The Longest Character Survey, redux
It's been almost a year since I first filled out the Longest Character Survey Ever. I've made some changes since then, because I'm an unrepentant kind of horrible RPer like that. Also, Lost Days has finally finished, so now I have to adjust some of my answers!
Updated: May 18, 2011.
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Jason is 6'0" and muscular. Of the four male Batkids, he is Bruce's best physical replacement. They are comparative in terms of their combative strengths/weaknesses.
2. How old is he?
In current canon and in C&C, I believe he is now about twenty, although Lost Days makes this less clear to me. Six months after he dies at 16, he is resurrected; he spends a year in a coma and on the streets. Then he spends a year (?) with Talia and the League. Then he spends a year (?) training. So... 19. Then we'll toss in a year or so for all the stuff he's done after Under the Hood, and that leaves him at 20 or 21.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
His posture is... pretty unremarkable. He carries himself confidently, and while he is capable of being very serious business disciplined, he is more likely to be ostentatiously casual, to saunter a bit, and be more flexible and quick than a guy his size should be.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Jason's health is excellent. After he died, he never picked up smoking again; his new lungs weren't as into it. It was an irrelevant habit.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Though not always what you might call "graceful", Jason is balanced, smooth, and fluid. He may not be as acrobatic as Dick, but he is still surprisingly light on his feet, especially for a guy his size. There are definitely moments of grace in his fighting; it's just not a habitual thing. He favors brutal practicality over elegance, but there is room for overlap in those categories.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
Ravager seemed to be pretty into him, so I think it's safe to say he's at least a rugged sort of attractive. I like to think of his mouth as very expressive even when he's not talking. He's okay with what he sees in the mirror, but mostly indifferent. There's a part of him that's significantly alienated from himself and who he is, part of who he is being his appearance, due to dying and coming back to life. He wears two masks... it's out of necessity, arguably, but I think you can also look at it as something more significant.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
So there's basically a tacit agreement to ignore Morrison's stuff, right? B|
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Short black hair with a hint of curl, though Lost Days #4 and #5 have him with floppy, overgrown hair. The white streak he has during the Hush storyline is probably cosmetic. Also ignoring Morrison's stuff, his stubble is black, not red. (SUCK IT, GRANT.)
9. What color are his eyes?
Light blue. Lost Days shows that, post death, at least, Jason's eyes are very cold, almost silvery. Not, it may be worth noting, unlike Bruce's eyes, which are also (at least in Under the Hood) depicted as an icy sort of blue.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Scars. There is one across his throat from where Bruce banked the batarang off the pipe and slashed Jason. He does not have a sizable scar on his head, or else, as I understand it, he would not grow hair there and that would probably be pretty noticeable. His hands are old for his age, rough but strong. Some of his other scars have been healed over by the Lazarus Pit and are fairly faint.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
Shoulders.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
A Donna Troy in dear_mun called his look "very James Dean", and I think that fits. The point of Red Hood's outfit is that it isn't a uniform, it's not a costume, it's relatively (comparatively) normal clothing with body armor. He wore a blue suit before during the storyline We Do Not Speak Of, which if I recall correctly was hideous like everything in that story was hideous. I discount this out of horror, but he does like blue. In Lost Days we see him in a dark blue track jacket over a red hoodie and a gray t-shirt with jeans. (Is it worth noting that after being fired, Dick wore the reverse red jacket, blue hoodie?)
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
They fit fine. He seems comfortable in them. In Lost Days, we see that the jacket and hoodie combination is fairly loose, comfortable rather than form-fitting.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
Yeah, I'm not sure Jason has "free time", exactly? He doesn't really have a dual life like Dick and Tim, he just does what he does 24/7. So... yes, essentially he dresses the same all the time, unless he's making friends with Dick's friends and attending fashion shows to catcall at Dick. Sometimes he'll wear a t-shirt instead of body armor. If he really had free time, not just "time during which I am not working but refuse to call it a waste," he'd be pretty damn casual. Sweat pants, t-shirts.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxers. Black. :3
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Jason is a deep tenor. He sounds his age, at least without the helmet on. I would wager that "most convincing Batman voice" actually goes to Dick, not Jason. But Jason isn't bad, he just tends to put more of himself into the "command tone."
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
Quickly and easily. He's a talker. (Except when he's being difficult.)
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
I would imagine he has a bit of a New Jersey accent.
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
Spanish (fluent), Mandarin (fluent), Japanese (conversational), French (conversational), German (conversational), Russian (conversational). Possibly more.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
No. ... okay, once, in a C&C meme, he called the Riddler "my little cabbage head" in French.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
He's definitely a talker, like I said, and he just says things all the time that are right out of the moment.
