her, and any time they end up within earshot of each other, they scream, fight, and... generally act like bickering children. So much for maturity with age.... Only once has he forced a smile when referring to her (at Christmas). All other times, Uncle wore a straight face to one of displeasure when talking about her, depending on if she was around during the episode or not.
You can insult him, threaten him and his family, or get on his nerves in general, but you better be prepared to get a piece of Uncle, and it might not turn out well for the offending party.
Uncle is a bit on the traditional Chinese side of things, especially when it comes to respecting one's elders. He also often hits those around him who do or say something wrong with a quick two-fingered strike to the temple. Those who have suffered this include: Jackie (the most, making it a Running Gag), Tohru, Captain Black, Jackie's Dark side (as split with the Tiger talisman), Super Moose, Daolon Wong, Hsi Wu (the Sky demon who had kidnapped him), and even himself on one occasion during the Oni Mask hunt arc (when he blamed himself for Tohru getting kidnapped by Ikatsuki's Shadowkhan).
Once in a while, he does appear to be in a good mood. If something is going right (such as defeat of Dark wizard threatening to overturn the balance of the world), he makes a good deal or a sale, family is found to be safe, and every Christmastime, a smile can be found on Uncle's face. This happens maybe once every three to five episodes that he appears in. There is an exception: he may also smile when using it to lull an unsuspecting Jackie victim Jackie into a false sense of security before he gets reamed out.
He is all about the forces of good, but also keeping the world in balance. He becomes angry if something happens that might upset the delicate balance, such as Shendu's statue being destroyed and setting his spirit adrift. So, if someone goes and kills or destroys the body of some Sith Lord, he'll be off to give the offender a talking to. Alternatively, he will help with all his ability to keep Dark forces at bay should they try to overpower the side of good.
Despite the disbelief and shock his family showed at hearing Uncle's theater name, Chuckles, Uncle has retained some of that prankster/trickster vibe, even sixty years after leaving the Peking Opera. Most of it shows in his magic. Examples include: lack of garlic (or so he says) in an invisibility cure for Tohru's mother (she got green lizard skin, but Uncle had hidden a laugh behind his hand... it's unknown if the effect was intentional or not), how he disrupted Daolon Wong's interference with their locator spell for the Monkey talisman power (a few characters on spell paper, causing a loop of Uncle saying "ONE MORE THING" and blowing a raspberry), and tricking the Enforcers by letting them think they found the noble snake holding the talisman power, when it was really a baby snake still in an egg.
Uncle is very strong, in his mind and will. When Dark forces approach, he tends to get the willies, But does he run? No! He faces them down and gives them a piece of him. He also has no problem walking in and out of a fight zone to get what he needs for a chi spell or where he wants to be. AND WOE TO WHOEVER BLOCKS UNCLE'S READING LIGHT. He hates that. A lot. The offender is promptly kicked out of the way.
With each new evil that appears, Uncle needs more powerful spells than what he knew before. Using the insight he gains from finding out what they may be dealing with, Uncle is able to put together the basis for whichever spells they may need. Also, in field situations, if Uncle knows who and what powers they're dealing with, he can use that knowledge to figure out what may be going on or what has happened (such as figuring out Jackie and Jade had been astral-projected from their bodies and unable to return to them because Daolon Wong had placed a Finishing Charm on them)... even if it takes a few seconds for him to catch on. He's also noted to be quite resourceful. Even with room service proving to be useless for magical potion ingredients, he has found and used substitutes (mayonaisse in place of eel saliva). After all, "must keep up with forces of Darkness".
Despite being smart, it's mostly booksmart. Most modern figures of speech and lingo are lost on him (he knows "like riding a bicycle" though), but that doesn't mean he still can't kick your ass. He is the BAMFiest BAMF to ever BAMF, and that is not something to mess with.
One more thing! Uncle is always right, even when he's wrong... unless he's wrong. But there's no such thing as too much garlic. Never. He cannot be convinced otherwise.
If you are apping a character arriving from another game: This section not important! Knowing blue milk and Jolee Bindo is!
Background:
A long time ago, there was a boy who was with the Seven Little Fortunes opera troupe (the same one the real Jackie Chan was a part of). At that time, he went by the nickname, Chuckles, because of his tendency of being a trickster and practical jokes. He would do things like attach a string to his ankle to perform handless handstands and instead of balancing a raw egg on his face, he used one that was about to hatch. After several years in the Peking opera, he left to follow his calling in magic. Somewhere between then and the early 1970's, he moved to San Francisco, opened an 8-track shop, and took in his young nephew, Jackie Chan. He then trained his nephew, Jackie, fresh in from China, in the ancient art of butt-whoop (kung-fu and other martial arts), began his 15 years of training under Chi Master Fong, and changed his wares from 8-tracks to antiques.
