OOC: Infopost Time!
Apr. 29th, 2011 01:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dollpocalypseHey all! In light of the infopost train and the fact that I am sick and not in China anymore, here be an introduction to the brilliant, obnoxious boy genius by the name of Topher Brink.
"Did I fall asleep?" / "For a little while."
Topher is from the Joss Whedon science fiction television show Dollhouse which ran on Fox between 2009 and 2010. Dollhouse focuses on a modern-day Los Angeles facility called (fancy that!) the Dollhouse, where clients can come and rent people for various purposes -- sex, theft, friendship, even the odd breastfeeding mother. What makes it different from the average brothel is the fact that the people being rented out, called "Actives" or "dolls," actually believe that they are the people they're sent out to act as. The Dollhouse programmer -- that would be Topher -- loads them up with new personalities, memories, backstories, etc., that will help them complete their tasks, then wipes them to blank slates when they get back.
The two seasons of the show tell the story of one Active (Echo, played by the ass-kicking Eliza Dushku) gaining consciousness and overcoming the blank slate, then taking down the evil Rossum Corporation that runs the Dollhouse. She gets a whole team of Actives and basically the whole Los Angeles staff on her side for the takedown and there's this huge battle with Actives running around with zombie minds. But before all that...
"It would help to get caught up on the state of things here!"
Topher is coming from way, way before all that canon. On the show, we meet him when he's about 25 or 26 and already the head programmer at the Dollhouse; here at Fandom, he's a newly sixteen-year-old sophomore who is way too cocky for his own good. (Then again, he's still that way in canon too, so.) He comes here after insulting his teachers at his old school one too many times. His parents got fed up, checked out boarding schools where he wouldn't be the only smartass around anymore, and... came up with Fandom. Lucky, lucky Fandom students.
"Frankly, ninety percent of the things in my head, no one else knows!"
Right. So. Point the first, and it's important: Topher is a smartass. Genius-level IQ, unparalleled in his programming skills, all that stuff. He literally started the apocalypse using only his own programming without even trying, so, you know, there’s that. He knows exactly how smart he is and isn’t a bit ashamed. Since he was a kid, he’s been lightyears ahead of other kids his age in just about every subject, so as a result, he has a massive superiority complex. So he's cocky, he's arrogant, he's caustic, and he will insult your character and not even see a problem with that. The idea that there will be other smart kids here at Fandom has not even occured to him, and it won't, at least until someone shows him up somehow. In the meantime, he's going to be condescending and will probably brush off everyone else as being inferior to him.
Which brings me to the next thing -- as his work at the Dollhouse suggests, Topher doesn't really see people the way normal folks do. The way he thinks, people are kind of like toys. Adelle Dewitt, head of the Dollhouse and his only mother figure, says fondly at one point, "You have always though of people as playthings." See, Topher doesn't really have friends. He uses people -- learns from them, figures out how they think and what makes them tick, because at his core he is fascinated by brains and how they work. He truly believes that people exist to be toyed with and manipulated by people smarter than them -- i.e., himself. It's not him trying to be mean, that's just how he thinks. (ETA: And people are welcome to start throwing punches if this attitude doesn't jive with your character -- just ask me first. :D) But the idea of actually interacting with people and having friends? Not something he's ever tried before. Oh, he wants friends, deep down -- on the show, he's desperately lonely, and celebrates his birthday in the episode "Haunted" by imprinting an Active to be his friend for the day -- but his attitude has always gotten in the way of that. That said, he will learn a bit about being social once he gets to Fandom, although he may be a little perplexed by the whole ritual at first.
In a nutshell, Topher is a mildly obnoxious, caustic guy with an enormous superiority complex. But he’s also surprisingly funny, occasionally kind, and he actually has a soft spot for some people. If he likes you, he'll show it in the ten-year-old boy kind of way -- by being kind of a snot and bantering back and forth. If he doesn't, he'll probably do the same thing. He's a complex guy, Topher.
Other stuff... Topher is a huge nerd. Programmy science stuff aside, he's just a big dork. He loves him some computer time, and he's bringing about three different computers with him to Fandom, not to mention a whole duffel bag full of tech stuff I don't even want to attempt to give names to. He loves laser tag and has his own laser tag gun set, and will probably start a game in the dorm hallways at some point. He's a Star Trek nerd -- on the show he has a NCC170 tattoo on his left ankle, but I'll go ahead and say he hasn't gotten that yet by this point. And he always wears a silver bracelet that reads "Kill your idols," which is... yeah. That's classic Topher right there. Topher is also a bit agoraphobic, which is part of his hide-in-his-room mentality. He's extremely messy, by the way -- sorry, future roommate -- and will likely have clothes and junk food and toys (yes, toys; this is his office) strewn all over the place by the end of the first week. On the plus side, he has a drawer of inappropriate starches which he will be more than happy to share! Or, well, not happy at all, but he'll share under pressure, how about that.
"It was a nice body! I mean, I covered it up half the time with plaid and cotton-poly blends, but I took pride in my physique!"