- "Wow. Hey. Hi there. Are you guys here to fix the toilet?"
- "Oh, my goodness gracious. I've been bamboozled!"
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Well, he's sort of eloquent. ... In a deliberately crude way. Very, if I may be excused for saying so, American.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
Jason is street smart, and has been since they decided he was a city kid stealing wheels off the Batmobile. But he is also intelligent in other ways. Just when you think he's nothing but a thug, he breaks out of that with something that surprises you. He's an excellent student (when he wants to be). He absorbed six months of Robining when he was twelve, and what he was taught stuck with him. He will spent any amount of time that is necessary to learn what he thinks is valuable for dealing with mission, even things that aren't really combat-oriented; according to Lost Days #3, he spent months with a chemist.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
Deliberation seems to be his weak point, really. Thinking on his feet is what he does best. There's something Dick says to him which is like, "the problem with you, Jason, is that you never think things through!" I don't totally agree with that, but there are things Jason knows well and doesn't have to think through, versus things he doesn't know well and does need to think through (but doesn't always). In Lost Days we see him screw up big time a few times, but he manages to get out of both situations with quick thinking.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
It's not that Jason is illogical, but he can only follow reason so far before it gets derailed by emotion/instinct. He's practical, very much a cynic. Idealism was never a part of his character. The fact that he condones killing criminals is brought up quite early in his career as Robin.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
For a while, he had an excellent education as provided by Bruce Fucking Wayne. After that, though, he had to educate himself, which he did with Talia's help. Still, he never finished high school and didn't go to college. He doesn't care about this as much as he should. :C JASON GO TO SCHOOL.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
Um, he would make a great mercenary or terrorist, what with his experience with explosives and weaponry. I think his other area of expertise is "Batfamily", which is... not very useful outside of Gotham and certain activities, like trolling them. But he also does some spying and intelligence-gathering.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
By the dictionary definition, extrovert. This is not to say he doesn't have introverted characteristics, particularly at first early on in his Lost Days career. But life kept issuing him the challenge of staying alive, and Jason kept answering it, coming alive one piece at a time.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
He can go from joking and taunting to rage in about .000034 seconds, if you push the right buttons. Even when he is angry, he tends to space it out with mockery and a kind of malicious playfulness. Alone, those things fade, and he's definitely more quiet and melancholy. It's when he's surrounded by and responding to people that he's fully and actively alive.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
Brash, confident, suspicious hidden inside a smile. With guys he may troll harder than he might with girls, just in general. Though really he handles new situations the same way he handles everything else, which is to say, like a Bat. He's almost always ready.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
Act.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Fight.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Dark and offensive. He's not usually politically incorrect and he doesn't do potty humor, but he trolls so hard. It's pretty obnoxious. Sometimes he's mildly politically incorrect. As Lost Days #5 shows, he's... not a big fan of England.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Oh boy. Uh. As Delirium put it in C&C, the crowbar broke something inside his head, and being dipped in a Lazarus pit (while Ra's is sitting in it, even) does not, actually, help your sanity. In canon he ranges from a bit of a sociopath to just kind of grumpy and violent, to BATSHIT MOTHERFUCKING CRAZY. I try to play a compromise of all these in that normally, he is a grumpy/violent quasi-sociopath who can degrade into batshit craziness under the right circumstances. Most of the time he's perfectly functional, capable of moving among the populace without causing trouble. When he's been living in the "the world" for a while ("the world" here referring to the world of superheroes, supervillains, and related activities, as read in Gotham Central), he enters a different mode.
That said, C&C Jason is pretty sane. I mean, comparably. He's calmed down, he's decided to (try to) move on from his Issues with the Batfamily, he's making an effort to do things other than vigilantism (though honestly, mercenary work is not a big leap). Backsliding is a very real possibility, though. He's already shown he can't really let go, because he's still hanging out with Carrie, and he made an effort to take care of Dick and Tim when they were kids.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
I hate this question.
Stealing the wheel off the Batmobile.
Letting that dude fall to his death.
Being killed by the Joker.
Clawing his way out of his coffin.
Batman choosing to save the Joker's life by throwing a batarang into Jason's neck.
Killing the Joker on Earth 52.
14. What does he fear?
He's afraid of looking like an idiot. He's afraid of getting old. He's not afraid of enclosed spaces but they make him uncomfortable and edgy. And I don't know if this is something he's really "afraid" of, but he doesn't want to be alone in this mission. He wants a partner.