Fast forward to the start of the series. He runs his antique shop and does some of the research on what Jackie brings back from his archaeological digs. The first we see is a shield from a castle in Bavaria, which bears the rooster talisman lodged in the center. But "talisman not important, inscriptions are". He sets Jackie on his quest to find the remaining eleven talismans before the Dark Hand can get them, but Uncle very rarely leaves his shop. The few times he does, it was to go with Jade when they were worried Jackie's temper would get the better of him (he had already been forced out for three days so the landlord could spray for bugs, much to Uncle's great displeasure); to attend the talisman trade-off when Jackie was turning to stone; when he had his youthful energy returned with the Dog talisman, and came along to find the Pig talisman in Bavaria; and then going into the Chinese New Year, he, Jackie, Jade (who joined them in her usual fashion), and a part of Secton 13, led by Captain Black, headed off to Shendu's palace in China, where Jackie and Jade stripped Shendu of his talismans... and then Jade destroyed his statue, which really gets Uncle ticked off.
Next up, demon sorceror banishings! Uncle travels around a lot more, being the one to devise all and cast most of the chi spells to send the demons that Valmont (possessed by Shendu's spirit) and the Enforcers release back into the netherworld. After all the demons were put back, Jade was retrieved out of Shendu's portal (after accidentally getting sucked through Bai Tsa's portal for re-banishment), and an alternate timeline of demons ruling the world was set up and dismantled (story there was Shendu rewriting the Book of Ages, but Jade tore out a piece of the book with her name on it, so she never lost her original memories of the way things were supposed to be), the latter half of the season is filler. Delicious, entertaining filler. A couple drag in Tohru's mom, a few introduce Daolon Wong, some fit in with the first season's timeline, and another messes with everyone's chi and turns Uncle temporarily into the servant of a chi-sucking vampire.
In season three, Uncle continues traveling around with the others, most of the time, making locator spells for the noble animals that now possess talisman powers (the talisman powers had been released when Jackie destroyed the talismans to keep Daolon Wong from possessing them). He also spends a part of that time going head to head with Daolon Wong, or in the episode with the Ox talisman power... head to spirit-head. After being reunited with his body and the super-strength powers returned to the noble yak, 11 powers had been accounted for: nine animals were housed at Section 13, and Daolon Wong had absorbed two powers. With no living dragons in existence, the hunt was over. Except that it wasn't. Daolon Wong made a deal with Shendu, thus creating a living dragon, which Uncle, Jackie, Jade, and Tohru failed to stop from happening. Shendu double-crossed Wong, and took back the three powers he could get before proceeding to Section 13 for the rest. While Jackie and Jade went to protect the animals from Shendu, Uncle, Tohru and some of Section 13 went after Wong and the Enforcers-gone-Dark Chi warriors. Uncle turned the Enforcers back to human, and then wormed out the ancient spell Lo Pei had used to turn Shendu into a statue from Wong. Leading the way to a fully-powered up Shendu, Uncle, Tohru, and Section 13 repeated history and turned Shendu back into a statue, which reformed the talismans. All 12 talismans and Shendu's statue were then locked away into Section 13's vault. After that was a little more filler, but I'm stopping after the first episode of filler, where Uncle takes the group to see his old Peking Opera troupe, now led by his friend, Wing, who he hadn't seen in 60 years. They have a little spat, fall out, but make up in the end, with Uncle saying he hopes it's not another 60 years before they meet again.
What I'm not covering yet is the season four Oni mask hunt, where Tohru takes the lead as the Oni are from Japanese mythology, which he was raised on, leaving Uncle to learn from his apprentice. Season five is hunting for demon chi-infused items, specifically, items like those used to banish Shendu's seven siblings.
One more thing! He is absolutely rubbish when it comes to technology to a point of being almost completely clueless when it comes to computers and other such things. When Jade's laptop crashed and "ate up" Uncle's antique auctions, he smashed it to the floor and began beating it with a broom. He also called it a magic waffle iron and referred to the Web as a spider's web, before being corrected. In a prior season, Jackie had gotten him a fax machine (to which Uncle told him "I get all my facts from books" ...A+ moment, right there), which he began beating with a broom (seeing a pattern?) when the fax Jackie was sending him a picture of the Magisters' symbol. All because it had rang like a phone, made strange noises in his ear, and then began printing off an "evil symbol" (which it was).... Oddly enough, so much so that Jackie took note of it in disbelief, Uncle can send chi spells over the phone.
