Brooklyn is the sarcastic one.
But is that all he is? Just one big red bundle of sarcasm?
Hardly. Who wants a one dimensional character?
Apart from Goliath, in my eyes, Brooklyn is the most well developed of all the Manhattan Gargoyles.
The other gargoyles are relatively stereotypical.
Broadway, the big goofy one that likes to eat and is sweet.
Lexington, the smart nerdy one that is somewhat naive.
Hudson, the old grumpy one with a heart of gold.
Bronx... he's a dog, okay? Loyal, not too bright and somewhat slobbery.
(Yes yes, I realize that Brooklyn could be stereotyped as the 'jaded cool dude'. My blog. My rules. Brooklyn = Awesome.)
Goliath has deep anger and passion. He reads, not just books and magazines, but literature and art. He has a deep sense of right and wrong. He loves deeply and hates strongly, but has the capacity for forgiveness. He does what is right, because it is right, even if it is not easy.
Then there's Brooklyn.
Brooklyn's sarcastic side hides a sensitive nature.
Of all the younger Gargoyles, Brooklyn takes censure the heaviest.
He is literate (to the point where since awakening in Manhattan, has read Shakespeare (albeit he didn't know Shakespeare wrote a play called Macbeth)), likes music and motorcycles, has eternal hope that he'll make friends with the humans he meets and will one day find love.
He helps people and has such dejection in his frame, eyes, posture, when they rebuff him.
He has strong passions, putting his heart into everything that he does. He does what is right, even though it breaks him to do it.
And sure, one could argue that all the Gargoyles are the same. Broadway isn't just a mouth with wings. Lexington doesn't come across as a stereo instruction booklet. Hudson isn't a stunt double from 'Grumpy Old Men'.
To my eyes, Brooklyn just has more of the qualities that make him a real character, a character that not only do you grow to like, but that has the potential to develop in your heart, that has the ability to make you care when he is hurt, feel when he is injured and grin at his triumphs and jokes not just because the jokes are funny, but because it is Brooklyn who is saying them in his Brooklynish way.
Brooklyn covers his soft heart with his sarcasm and jaded comments. He hides his heart behind a gruff exterior because that is what he has experienced, and what he knows. When he has the chance to let his heart live, with close moments with his brothers, his clan, his family, his friends, the gentle warmth is so much deeper than what is exhibited by the easy smiles of Broadway and Lexington.
He sounds sarcastic and at times, unconcerned and uncaring about what is going on to others and himself, but his actions always speak louder than his words.
He delivers statements in a deadpan manner that make people do double takes.
And while he can seem more headstrong and given to harebrained ideas than his brothers, he mostly reserves that right for when (pre-Timedancer) he encounters Demona, otherwise, he is more likely to think a course of action through and to plan situations.
Some quotes where I draw my inspiration for Brooklyn:
From Temptation:
Demona: Don't be afraid. I just want to talk.
Brooklyn: Uh huh? Yeah, last time we met you just wanted to blow me away with a bazooka.
...
Lexington: Hey, what happened to the motorcycle?
Brooklyn: Um...it blew up.
Lexington: Oh. What?!
From Her Brother's Keeper:
Broadway: Feel the air currents. Use them, just like you do with your wings.
Brooklyn: Yeah, use the Force, Lex.
...
- Lexington: Don't worry. I'll tell you what has to be done.
- Brooklyn: Oh, yeah? You and what Starfleet?
Broadway: Well I can't read and I don't think I'm missing anything.
Brooklyn: Uh huh. Ignorance is bliss. Right, Hudson?
Hudson: Ughh, leave me out of this, it's time for Celebrity Hockey.
From Kingdom:
Hudson: I thought you didn't want to lead us, lad.
Brooklyn: This has nothing to do with what *I* want. You'd better come along this time, Hudson. We'll need all the help we can get.
Hudson: Is that an order?
Brooklyn: Yeah, I guess it is.
From The Mirror:
Brooklyn: Yeah, that guy Shakespeare wrote a play about them: A Midsummer's Night Dream.
From Upgrade:
Lexington: [the Pack is escaping] We can't just let them get away!
Brooklyn: Helping Goliath is more important!
...
Brooklyn: Goliath and Hudson might be in danger. Do we have a choice?
...
Lexington: You may be afraid to fight without Goliath, *I'm* not!
Broadway: Me neither!
Brooklyn: Guys, we won't get two chances at this... I have a plan.
When I attempt to write fan fiction that involves Brooklyn, these are all the things that I try to incorporate into the character when he speaks, moves, plans, acts and feels.
As I stated in my first blog post... writing a character that is NOT mine, that I did not create and know the ins and outs of intimately because he is, in every way, mine... is a mental challenge that I find myself enjoying far more than I thought I would.
I admit to the temptation to rewrite some things, revision 'history' the way I want it to be at times. But I respect the writings of the canon Gargoyles and the 4 Season Timedancer archive that I found too much to do that.
Instead, I play a game where I focus on staying within the carefully defined lines of what Brooklyn would and would not do, say and would not say, and feel and would not feel.
I give myself the ability to flesh out certain aspects of his character, how he'd move and fight. In the cartoon, Brooklyn is... well... cartoonish at times. It only makes sense. I have the ability in what I write to try to make him appear less cartoonish, but at the same time keep the same essential concepts that make Brooklyn so very endearingly Brooklyn.
My latest 'work in progress' came to me out of nowhere. It's... well, it's a crossover of an early Timedancer dance (before Sata, after Meryt) and sometime in the first half of Season 1 Charmed.
Yeah. You heard me. Charmed.
My husband said, "So you wrote a crossover story about a cartoon and a live action TV show?"
To which I said, "Yup."
And here's the secret?
I had fun doing it.
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