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
Jason actually has similar goals as the Batfamily, he's just going about them in a really violent and sometimes poorly planned way. He wants to save Gotham, and he's not against killing people that he thinks deserve it. What he said to Mia when he kidnapped her was "sometimes very bad things have to be done to do a great right" [*].
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
He would prefer that people not know anything about his relationship with Bruce, just because that's a very private thing. Like that he actually cried when Bruce didn't kill the Joker but bataranged him in the neck instead he's not embarrassed about having cried, it's just, y'know, private.
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
Fffft, well. His father was kind of a dickwad who ended up in jail and then when he got out, never came back around (and then got killed by Two-Face). His adoptive mother died when he was young. And his real mother sold him out to the Joker (although she felt bad about it later).
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
Only child.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
Nope.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
There have been times when Jason has, in his own fundamentally fucked up way, reached out to the Batfamily. During the New York storyline, the note he leaves for Dick even mentions his desire for them to be a family again (although he'd just spent most of the storyline masquerading as Nightwing and being fairly obnoxious). He wanted to work together with Tim, even though he'd beaten the crap out of him before. He's never reached out to Babs that I know of, but I don't think he knows that she's Oracle. "A Death in the Family" comes after "The Killing Joke", but...
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Jason didn't have one, sadly, and he still doesn't. In C&C, his best friend is Danny Rand (IRON FIST yeah I don't even know). They met when Danny, at the time a bartender or waiter or something I DON'T CARE, offered Jason a free drink for his multiversal woes. Somehow it took off from there.
6. Does he have other close friends?
Nope. He tried. He tried with Mia, and even with Tim, but no.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
Haha. Jason is a jerk and he doesn't let people close. When he does reach out to people, he invariably fucks it up. So yes, he has trouble getting along with people, to say the least.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
It's not like he has any friends, but family anyway.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Single.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
No.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
Like Dick, Batgirl. During Countdown, he got a bit attached to Donna Troy, but that's pretty much over with. In C&C, he was interested in Monet St. Croix, and now he's sort of interested in Miho (from Sin City) they aren't, uh. Dating, really. They are sleeping together, and hanging out a lot, but Miho ain't a girlfriend type of girl and Jason is keenly aware of that even though they've never talked about it.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
He doesn't, honestly. At this point, he'd be looking for someone who just gives a shit about him. If he were looking, which he isn't, because he's just about resigned to having to do what he does alone.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
No and no. Well... he might (want some children) if he were less fucked up, because he fully recognizes he is fucked up and he would never inflict that on a kid.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
The Batfamily. Also, Black Mask and probably you can still count the Joker, even though Jason is more or less over it. "It" being the whole beaten to half to death then exploded thing.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
I feel like Jason identifies straight and is about a 2 on the Kinsey scale. Even with his lack of experience (see the next question), he's lived in Gotham and traveled the world. He's seen and experienced a lot. He's not at all concerned with his sexuality, he's more concerned about having actual relationships with people. In that respect he's a little bendy, but he has underlying issues with most guys, and an attachment to conventional emotional gender roles. He's just more likely to go for girls.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
It's not important to him at all. Talia had to initiate, though to be fair Talia was sort of translucently manipulating him. And Jason was aware of that, but hey, it's cool. >_> I think he then basically forgot about it, because he's very driven and focused. He's kind of like Bruce in that regard, only he doesn't have dozens of women throwing themselves at his feet. But he's comfortable as hell about it. He would never, as the phrase goes, "use sex as a weapon" because that's 1) creepy, coming from him 2) he's actually too sensitive (yes, sensitive!) to do something like that. That's why you see him getting all attached to Donna when she doesn't actually care for him in that way (or that's how I read it, anyway). And he gets jealous of Miho sometimes even though he has a good handle on it and doesn't show it much.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
Jason's primary language is violence, and this can bleed over. It's not that he can't be gentle, or doesn't want to be gentle especially with girls it's just what he knows and is accustomed to. And the statement about girls is a generalized one. You see him showing a less crazy/violent side to Donna; but he wouldn't necessarily treat, say, Rose Wilson the same way. As far as dynamics go, Jason is a dominant/top. He likes his control and is very attentive. He likes leaving marks, and is a bit bitey and oral in general. For the most part, though, he's pretty vanilla and perfectly okay with staying with softplay stuff, but if allowed, he would involve his knife in things (shut up, he cleans it). He might push the pain/pleasure thing a little, which I think is more or less requisite as a vigilante.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