And for good measure, have a wiki link, which doesn't do the history good at all. 8|
Canon point:
I'll be pulling Uncle from the end of season 3: after Shendu's newly reformed statue and the talismans are stowed in Section 13's vault, and after the filler episode featuring the Chans and Tohru seeing the Peking Opera troupe that Uncle was a part of when he was young. The reason being, it's late enough that he had already been training a reformed Tohru in chi magic, and early enough that there's still room if I decide to do a canon update later on.
If you are apping a character arriving from another game: AAAAAIIIIIIIYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAH!! This section not important either! Rest of application is!
Special Abilities: Uncle is a master chi wizard, able to concoct a variety of spells and potions, but only with the correct ingredients and guidelines on how to make them correctly. His abundance of Good chi has also served as a protector against Dark chi, such as that which made Tohru, blind; Jade, deaf; and Jackie, mute (not entirely sure how to translate that to Force powers specifically). This all is going to translate to strong Force powers that he'll have to get used to, as well as not needing a blowfish, lizard, special paper, etc.
He's also a skilled martial artist. Lost his lightsaber? No sweat. He can take out opponents, even those much larger than himself with quick, precise blows, or paralyzing grips to knock them out. Using sneak tactics when possible work nicely for him too. He just can't go into a full-out fight like Jackie, Jade, or Tohru can. He's still old, you know.
One more thing. Should a powerful-enough Sith come nearby, Uncle will get the willies. If a Daolon Wong ever comes into the game, Uncle will automatically get a case of the willies, as per canon. If you'd rather he didn't get the willies in those instances, then I'll cut it.
Sect: Jedi. There is no other option for him.
Job: He'll be tossed in as a Jedi Consular, studying usage of the Force and how its abilities can be used. If possible, he'll also research how the Sith utilize their powers, see if there's any differences between both sides. Magic must defeat magic, after all.
But if there's an antique/artifact-type shop somewhere, he would love to run that. ;3;
Samples:
First Person:
[For anyone in, say, a 5 mile or so radius, they should be able to hear the first thing out of Uncle's mouth without the assistance of the datapad:]
AAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
[After much hitting of the datapad, Uncle has activated the auditory function! ...But he's still yelling.] --DEVICE IS EEEEEVIL! This place is evil! How could Uncle have been brought to strange place?! One minute in shop with too-cold tea, next minute, Uncle here in nothing but his underpaaaaaaants! Forces of Darkness must Uncle to freeze to death! Why else take clothes from old man?! Nothing here is familiar to Uncle! No tea! No blowfish! No lizard! No half of mung bean sandwich saved from lunch! Hnnnn!
[There's another five minutes or more of a steady stream of complaints about his new lodgings before he notices something else. Or someone else, would be the correct term.... He's found his roommate and given them a patented friendly Uncle welcome: a two-finger strike to the head. He (still) has no idea the datapad is recording....]
You! Where have you taken Uncle and what have you done with his clothes?!
Third Person:
Uncle had been around this strange new world for a few months now, but he was still adjusting. His vast knowledge of chi magic and Chinese mythology was almost no good here, which was a harsh blow to him in the beginning. However, he soon found out his mastery of chi magic served a different purpose here. He had control over a much different sort of magic that he had been told wasn't really magic at all. The Force. Nearly every angle of it could be related to what he knew. There were sides to the Force users: good and evil, yin and yang, light and dark, Jedi and Sith. Day in and day out, he practiced the abilities that came with his new powers. And what powers they were! Some such as healing, push, and telekinesis were almost like using Shendu's talismans, but the effects still needed much concentration and meditation to use.
Out of habit more than anything, he would mutter the incantation he used for most of his chi spells. Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. It did nothing to effect the Force, but it helped Uncle find familiarity and to concentrate on whatever skill he was practicing. He had found some strange incense that smelled of garlic that helped him to focus when dealing with more difficult-to-master abilities, which helped him immensely, but not his roommate.
When he practiced defensive skills, such as Force barrier and Force healing, he imagined protecting his family. When practicing offensive abilities, such as Force wave and Force weapon, he would imagine Daolon Wong, an army of Shendu's Shadowkhan, or even one of the demon sorcerers as his target. All the while, he mystified the other Jedi of his rank as he still muttered the same mantra during his self-training. Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. They didn't know the meaning behind it, but as the old man showed no signs of using the incantation for abilities strongly associated with the Sith, no one bothered to stop him. No one asked him about it either. So, no one knew the depths of how much he missed having his family around, how much he detested the forces of Darkness, and how much being able to find familiarity in a strange new place helped him slowly adjust.
Who said you couldn't teach an old dog new tricks?
Anything Else:
Aiiiiyeeeeaaaah! This is end of application! If Uncle has not added anything important above, Uncle has nothing more to say!
One more thing! [TWO-FINGER STRIKE] GARLIC IS GOOOOOOOOD FOR YOU! NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH GARLIC!