[ooc]Info Dump/Character Description
Name: Topher Brink
ES Name: Genius
Series Dollhouse
Age: 26-28ish
Hair: Blondish brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: ....supposedly 5'11"
Weight: 134
ABILITIES
To annoy everyone
Season two reveals that Topher was trained to be a doctor, my best guess is as a neurosurgeon or more likely something in computational neuroscience or neuropsychology, which makes him one of the most over-educated individuals in the sphere. (Neurologists have some of the longest medical training, an average of 12 years, and Topher is only 28 at the oldest. Yes he is disgustingly brilliant). Because his work is so specialized, he actually fails at the more general forms of medical practice and is squeamish at the sight of blood or at dissection. In a pinch he could set a broken leg, but he'd mostly think that was beneath him. However he is excellent at theoretical medical mysteries and anything that involves, in his words 'machines that go ping!' He should be able to diagnose with any sort of affliction of the nervous system (that of course includes amnesia and drain bramage) and he takes particular glee in tweeking the human body in strange and usual ways (he once bragged about making Echo lactate--please don't ask-- by tweaking her hormones and altering her "on a glandular level"). People like Aurora or genetic mutants like the Power Rangers would fascinate him.
Although socially inept himself, Topher shows extensive knowledge of psychology and human behavior as he is said to be one of the best doll programmers in the country. He is brilliant with computers and all forms of programing, and he plays a mean game of battleship and laser tag. Most importantly (to the mods at least), because his universe reflects ours so closely, he has the power to break the fourth wall. He is a nerd and knows nerdy things. But since its a memory loss game I probably won't do that don't worry.
PERSONALITY:
Topher Brink is an overgrown child. He is immature, sarcastic, extremely self centered, amoral, disrespectful to just about anyone, entertaining and emotionally delayed. It is possible he suffers from narcissistic personality disorder since he shows all the classic signs of someone with a God Complex: he possesses an exaggerated sense of self-importance and power, lacks empathy and exploits others for his own gain. Physically Topher looks like your typical "geeky" teenager (even through he's about 26-28 years old) as he shows up to work in flannel, school boy sweater vests, ripped jeans and sneakers while everyone else around him is in business casual. His laboratory at the Dollhouse looks more like a play room as it is filled with multiple board games and video game consoles, an arcade "Wack-a-mole" machine (for that extra God-Complex touch), a massive refrigerator, copious amounts of root beer and juice boxes (like the kind you put in a child's lunchbox) and a trampoline. His interactions with people are playful, always teasing and never serious, unless it is an emergency. Then he tends to yell and flail around like a scared little girl. He also gets incredibly embarrassed and worked up when talking about sexuality, particularly male sexuality. This is particularly ironic and full of fail since he is a doctor yet he cannot even bring himself to say the word erection--he calls them "man-reactions".
Much of Topher's arrogance stems from the fact that he is a genius. He flew through medical school in one of the hardest fields, was hired by a clandestine organization and revolutionized his field with a new type of medical technology all by the time he was in his mid twenties. The richest and most powerful people in America pay exuberant amounts of money for the "product" Topher creates. This is because what Topher creates are humans--built to order people. He creates the living embodiment of a person's fantasy by erasing volunteers' memories and replacing them with fabricated personalities. Although this comes off as nothing but high end, technological prostitution and would horrify most decent people, Topher sees his work as "art" and he takes great pride and joy in manipulating the people under his care. To Topher, everything comes down to Science. Human beings are merely a collection of fired up neurons and chemicals bonded together--everything can be explained by biology. He is actually quite adapt at human psychology. But his perspective is so detached, he has a hard time applying empathy to anyone. Also that little thing called the Hippocratic Oath? Totally not even considered by this guy. Topher sees nothing wrong with what he does because his entire worldview excludes morality, ethnics and social acceptance as limitations. In fact he considers morality to be a form of mere social conditioning, a product of an individuals upbringing plus societal norms. Because he sees it as subjective, he is able to dismiss it as irrelevant to him. But at the same time, the childish part of Topher enjoys the illegalness of what he does. He also takes this approach towards drugs, viewing the 'taboo' with childish fascination. In the same way a child might smile after eating a stolen chocolate chip cookie, Topher enjoys the challenge of working for a secret organization. He thrills at being the creator of people--the doll maker of the dollhouse.
What makes Topher complicated is that he's not some horrible baby eating monster. He actually comes off as a friendly guy- he has a good sense of humor and a quirky style of speech. He likes to argue that ultimately his job is to make people happy--the rest of it, the how and who and why, are subjective. He has been known to perform acts of charity, mostly because it gives him a sense of pride and accomplishment rather than out of some sense of obligation. He is also an incredibly hard worker and he has often spends the night working and sleeping on a cot instead of gong home. He is creative, insightful and excellent at piecing together a mystery and will get something done fast if it interests him or he's threatened enough.
But following up on that, like most geniuses, there are times when Topher comes off as mentally unstable (as if the God complex wasn't enough of a tip off). His incredible insights tend to blindside the limited common sense he has, causing him to leap before he looks. He will run experiments before testing them and has no problem with skipping most of the scientific method to get results like an impatient brat. He is so focused on his own little world that when something goes wrong he is completely blindsided and he reacts poorly as an result. He also has a tendency to talk to himself when stressed. When he's pushed too far emotionally he tends to shut down rather than face the situation head on. In this sense he is exactly like a little kid without coping mechanisms and like a child he is afraid of the dark. Ironically he also has a phobia of rats.
Ultimately Topher sees himself as a private person. He once told his coworker Claire Saunders that nobody in the dollhouse knows him due to the clandestine nature of his job--they cannot know him "not fully, not ever". One gets the sense that working for the Dollhouse also prevents Topher from having any outside friends--or it's more likely that his personality does that for him. He comes off as tragic rather than deeply malicious because of his childish persona and his naivete in believing he can escape facing the consequences of his actions.
Timeline
End of the episode "Belonging" from Season 2.