trans 9 application essentials | info about topher brink
Character's name: Topher Brink
Character's LJ: sneezure
Character's canon: Dollhouse (FOX TV show)
Brief (around 300 words) personality outline of your character:
First and foremost, Topher Brink is motivated almost purely by what he can accomplish, with little thought to the possible consequences. He is amoral, but it's something that he gives no thought to rather than a conscious effort. He's almost careless, blinded by all possible things and unable to focus on the right ones. Not only does he want to accomplish amazing things, but he wants someone to commend and recognize him for it.
He is a genius, but beyond that he knows that he's a genius which makes him a total jerk around people who are not as genius as he (and kind of a bumbling, rambling dork around those that can at least match him). It's not an intentional sort of malicious jerkdom but the kind that is simply tired easily when talking to people below his IQ level. Given that he is usually the smartest person in the room, the event that he's talking to people under his brainage occurs regularly and while he tends to react the same to stupidity (which is calling it out and then declaring his superiority) sometimes it seems that he gets a childish revelry from it, when he isn't outright irritated by it. Otherwise, most of the time he reacts as if by saying "I know something you don't know! Ha ha, how do you not know this?" His confidence lies in what he knows, he's very fluid and completely sure of himself when he's explaining how something does or does not work, or introducing a new method or device he's invented. He has to be smacked in the face with his own ignorance to realize that he's done something that doesn't turn out to be as clever as he thinks it is, but rather than getting upset to the point where he just kicks himself, he finds it a challenge to fix. Whenever Topher is questioned or challenged, he gets excited in a way, rather than angry. Depending on the challenge, he may act insulted but ultimately it simply drives him on to prove himself right ever harder. The science he's involved in canonly is groundbreaking, so Topher takes it on assumption that he understands all aspects of it, even if he doesn't. It's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy in that if he doubts himself, maybe he wouldn't be as good at it as he is.
His seeming immaturity is something that permeates through his actions very heavily as well: he has a preference for juiceboxes, whack-a-mole, laser tag and trampolines. He's completely dorky, often heard weaving random bad sci-fi, action movies and other pop cultures into his speech, rather than outright quoting things in a random way. He's terrible at keeping secrets (because of that habit where he wants everyone to know that he knows a lot of things). He often uses text speak (oh em gee) and other kind of douchey and obnoxious things. Topher is terrible at taking responsibility for things that backfire, don't work or otherwise fail and he cannot keep his mouth shut even if his life depends on it. Literally. It's hard to find him taking anything but the science seriously, even down to things that other people find very important. Despite all of that, he really cares a lot about what people think of him, so much so that he seems to create this environment of underestimation around him. Not that it's entirely conscious on his part, but there is a certain caliber of incompetence to him. Whether it's because of his fragile mental state, his absent-mindedness due to extreme focus on his work or something a little more purporseful, it serves to put people at an ease in regard to his enormous genius. Oh, there's Topher the mad scientist who has a medical degree but gets squicky when someone says 'erection' instead of 'man reaction.' Don't worry about him, he'd never invent something to destroy the world. Except he kind of did.
One thing in particular that is important about Topher is how he treats the actives. They have been described as his 'toys' and his boss mentions that he takes very good care of his toys. This could be likened to a puppeteer with his puppets, or to a child with action figures that he treats as real people. He cares for them, makes sure they're not left out or unhappy and has little routines and rituals with them. These routines, especially, are part of the process that Topher takes very seriously. As the actives begin to grow beyond their blank slate stage, the way he treats them changes with it. He doesn't view them so much as toys anymore, instead elevating especially Echo to an equal level because of their obvious uniqueness among all of the actives.
Sometimes he does get annoyed with the actives, but quite often only because they aren't working to his expectations. Anomalies make him cranky and intrigued given the right circumstance. Natural progression and things that make sense pique his interest. A random factor that makes no sense to him and is something that shouldn't happen however, will make Topher irritated and snappy. He rarely ever gets outright angry, unless the quality of his work is being questioned. Even then, he becomes more irate at the lower IQ'd folk trying to call him out.
Along with his proficency in neuroscience, Topher does seem to be hyperaware of the actions and psychology of others. Part of this could be because he has to keep a close eye on his actives, but it extends into his personal relationships as well. He can often be heard dissecting the motivations or intents of others, which is sad given that he misses one huge event revealed at the end of the series that effectively changes everything. While he was busy trying to impress superiors, advance science, tell other people what they're thinking and why they're thinking it, he completely misses the biggest issue. Unfortunately, Topher's not exactly a big picture kind of thinker.