Is Fran Kranz. Yup, that's Calvin. Topher will be fascinated by that whole doppelganger thing. You know, sciencey stuff, cloning, whatever. He’ll dork out about it.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let's hear 'em.
"Did I fall asleep?" / "For a little while."
Topher is from the Joss Whedon science fiction television show Dollhouse which ran on Fox between 2009 and 2010. Dollhouse focuses on a modern-day Los Angeles facility called (fancy that!) the Dollhouse, where clients can come and rent people for various purposes -- sex, theft, friendship, even the odd breastfeeding mother. What makes it different from the average brothel is the fact that the people being rented out, called "Actives" or "dolls," actually believe that they are the people they're sent out to act as. The Dollhouse programmer -- that would be Topher -- loads them up with new personalities, memories, backstories, etc., that will help them complete their tasks, then wipes them to blank slates when they get back.
The two seasons of the show tell the story of one Active (Echo, played by the ass-kicking Eliza Dushku) gaining consciousness and overcoming the blank slate, then taking down the evil Rossum Corporation that runs the Dollhouse. She gets a whole team of Actives and basically the whole Los Angeles staff on her side for the takedown and there's this huge battle with Actives running around with zombie minds. But before all that...
"It would help to get caught up on the state of things here!"
Topher is coming from way, way before all that canon. On the show, we meet him when he's about 25 or 26 and already the head programmer at the Dollhouse; here at Fandom, he's a newly sixteen-year-old sophomore who is way too cocky for his own good. (Then again, he's still that way in canon too, so.) He comes here after insulting his teachers at his old school one too many times. His parents got fed up, checked out boarding schools where he wouldn't be the only smartass around anymore, and... came up with Fandom. Lucky, lucky Fandom students.
"Frankly, ninety percent of the things in my head, no one else knows!"
Right. So. Point the first, and it's important: Topher is a smartass. Genius-level IQ, unparalleled in his programming skills, all that stuff. He literally started the apocalypse using only his own programming without even trying, so, you know, there’s that. He knows exactly how smart he is and isn’t a bit ashamed. Since he was a kid, he’s been lightyears ahead of other kids his age in just about every subject, so as a result, he has a massive superiority complex. So he's cocky, he's arrogant, he's caustic, and he will insult your character and not even see a problem with that. The idea that there will be other smart kids here at Fandom has not even occured to him, and it won't, at least until someone shows him up somehow. In the meantime, he's going to be condescending and will probably brush off everyone else as being inferior to him.
Which brings me to the next thing -- as his work at the Dollhouse suggests, Topher doesn't really see people the way normal folks do. The way he thinks, people are kind of like toys. Adelle Dewitt, head of the Dollhouse and his only mother figure, says fondly at one point, "You have always though of people as playthings." See, Topher doesn't really have friends. He uses people -- learns from them, figures out how they think and what makes them tick, because at his core he is fascinated by brains and how they work. He truly believes that people exist to be toyed with and manipulated by people smarter than them -- i.e., himself. It's not him trying to be mean, that's just how he thinks. (ETA: And people are welcome to start throwing punches if this attitude doesn't jive with your character -- just ask me first. :D) But the idea of actually interacting with people and having friends? Not something he's ever tried before. Oh, he wants friends, deep down -- on the show, he's desperately lonely, and celebrates his birthday in the episode "Haunted" by imprinting an Active to be his friend for the day -- but his attitude has always gotten in the way of that. That said, he will learn a bit about being social once he gets to Fandom, although he may be a little perplexed by the whole ritual at first.
In a nutshell, Topher is a mildly obnoxious, caustic guy with an enormous superiority complex. But he’s also surprisingly funny, occasionally kind, and he actually has a soft spot for some people. If he likes you, he'll show it in the ten-year-old boy kind of way -- by being kind of a snot and bantering back and forth. If he doesn't, he'll probably do the same thing. He's a complex guy, Topher.
Other stuff... Topher is a huge nerd. Programmy science stuff aside, he's just a big dork. He loves him some computer time, and he's bringing about three different computers with him to Fandom, not to mention a whole duffel bag full of tech stuff I don't even want to attempt to give names to. He loves laser tag and has his own laser tag gun set, and will probably start a game in the dorm hallways at some point. He's a Star Trek nerd -- on the show he has a NCC170 tattoo on his left ankle, but I'll go ahead and say he hasn't gotten that yet by this point. And he always wears a silver bracelet that reads "Kill your idols," which is... yeah. That's classic Topher right there. Topher is also a bit agoraphobic, which is part of his hide-in-his-room mentality. He's extremely messy, by the way -- sorry, future roommate -- and will likely have clothes and junk food and toys (yes, toys; this is his office) strewn all over the place by the end of the first week. On the plus side, he has a drawer of inappropriate starches which he will be more than happy to share! Or, well, not happy at all, but he'll share under pressure, how about that.
"It was a nice body! I mean, I covered it up half the time with plaid and cotton-poly blends, but I took pride in my physique!"
Is Fran Kranz. Yup, that's Calvin. Topher will be fascinated by that whole doppelganger thing. You know, sciencey stuff, cloning, whatever. He’ll dork out about it.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Let's hear 'em.