I hate this question. Go away.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
As someone who's come back from the dead, Jason is well aware there are forces beyond normal comprehension active in the world. That said, he's not a believer, and he's not especially spiritual either.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Jason has a code. He only kills people who "deserve" it, which seems to mean drug dealers, rapists, and murderers. But in an issue of Robin, he definitely tries to shoot Tim, and would have shot a bystander if Tim hadn't shielded them. ... This was right after he was all sad because Tim wouldn't work with him. In Under the Hood, after he's killed various drug minions, he tells Bruce he's only talking about killing the Joker, not the other rogues, "because he took me away from you." This inconsistency is clearly an emotional one. It doesn't necessarily contradict the code, which seems to be more about dirtbags and less about the rogue's gallery. This began quite early on when he was Robin and was renewed after he woke up.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
He might give people shit about it but in reality he usually doesn't care. Unless the belief is "we shouldn't kill people, even murderers, even the Joker," anyway.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Stupid clowns. He also doesn't think much of most superheroes. "I learned the cape-and-cowl game's for suckers." He thinks rich people are worthless, even referencing Ollie and Bruce's backgrounds as part of what makes them practice their non-killing thing.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Talia was initially Jason's sugardaddy, but I think after Bruce bataranged him, he probably fell out of contact with her. Otherwise, I think Jason probably just takes whatever he needs from criminals. He's comfortable by his standards, which is not necessarily comfortable by conventional standards.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
... look. He's a fucking vigilante 24/7, he doesn't have social status. Unless "was dead" and "now isn't dead" counts?
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
Jason does not share >:E ... no but he lives in apartments that are dumps, and he doesn't give a fuck.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
Guns. Explosives. Gadgetry. Motorcycles. Security equipment.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
He... kills criminals and takes their stuff? He's very good at that, and it's sort of fun at first but gets boring later on.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
Gah, this "free time" concept just does not exist for Jason. Either he has no free time or all his time is free time. His interests and hobbies are all related to what he does. He likes stalking and spying on people (naturally), researching for heists, working out, training, pretending to be a real person instead of an insane borderline sociopathic anti-hero bastard, beating up criminals, eating.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
Jason eats crappily, and he knows it and tries to eat better but it's kind of fucking hard, okay, when you don't always live in a place where the fridge works, or when you're too busy staking out places and punching people to go grocery shopping. He basically subsists on already prepared food, whether it's takeout or just something from the supermarket. And he does like a beer every now and then. He doesn't like fish. He does like coffee, and ethnic food (Indian, Thai, Chinese, Ethiopian).
END
{{ Get the HTML here so you can do it yourself. }}
Updated: May 18, 2011.
Body and Appearance
1. Describe the character's height and build. Is he heavyset, thin, short, rangy?
Jason is 6'0" and muscular. Of the four male Batkids, he is Bruce's best physical replacement. They are comparative in terms of their combative strengths/weaknesses.
2. How old is he?
In current canon and in C&C, I believe he is now about twenty, although Lost Days makes this less clear to me. Six months after he dies at 16, he is resurrected; he spends a year in a coma and on the streets. Then he spends a year (?) with Talia and the League. Then he spends a year (?) training. So... 19. Then we'll toss in a year or so for all the stuff he's done after Under the Hood, and that leaves him at 20 or 21.
3. Describe his posture. Does he carry himself well or does he slouch?
His posture is... pretty unremarkable. He carries himself confidently, and while he is capable of being very serious business disciplined, he is more likely to be ostentatiously casual, to saunter a bit, and be more flexible and quick than a guy his size should be.
4. How is his health? Is he fit or out of shape? Any illnesses or conditions? Any physical disabilities?
Jason's health is excellent. After he died, he never picked up smoking again; his new lungs weren't as into it. It was an irrelevant habit.
5. How does he move? Is he clumsy, graceful, tense, fluid?
Though not always what you might call "graceful", Jason is balanced, smooth, and fluid. He may not be as acrobatic as Dick, but he is still surprisingly light on his feet, especially for a guy his size. There are definitely moments of grace in his fighting; it's just not a habitual thing. He favors brutal practicality over elegance, but there is room for overlap in those categories.
6. How attractive is this character physically? How does he perceive himself in the mirror?
Ravager seemed to be pretty into him, so I think it's safe to say he's at least a rugged sort of attractive. I like to think of his mouth as very expressive even when he's not talking. He's okay with what he sees in the mirror, but mostly indifferent. There's a part of him that's significantly alienated from himself and who he is, part of who he is being his appearance, due to dying and coming back to life. He wears two masks... it's out of necessity, arguably, but I think you can also look at it as something more significant.