Brief (around 500 words) history and background of your character OR link to a really good wiki page with their history. In either case, explain where they cut off from the timeline:
This wiki represents a good history up until about two-thirds into the second season. Picking up from where the wiki leaves off, Topher works with his coworkers and now friends to right what he feels has been the wrong he created; the portable wiping and imprinting technology. He blindly confides in the man he slated as his best friend and then helps the man fix the tech he created originally to make a finished product. It's too late by the time that it's revealed that this previously thought best friend is in fact the main Big Bad of the series, and that Topher has helped him achieve his nefarious endgame in making the dangerous tech quite operational. Showing a little more cajones than he'd originally been thought to have, Topher keeps it together since he left a contingency that involved imprinting one of the dolls with his personality in order to give them clues to help out. When he and his boss are being held captive by previous best friend man's lackeys, his contingency plan comes into play when the doll that imprinted with Topher was restored back to his original personality with a few combat enhancements. The doll and another show up to free Topher and his boss, and rather than expressing outright joy at being free, Topher pats himself on the back for a job well done.
Later when things seem to be going down the drain, Topher saves one of the dolls by correctly guessing that BFF man is himself an imprint, meaning that Topher's wiping tech will work on him. He saves both his doll and a coworker by catching BFF by surprise from behind by using the remote wipe device on him. In the end, he believes he's helped save the day, relieved that he was not the cause of the end of the world. Canon gives us a glimpse into the future where things have fallen apart but Topher would be removed from the timeframe that he believes the world is safe from his technology.
If the character has magic, mutant, or otherwise metahuman abilities, please explain what they are and outline EXACTLY how they function, as their powers may not work due to the nature of the ship or may need to be limited somehow:
None.
Non-superhuman special abilities of note (Is your character a master ventriloquist? A naturally-occurring super-genius? The best martial artist in the world? Say so here):
Topher is the aforementioned super-genius. He also classifies himself a mad scientist and has been called the King of All Things Neuro. He has a talent for putting together several different aspects of a personality to create one that can accomplish whatever task the active is hired to do. He's also credited with improving the technology the Dollhouse uses, speeding up the imprinting and wiping process down to a matter of seconds rather than an hour. He developed portable technology designed to 'disrupt' an active and 'wipe' an active which developed into the ability to imprint any person (even those without the active architecture in their brain) remotely. He's also a pretty good laser tag player, he's proficient in whack-a-mole, and it's safe to call him a video game aficionado.
Character's LJ: sneezure
Character's canon: Dollhouse (FOX TV show)
Brief (around 300 words) personality outline of your character:
First and foremost, Topher Brink is motivated almost purely by what he can accomplish, with little thought to the possible consequences. He is amoral, but it's something that he gives no thought to rather than a conscious effort. He's almost careless, blinded by all possible things and unable to focus on the right ones. Not only does he want to accomplish amazing things, but he wants someone to commend and recognize him for it.
He is a genius, but beyond that he knows that he's a genius which makes him a total jerk around people who are not as genius as he (and kind of a bumbling, rambling dork around those that can at least match him). It's not an intentional sort of malicious jerkdom but the kind that is simply tired easily when talking to people below his IQ level. Given that he is usually the smartest person in the room, the event that he's talking to people under his brainage occurs regularly and while he tends to react the same to stupidity (which is calling it out and then declaring his superiority) sometimes it seems that he gets a childish revelry from it, when he isn't outright irritated by it. Otherwise, most of the time he reacts as if by saying "I know something you don't know! Ha ha, how do you not know this?" His confidence lies in what he knows, he's very fluid and completely sure of himself when he's explaining how something does or does not work, or introducing a new method or device he's invented. He has to be smacked in the face with his own ignorance to realize that he's done something that doesn't turn out to be as clever as he thinks it is, but rather than getting upset to the point where he just kicks himself, he finds it a challenge to fix. Whenever Topher is questioned or challenged, he gets excited in a way, rather than angry. Depending on the challenge, he may act insulted but ultimately it simply drives him on to prove himself right ever harder. The science he's involved in canonly is groundbreaking, so Topher takes it on assumption that he understands all aspects of it, even if he doesn't. It's sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy in that if he doubts himself, maybe he wouldn't be as good at it as he is.
