@pointless history dump;
Appearance:
Dr. Stein certainly isn't a bad looking guy. Between his stitched up face and rotten fashion sense, you'd figure the enormous bolt sticking out of his head would top off a nasty combination. He maintains a relatively healthy build, though, and couldn't in a million billion years be called 'short'. Whether his mess of grey hair is natural or stress-induced is anyone's guess.
As far as the variable bits of his persona go, whatever clothing he's seen in is more often than not awkwardly stiched-up--not an attribute to his financial situation, but a nod to the fact that our good pal Frank comes up pretty short in the 'sanity' department'. He's cut back a bit these days, but it's not uncommon to see a cigarette at his lip.
Personality:
As briefly mentioned just a few sentences prior, the good Doctor is more than a little batty. While he's perfectly capable of showing a cool front, and he's got gobs of smarts to spare, his obsession with research(and dissection, to be specific)earns him an odd stare or two from potential colleagues. He was described by an old friend as a man with 'no love in him', but seems to warm up to folks he deems interesting--and good, of course. While the only few relationships he's ever mentioned having ended in nothing short of heartache, he's a dedicated guy, and not without his share of virtues.
Despite his odd habits, and the violence he was prone to as a wee thing, Stein has a soft spot for 'good guys'. He has a decently strong sense of justice, and though his lingering insanity serves to cripple his good senses, he'd rather see himself away than jeopardize someone he deems righteous.
Don't let his 'serious business' aura fool you--Frank's got a definite sense of humour, if not only to laugh at his own clumsiness. Between inappropriate jokes and his tendancy to sport a rolly-chair at most occasions, he's gotten decent at making folks laugh.
History:
I'd like to say that Stein was never a bad kid, but lying just isn't something that I do. When he was a youngin', he took to killing--and later(or sometimes before!)dissecting both animals and human beings--more so the former than the latter, of course. When he'd assault a human, little Frank had the tendency to put them back together. He enrolled in Shinigami Buki Shokunin Senmon Gakkō--a fun, not to mention perfectly symmetrical, facility in Death City of a fictional Nevada, USA. Why the almighty Okubo-san decided to place a primarily Japanese school in the mid-western US is beyond me, but the fact remains that the academy--shortened to 'Shibusen' more often than not--housed and houses Meisters-in-training and the weapons that accompany them. The term 'meister' claims a whole new meaning behind the walls of Shibusen, being used to define a person capable of wielding special types of weapons--those weapons, of course, being other students.
The whole schooling ordeal resulted for a whole lot of punishment for Stein, but culminated in his eventual calming-down with a little help from his weapon and 'best friend', Spirit Albarn. Despite their implied closeness, Stein couldn't help but take to dissecting his comrade--waiting, of course, until he was asleep before initiating minor procedures. They weren't particularly damaging procedures, but they left Spirit with a number of scars which his later Meister for whom he left Franken quickly took note of. After being stripped of Spirit, made by his new partner into a Death Scythe, Stein adopted a role of chief researcher, working for little to no recognition in the deeper ins of Shibusen.
Upon the recent emergence of Spirit's daughter Maka, the 'heroine' of Soul Eater, Stein has taken a more active role in combating the revival(LOL OOPS)of Kishin--basically? The big bad wolf, in skinny, toothy, freaky form. He's taken up fighting alongside Spirit once again, and despite his initial test of the Soul Eater crew leaving a good few of them in near-critical condition, he's claimed the role of their 'chaperone' in most evil-thwarting activities. In addition to playing protector, Stein's begun teaching at Shibusen.
.. That is, until an unfortunate run-in with Medusa, a decently powerful witch. Team Medusa--consisting, of course, of the witch herself, another witch, and a ridiculously large man called 'Free'--set out to re-awaken Kishin. Much to the dismay of Shibusen's students and personnel, they succeeded, but not before the team leader sustained heavy damage from the Stein/Spirit team. Despite Medusa's apparent 'death', she planted a seed of insanity within Stein, stirring up all sorts of awful feelings once Kishin re-awakened, serving to amplify all underlying insanity in Death City. As his condition worsened, the good doctor was accused of murdering a colleague, an offense that should've landed him in a jail-cell. However, his comrades--Spirit, Marie, Sid, and Naigys came through for him, offering him the chance to escape for Marie in search of the real killer.