7. Describe his complexion. Dark, light, clear, scarred?
So there's basically a tacit agreement to ignore Morrison's stuff, right? B|
8. Describe his hair: color, texture, style.
Short black hair with a hint of curl, though Lost Days #4 and #5 have him with floppy, overgrown hair. The white streak he has during the Hush storyline is probably cosmetic. Also ignoring Morrison's stuff, his stubble is black, not red. (SUCK IT, GRANT.)
9. What color are his eyes?
Light blue. Lost Days shows that, post death, at least, Jason's eyes are very cold, almost silvery. Not, it may be worth noting, unlike Bruce's eyes, which are also (at least in Under the Hood) depicted as an icy sort of blue.
10. Does the character have any other noteworthy features?
Scars. There is one across his throat from where Bruce banked the batarang off the pipe and slashed Jason. He does not have a sizable scar on his head, or else, as I understand it, he would not grow hair there and that would probably be pretty noticeable. His hands are old for his age, rough but strong. Some of his other scars have been healed over by the Lazarus Pit and are fairly faint.
11. What are his chief tension centers?
Shoulders.
12. What is the character's wardrobe like? Casual, dressy, utilitarian? Bright colors, pastels, neutrals? Is it varied, or does he have six of the same suit?
A Donna Troy in dear_mun called his look "very James Dean", and I think that fits. The point of Red Hood's outfit is that it isn't a uniform, it's not a costume, it's relatively (comparatively) normal clothing with body armor. He wore a blue suit before during the storyline We Do Not Speak Of, which if I recall correctly was hideous like everything in that story was hideous. I discount this out of horror, but he does like blue. In Lost Days we see him in a dark blue track jacket over a red hoodie and a gray t-shirt with jeans. (Is it worth noting that after being fired, Dick wore the reverse red jacket, blue hoodie?)
13. Do his clothes fit well? Does he seem comfortable in them?
They fit fine. He seems comfortable in them. In Lost Days, we see that the jacket and hoodie combination is fairly loose, comfortable rather than form-fitting.
14. Does he dress the same on the job as he does in his free time? If not, what are the differences?
Yeah, I'm not sure Jason has "free time", exactly? He doesn't really have a dual life like Dick and Tim, he just does what he does 24/7. So... yes, essentially he dresses the same all the time, unless he's making friends with Dick's friends and attending fashion shows to catcall at Dick. Sometimes he'll wear a t-shirt instead of body armor. If he really had free time, not just "time during which I am not working but refuse to call it a waste," he'd be pretty damn casual. Sweat pants, t-shirts.
15. You knew it was coming: Boxers, briefs or commando?
Boxers. Black. :3
Speech
1. What does this character's voice sound like? High-pitched, deep, hoarse?
Jason is a deep tenor. He sounds his age, at least without the helmet on. I would wager that "most convincing Batman voice" actually goes to Dick, not Jason. But Jason isn't bad, he just tends to put more of himself into the "command tone."
2. How does he normally speak? Loud, soft, fast, evenly? Does he talk easily, or does he hesitate?
Quickly and easily. He's a talker. (Except when he's being difficult.)
3. Does the character have a distinct accent or dialect? Any individual quirks of pronunciation? Any, like, you know, verbal tics?
I would imagine he has a bit of a New Jersey accent.
4. What language/s does he speak, and with how much fluency?
Spanish (fluent), Mandarin (fluent), Japanese (conversational), French (conversational), German (conversational), Russian (conversational). Possibly more.
5. Does he switch languages or dialects in certain situations?
No. ... okay, once, in a C&C meme, he called the Riddler "my little cabbage head" in French.
6. Is he a good impromptu speaker, or does he have to think about his words?
He's definitely a talker, like I said, and he just says things all the time that are right out of the moment.
- "Wow. Hey. Hi there. Are you guys here to fix the toilet?"
- "Oh, my goodness gracious. I've been bamboozled!"
7. Is he eloquent or inarticulate? Under what circumstances might this change?
Well, he's sort of eloquent. ... In a deliberately crude way. Very, if I may be excused for saying so, American.
Mental and Emotional
1. How intelligent is this character? Is he book-smart or street-smart?
Jason is street smart, and has been since they decided he was a city kid stealing wheels off the Batmobile. But he is also intelligent in other ways. Just when you think he's nothing but a thug, he breaks out of that with something that surprises you. He's an excellent student (when he wants to be). He absorbed six months of Robining when he was twelve, and what he was taught stuck with him. He will spent any amount of time that is necessary to learn what he thinks is valuable for dealing with mission, even things that aren't really combat-oriented; according to Lost Days #3, he spent months with a chemist.