His seeming immaturity is something that permeates through his actions very heavily as well: he has a preference for juiceboxes, whack-a-mole, laser tag and trampolines. He's completely dorky, often heard weaving random bad sci-fi, action movies and other pop cultures into his speech, rather than outright quoting things in a random way. He's terrible at keeping secrets (because of that habit where he wants everyone to know that he knows a lot of things). He often uses text speak (oh em gee) and other kind of douchey and obnoxious things. Topher is terrible at taking responsibility for things that backfire, don't work or otherwise fail and he cannot keep his mouth shut even if his life depends on it. Literally. It's hard to find him taking anything but the science seriously, even down to things that other people find very important. Despite all of that, he really cares a lot about what people think of him, so much so that he seems to create this environment of underestimation around him. Not that it's entirely conscious on his part, but there is a certain caliber of incompetence to him. Whether it's because of his fragile mental state, his absent-mindedness due to extreme focus on his work or something a little more purporseful, it serves to put people at an ease in regard to his enormous genius. Oh, there's Topher the mad scientist who has a medical degree but gets squicky when someone says 'erection' instead of 'man reaction.' Don't worry about him, he'd never invent something to destroy the world. Except he kind of did.
One thing in particular that is important about Topher is how he treats the actives. They have been described as his 'toys' and his boss mentions that he takes very good care of his toys. This could be likened to a puppeteer with his puppets, or to a child with action figures that he treats as real people. He cares for them, makes sure they're not left out or unhappy and has little routines and rituals with them. These routines, especially, are part of the process that Topher takes very seriously. As the actives begin to grow beyond their blank slate stage, the way he treats them changes with it. He doesn't view them so much as toys anymore, instead elevating especially Echo to an equal level because of their obvious uniqueness among all of the actives.
Sometimes he does get annoyed with the actives, but quite often only because they aren't working to his expectations. Anomalies make him cranky and intrigued given the right circumstance. Natural progression and things that make sense pique his interest. A random factor that makes no sense to him and is something that shouldn't happen however, will make Topher irritated and snappy. He rarely ever gets outright angry, unless the quality of his work is being questioned. Even then, he becomes more irate at the lower IQ'd folk trying to call him out.
Along with his proficency in neuroscience, Topher does seem to be hyperaware of the actions and psychology of others. Part of this could be because he has to keep a close eye on his actives, but it extends into his personal relationships as well. He can often be heard dissecting the motivations or intents of others, which is sad given that he misses one huge event revealed at the end of the series that effectively changes everything. While he was busy trying to impress superiors, advance science, tell other people what they're thinking and why they're thinking it, he completely misses the biggest issue. Unfortunately, Topher's not exactly a big picture kind of thinker.
Brief (around 500 words) history and background of your character OR link to a really good wiki page with their history. In either case, explain where they cut off from the timeline:
This wiki represents a good history up until about two-thirds into the second season. Picking up from where the wiki leaves off, Topher works with his coworkers and now friends to right what he feels has been the wrong he created; the portable wiping and imprinting technology. He blindly confides in the man he slated as his best friend and then helps the man fix the tech he created originally to make a finished product. It's too late by the time that it's revealed that this previously thought best friend is in fact the main Big Bad of the series, and that Topher has helped him achieve his nefarious endgame in making the dangerous tech quite operational. Showing a little more cajones than he'd originally been thought to have, Topher keeps it together since he left a contingency that involved imprinting one of the dolls with his personality in order to give them clues to help out. When he and his boss are being held captive by previous best friend man's lackeys, his contingency plan comes into play when the doll that imprinted with Topher was restored back to his original personality with a few combat enhancements. The doll and another show up to free Topher and his boss, and rather than expressing outright joy at being free, Topher pats himself on the back for a job well done.
Later when things seem to be going down the drain, Topher saves one of the dolls by correctly guessing that BFF man is himself an imprint, meaning that Topher's wiping tech will work on him. He saves both his doll and a coworker by catching BFF by surprise from behind by using the remote wipe device on him. In the end, he believes he's helped save the day, relieved that he was not the cause of the end of the world. Canon gives us a glimpse into the future where things have fallen apart but Topher would be removed from the timeframe that he believes the world is safe from his technology.
If the character has magic, mutant, or otherwise metahuman abilities, please explain what they are and outline EXACTLY how they function, as their powers may not work due to the nature of the ship or may need to be limited somehow:
None.
Non-superhuman special abilities of note (Is your character a master ventriloquist? A naturally-occurring super-genius? The best martial artist in the world? Say so here):
Topher is the aforementioned super-genius. He also classifies himself a mad scientist and has been called the King of All Things Neuro. He has a talent for putting together several different aspects of a personality to create one that can accomplish whatever task the active is hired to do. He's also credited with improving the technology the Dollhouse uses, speeding up the imprinting and wiping process down to a matter of seconds rather than an hour. He developed portable technology designed to 'disrupt' an active and 'wipe' an active which developed into the ability to imprint any person (even those without the active architecture in their brain) remotely. He's also a pretty good laser tag player, he's proficient in whack-a-mole, and it's safe to call him a video game aficionado.