Hey life, if you could just give me a second that would be great...
I'm using this icon because for some reason it tickled Tiffany to no end that I had it/got art for it.
I've reached that point in my fandom obsession (which seems to come up like clockwork after a certain amount of time) where I've started to wonder where various characters would fall on a Meyers-Briggs like assessment. Now, I know that for real life people that test isn't the end-all of personalities. It would be a kind of crummy person who didn't waver at least a little bit on those sort of metrics. I mean, all the questions are based on how you feel at the time you take the test. What if you're feeling a bit more defensive that day and answer questions in a way that makes you seem a lot more stand-offish (and therefore introverted)? It's extremely common for people to get different results when taking the test as little as three days apart. (And let's not even bring up ten-question internet quizzes, they're all but worthless for any real kind of assessment.)
*But* for the sake of say, understanding a character as they appear in a work of fiction, I think personality profiles can be helpful. Characters do change over the course of a work; they learn lessons, they have experiences that change their perceptions, they feel differently about the other characters around them over time. However, I think it is generally considered a sign of good writing for the characters to remain consistent, to behave in a way that makes logical sense for them. After all, why else would we bother with the phrase "in character" to describe good writing?
For a character who appears in a single book or movie (and maybe has one specific journey to take) this is a bit more simple to assess than for one who appears in a saga or series. Batman has been many things over the years, so it's generally necessary to define what era's (or in some cases, which author's) Bats you're talking about if you want to put a definite characterization to the man.
Blahblahblah. Metal Gear.
Where do these characters fall? Lots of tough guys! But- and here's the delightful part of the series, I think one could easily flesh out the whole chart of MB personalities using characters from the series. Obviously it's easier for me to start with the ones I'm more familiar with. Right?
And here, I find myself at an interesting dilemma. Otacon's first letter. I or E?
I is the obvious, gut-driven choice. Shy and awkward research type who shuts himself away to focus on his work. Easy. But...no. Wow it seems almost obvious that he's not an introvert so much as he is an extrovert who has shut himself away to avoid hurting himself, but mostly others. He started running at an early age, and it's not til he's confronted by others with considerable, superhuman strength and abilities that he considers peeking out from the shell he's crafted around himself. He saw no chance of ever causing Wolf any harm, partially because of her strength, but perhaps also because she was unaffected by him at all. He wholeheartedly dived into Philanthropy, and we have every reason to believe that he and Snake became roomies for nearly a decade. (And it's pretty much accepted that Snake would be the one to have trouble adjusting.) And while people die left and right in the series, it's Otacon that actually mourns their passing, generally from the (somewhat juvenile and selfish) pain of having been left alone again. I think it's easy to see that he craves interaction, he really desperately wants attention and affection from others, but he's sort of resigned himself to a life where that's not really something he's going to get. (I think this holds perfectly true in the brief codec call Sunny and Raiden share in Rising, as well.)
Okay, brb. Going to go fill out a chart, cry a little bit, and then continue filling out said chart.
I've reached that point in my fandom obsession (which seems to come up like clockwork after a certain amount of time) where I've started to wonder where various characters would fall on a Meyers-Briggs like assessment. Now, I know that for real life people that test isn't the end-all of personalities. It would be a kind of crummy person who didn't waver at least a little bit on those sort of metrics. I mean, all the questions are based on how you feel at the time you take the test. What if you're feeling a bit more defensive that day and answer questions in a way that makes you seem a lot more stand-offish (and therefore introverted)? It's extremely common for people to get different results when taking the test as little as three days apart. (And let's not even bring up ten-question internet quizzes, they're all but worthless for any real kind of assessment.)
*But* for the sake of say, understanding a character as they appear in a work of fiction, I think personality profiles can be helpful. Characters do change over the course of a work; they learn lessons, they have experiences that change their perceptions, they feel differently about the other characters around them over time. However, I think it is generally considered a sign of good writing for the characters to remain consistent, to behave in a way that makes logical sense for them. After all, why else would we bother with the phrase "in character" to describe good writing?
For a character who appears in a single book or movie (and maybe has one specific journey to take) this is a bit more simple to assess than for one who appears in a saga or series. Batman has been many things over the years, so it's generally necessary to define what era's (or in some cases, which author's) Bats you're talking about if you want to put a definite characterization to the man.
Blahblahblah. Metal Gear.
Where do these characters fall? Lots of tough guys! But- and here's the delightful part of the series, I think one could easily flesh out the whole chart of MB personalities using characters from the series. Obviously it's easier for me to start with the ones I'm more familiar with. Right?
And here, I find myself at an interesting dilemma. Otacon's first letter. I or E?
I is the obvious, gut-driven choice. Shy and awkward research type who shuts himself away to focus on his work. Easy. But...no. Wow it seems almost obvious that he's not an introvert so much as he is an extrovert who has shut himself away to avoid hurting himself, but mostly others. He started running at an early age, and it's not til he's confronted by others with considerable, superhuman strength and abilities that he considers peeking out from the shell he's crafted around himself. He saw no chance of ever causing Wolf any harm, partially because of her strength, but perhaps also because she was unaffected by him at all. He wholeheartedly dived into Philanthropy, and we have every reason to believe that he and Snake became roomies for nearly a decade. (And it's pretty much accepted that Snake would be the one to have trouble adjusting.) And while people die left and right in the series, it's Otacon that actually mourns their passing, generally from the (somewhat juvenile and selfish) pain of having been left alone again. I think it's easy to see that he craves interaction, he really desperately wants attention and affection from others, but he's sort of resigned himself to a life where that's not really something he's going to get. (I think this holds perfectly true in the brief codec call Sunny and Raiden share in Rising, as well.)
Okay, brb. Going to go fill out a chart, cry a little bit, and then continue filling out said chart.