2. Does he think on his feet, or does he need time to deliberate?
Deliberation seems to be his weak point, really. Thinking on his feet is what he does best. There's something Dick says to him which is like, "the problem with you, Jason, is that you never think things through!" I don't totally agree with that, but there are things Jason knows well and doesn't have to think through, versus things he doesn't know well and does need to think through (but doesn't always). In Lost Days we see him screw up big time a few times, but he manages to get out of both situations with quick thinking.
3. Describe the character's thought process. Is he more logical, or more intuitive? Idealistic or practical?
It's not that Jason is illogical, but he can only follow reason so far before it gets derailed by emotion/instinct. He's practical, very much a cynic. Idealism was never a part of his character. The fact that he condones killing criminals is brought up quite early in his career as Robin.
4. What kind of education has the character had?
For a while, he had an excellent education as provided by Bruce Fucking Wayne. After that, though, he had to educate himself, which he did with Talia's help. Still, he never finished high school and didn't go to college. He doesn't care about this as much as he should. :C JASON GO TO SCHOOL.
5. What are his areas of expertise? What, if anything, is he interested in learning more about?
Um, he would make a great mercenary or terrorist, what with his experience with explosives and weaponry. I think his other area of expertise is "Batfamily", which is... not very useful outside of Gotham and certain activities, like trolling them. But he also does some spying and intelligence-gathering.
6. Is he an introvert or an extrovert?
By the dictionary definition, extrovert. This is not to say he doesn't have introverted characteristics, particularly at first early on in his Lost Days career. But life kept issuing him the challenge of staying alive, and Jason kept answering it, coming alive one piece at a time.
7. Describe the character's temperament. Is he even-tempered or does he have mood swings? Cheerful or melancholy? Laid-back or driven?
He can go from joking and taunting to rage in about .000034 seconds, if you push the right buttons. Even when he is angry, he tends to space it out with mockery and a kind of malicious playfulness. Alone, those things fade, and he's definitely more quiet and melancholy. It's when he's surrounded by and responding to people that he's fully and actively alive.
8. How does he respond to new people or situations? Is he suspicious, relaxed, timid, enthusiastic?
Brash, confident, suspicious hidden inside a smile. With guys he may troll harder than he might with girls, just in general. Though really he handles new situations the same way he handles everything else, which is to say, like a Bat. He's almost always ready.
9. Is he more likely to act, or to react?
Act.
10. Which is his default: fight or flight?
Fight.
11. Describe the character's sense of humor. Does he appreciate jokes? Puns? Gallows humor? Bathroom humor? Pranks?
Dark and offensive. He's not usually politically incorrect and he doesn't do potty humor, but he trolls so hard. It's pretty obnoxious. Sometimes he's mildly politically incorrect. As Lost Days #5 shows, he's... not a big fan of England.
12. Does the character have any diagnosable mental disorders? If yes, how does he deal with them?
Oh boy. Uh. As Delirium put it in C&C, the crowbar broke something inside his head, and being dipped in a Lazarus pit (while Ra's is sitting in it, even) does not, actually, help your sanity. In canon he ranges from a bit of a sociopath to just kind of grumpy and violent, to BATSHIT MOTHERFUCKING CRAZY. I try to play a compromise of all these in that normally, he is a grumpy/violent quasi-sociopath who can degrade into batshit craziness under the right circumstances. Most of the time he's perfectly functional, capable of moving among the populace without causing trouble. When he's been living in the "the world" for a while ("the world" here referring to the world of superheroes, supervillains, and related activities, as read in Gotham Central), he enters a different mode.
That said, C&C Jason is pretty sane. I mean, comparably. He's calmed down, he's decided to (try to) move on from his Issues with the Batfamily, he's making an effort to do things other than vigilantism (though honestly, mercenary work is not a big leap). Backsliding is a very real possibility, though. He's already shown he can't really let go, because he's still hanging out with Carrie, and he made an effort to take care of Dick and Tim when they were kids.
13. What moments in this character's life have defined him as a person?
I hate this question.
Stealing the wheel off the Batmobile.
Letting that dude fall to his death.
Being killed by the Joker.
Clawing his way out of his coffin.
Batman choosing to save the Joker's life by throwing a batarang into Jason's neck.
Killing the Joker on Earth 52.
14. What does he fear?
He's afraid of looking like an idiot. He's afraid of getting old. He's not afraid of enclosed spaces but they make him uncomfortable and edgy. And I don't know if this is something he's really "afraid" of, but he doesn't want to be alone in this mission. He wants a partner.
15. What are his hopes or aspirations?
Jason actually has similar goals as the Batfamily, he's just going about them in a really violent and sometimes poorly planned way. He wants to save Gotham, and he's not against killing people that he thinks deserve it. What he said to Mia when he kidnapped her was "sometimes very bad things have to be done to do a great right" [*].
16. What is something he doesn't want anyone to find out about him?
He would prefer that people not know anything about his relationship with Bruce, just because that's a very private thing. Like that he actually cried when Bruce didn't kill the Joker but bataranged him in the neck instead he's not embarrassed about having cried, it's just, y'know, private.
Relationships
1. Describe this character's relationship with his parents.
Fffft, well. His father was kind of a dickwad who ended up in jail and then when he got out, never came back around (and then got killed by Two-Face). His adoptive mother died when he was young. And his real mother sold him out to the Joker (although she felt bad about it later).
2. Does the character have any siblings? What is/was their relationship like?
Only child.
3. Are there other blood relatives to whom he is close? Are there ones he can't stand?
Nope.
4. Are there other, unrelated people whom he considers part of his family? What are his relationships with them?
There have been times when Jason has, in his own fundamentally fucked up way, reached out to the Batfamily. During the New York storyline, the note he leaves for Dick even mentions his desire for them to be a family again (although he'd just spent most of the storyline masquerading as Nightwing and being fairly obnoxious). He wanted to work together with Tim, even though he'd beaten the crap out of him before. He's never reached out to Babs that I know of, but I don't think he knows that she's Oracle. "A Death in the Family" comes after "The Killing Joke", but...
5. Who is/was the character's best friend? How did they meet?
Jason didn't have one, sadly, and he still doesn't. In C&C, his best friend is Danny Rand (IRON FIST yeah I don't even know). They met when Danny, at the time a bartender or waiter or something I DON'T CARE, offered Jason a free drink for his multiversal woes. Somehow it took off from there.
6. Does he have other close friends?
Nope. He tried. He tried with Mia, and even with Tim, but no.
7. Does he make friends easily, or does he have trouble getting along with people?
Haha. Jason is a jerk and he doesn't let people close. When he does reach out to people, he invariably fucks it up. So yes, he has trouble getting along with people, to say the least.
8. Which does he consider more important: family or friends?
It's not like he has any friends, but family anyway.
9. Is the character single, married, divorced, widowed? Has he been married more than once?
Single.
10. Is he currently in a romantic relationship with someone other than a spouse?
No.
11. Who was his first crush? Who is his latest?
Like Dick, Batgirl. During Countdown, he got a bit attached to Donna Troy, but that's pretty much over with. In C&C, he was interested in Monet St. Croix, and now he's sort of interested in Miho (from Sin City) they aren't, uh. Dating, really. They are sleeping together, and hanging out a lot, but Miho ain't a girlfriend type of girl and Jason is keenly aware of that even though they've never talked about it.
12. What does he look for in a romantic partner?
He doesn't, honestly. At this point, he'd be looking for someone who just gives a shit about him. If he were looking, which he isn't, because he's just about resigned to having to do what he does alone.
13. Does the character have children? Grandchildren? If yes, how does he relate to them? If no, does he want any?
No and no. Well... he might (want some children) if he were less fucked up, because he fully recognizes he is fucked up and he would never inflict that on a kid.
14. Does he have any rivals or enemies?
The Batfamily. Also, Black Mask and probably you can still count the Joker, even though Jason is more or less over it. "It" being the whole beaten to half to death then exploded thing.
15. What is the character's sexual orientation? Where does he fall on the Kinsey scale?
I feel like Jason identifies straight and is about a 2 on the Kinsey scale. Even with his lack of experience (see the next question), he's lived in Gotham and traveled the world. He's seen and experienced a lot. He's not at all concerned with his sexuality, he's more concerned about having actual relationships with people. In that respect he's a little bendy, but he has underlying issues with most guys, and an attachment to conventional emotional gender roles. He's just more likely to go for girls.
16. How does he feel about sex? How important is it to him?
It's not important to him at all. Talia had to initiate, though to be fair Talia was sort of translucently manipulating him. And Jason was aware of that, but hey, it's cool. >_> I think he then basically forgot about it, because he's very driven and focused. He's kind of like Bruce in that regard, only he doesn't have dozens of women throwing themselves at his feet. But he's comfortable as hell about it. He would never, as the phrase goes, "use sex as a weapon" because that's 1) creepy, coming from him 2) he's actually too sensitive (yes, sensitive!) to do something like that. That's why you see him getting all attached to Donna when she doesn't actually care for him in that way (or that's how I read it, anyway). And he gets jealous of Miho sometimes even though he has a good handle on it and doesn't show it much.
17. What are his turn-ons? Turn-offs? Weird bedroom habits?
Jason's primary language is violence, and this can bleed over. It's not that he can't be gentle, or doesn't want to be gentle especially with girls it's just what he knows and is accustomed to. And the statement about girls is a generalized one. You see him showing a less crazy/violent side to Donna; but he wouldn't necessarily treat, say, Rose Wilson the same way. As far as dynamics go, Jason is a dominant/top. He likes his control and is very attentive. He likes leaving marks, and is a bit bitey and oral in general. For the most part, though, he's pretty vanilla and perfectly okay with staying with softplay stuff, but if allowed, he would involve his knife in things (shut up, he cleans it). He might push the pain/pleasure thing a little, which I think is more or less requisite as a vigilante.
Beliefs
1. Do you know your character's astrological (zodiac of choice) sign? How well does he fit type?
I hate this question. Go away.
2. Is this character religious, spiritual, both, or neither? How important are these elements in his life?
As someone who's come back from the dead, Jason is well aware there are forces beyond normal comprehension active in the world. That said, he's not a believer, and he's not especially spiritual either.
3. Does this character have a personal code of morals or ethics? If so, how did that begin? What would it take to compromise it?
Jason has a code. He only kills people who "deserve" it, which seems to mean drug dealers, rapists, and murderers. But in an issue of Robin, he definitely tries to shoot Tim, and would have shot a bystander if Tim hadn't shielded them. ... This was right after he was all sad because Tim wouldn't work with him. In Under the Hood, after he's killed various drug minions, he tells Bruce he's only talking about killing the Joker, not the other rogues, "because he took me away from you." This inconsistency is clearly an emotional one. It doesn't necessarily contradict the code, which seems to be more about dirtbags and less about the rogue's gallery. This began quite early on when he was Robin and was renewed after he woke up.
4. How does he regard beliefs that differ from his? Is he tolerant, intolerant, curious, indifferent?
He might give people shit about it but in reality he usually doesn't care. Unless the belief is "we shouldn't kill people, even murderers, even the Joker," anyway.
5. What prejudices does he hold? Are they irrational or does he have a good reason for them?
Stupid clowns. He also doesn't think much of most superheroes. "I learned the cape-and-cowl game's for suckers." He thinks rich people are worthless, even referencing Ollie and Bruce's backgrounds as part of what makes them practice their non-killing thing.
Daily Life
1. What is the character's financial situation? Is he rich, poor, comfortable, in debt?
Talia was initially Jason's sugardaddy, but I think after Bruce bataranged him, he probably fell out of contact with her. Otherwise, I think Jason probably just takes whatever he needs from criminals. He's comfortable by his standards, which is not necessarily comfortable by conventional standards.
2. What is his social status? Has this changed over time, and if so, how has the change affected him?
... look. He's a fucking vigilante 24/7, he doesn't have social status. Unless "was dead" and "now isn't dead" counts?
3. Where does he live? House, apartment, trailer? Is his home his castle or just a place to crash? What condition is it in? Does he share it with others?
Jason does not share >:E ... no but he lives in apartments that are dumps, and he doesn't give a fuck.
4. Besides the basic necessities, what does he spend his money on?
Guns. Explosives. Gadgetry. Motorcycles. Security equipment.
5. What does he do for a living? Is he good at it? Does he enjoy it, or would he rather be doing something else?
He... kills criminals and takes their stuff? He's very good at that, and it's sort of fun at first but gets boring later on.
6. What are his interests or hobbies? How does he spend his free time?
Gah, this "free time" concept just does not exist for Jason. Either he has no free time or all his time is free time. His interests and hobbies are all related to what he does. He likes stalking and spying on people (naturally), researching for heists, working out, training, pretending to be a real person instead of an insane borderline sociopathic anti-hero bastard, beating up criminals, eating.
7. What are his eating habits? Does he skip meals, eat out, drink alcohol, avoid certain foods?
Jason eats crappily, and he knows it and tries to eat better but it's kind of fucking hard, okay, when you don't always live in a place where the fridge works, or when you're too busy staking out places and punching people to go grocery shopping. He basically subsists on already prepared food, whether it's takeout or just something from the supermarket. And he does like a beer every now and then. He doesn't like fish. He does like coffee, and ethnic food (Indian, Thai, Chinese, Ethiopian).
END
{{ Get the HTML here so you can do it yourself. }}